Coercive Acts

Examples of Coercive Acts in the following topics:

• The Coercive Acts

  • The Coercive Acts were meant to reverse the trend of colonial resistance but actually provoked higher levels of resistance.
  • The Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of laws relating to Britain's colonies in North America and passed by the British Parliament in 1774.
  • Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least amount of protest of the Coercive Acts.
  • Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of their constitutional rights, their natural rights, and their colonial charters.
  • The citizens of Boston viewed the Coercive Acts as unnecessary and cruel punishment that inflamed outrage against Britain even further.

• The Spreading Conflict

  • Trade with Great Britain fell sharply, and the British responded with the New England Restraining Act of 1775.
  • The petition expressed loyalty to the king and hoped for redress of grievances relating to the Coercive Acts and other issues that helped foment the American Revolution.
  • The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to reform colonial administration in British America and, in part, to punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.
  • Many American colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution and a threat to the liberties of all of British America, not just Massachusetts.
  • In May 1774, the Boston Town Meeting, with Samuel Adams acting as moderator, passed a resolution that called for an economic boycott in response to the Boston Port Act, which was one of the Coercive Acts.

• The First Continental Congress

  • It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament.
  • The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting the enforcement of the Coercive Acts.
  • The delegates organized an economic boycott of Great Britain in protest against the Coercive Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774, and petitioned the King for a redress of grievances.
  • It also threatened an export ban on any products from the American colonies to Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies, to be enacted only if the complained-of acts were not repealed by September 10, 1775.
  • The petition expressed loyalty to the king and hoped for redress of grievances relating to the Coercive Acts and other issues that helped foment the American Revolution.

• Conclusion: The Consequences of the British Parliamentary Acts

  • Outrage over the act created a degree of unity among otherwise unconnected American colonists, giving them a chance to act together both politically and socially.
  • Like the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts led many colonists to work together against what they perceived to be an unconstitutional measure.
  • The Tea Act of 1773 triggered a reaction with far more significant consequences than either the 1765 Stamp Act or the 1767 Townshend Acts.
  • The British responded by implementing the Coercive Acts, which were punitive in nature and meant to make an example of the colonies, and sending British troops to Boston to close Boston Harbor, causing tensions and resentments to escalate further.
  • Following the Coercive Acts, colonists established the First Continental Congress, which comprised elected representatives from twelve of the thirteen American colonies and represented a direct challenge to British authority.

• The Boston Tea Party

  • Americans learned the details of the Tea Act while the ships were en route, and opposition began to mount.
  • This act soon inspired further acts of resistance up and down the East Coast.
  • In Britain, this act united all parties against the colonies.
  • The British government felt this action could not remain unpunished; they responded by closing the port of Boston and putting in place other laws known as the "Coercive Acts."
  • Evaluate the political and economic motivations that shaped the colonial response to the Tea Act

• Lexington and Concord

  • Massachusetts delegates met in a Provincial Congress and published the Suffolk Resolves, which officially rejected the Coercive Acts and called for the raising of colonial militias to take military action if needed.

• Farm and Rural Programs

  • The Agricultural Adjustment Act, one of the more controversial acts, attempted to plan and regulate the agricultural sector of the economy.
  • To accomplish its goal of parity (raising crop prices to their level in 1909-1914), the Act had to eliminate surplus production.
  • The intent of the act was to increase the prices of certain farm products by decreasing the quantities produced.
  • The Court also held that the so-called tax was not a true tax, because the payments to farmers were coupled with unlawful and oppressive coercive contracts and the proceeds were earmarked for the benefit of farmers complying with the prescribed conditions.
  • Although the Act stimulated American agriculture, it was not without its faults.

• The Embargo Act of 1807

  • The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general embargo enacted by the U.S.
  • The embargo, which lasted from December 1807 to March 1809, turned out to be impractical as a coercive measure and was a failure both diplomatically and economically.
  • Despite its unpopular nature, the Embargo Act did have some limited, unintended benefits.
  • This 1807 political cartoon satirizes the Embargo Act.
  • Describe the Embargo Act of 1807 and its effects on American economic activity

• American Indian Policy and the Trail of Tears

  • The Indian Removal Act of 1830 set the stage for the forced relocation of American Indians from the east to the west.
  • The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Jackson in 1830, and it had a profound and devastating impact on the lives of Americans.
  • For American Indians, the Removal Act brought death and destruction.
  • Under Andrew Jackson, elected president in 1829, government policy toward American Indians moved from coercive to outright hostile.
  • Jackson's Removal Act called for relocation of all tribes to lands west of the river.

• The Obama Administration

  • Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010, and signed into law on March 30, 2010.
  • The goals of this Act (which came to be know as Obamacare) were to provide all Americans with access to affordable health insurance, to require that everyone in the United States had some form of health insurance, and to lower the costs of healthcare.
  • On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act.
  • Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court also ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 was unconstitutional, because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
  • He also signed Executive Order 13491, which required the Army Field Manual be used as a guide for interrogations of supposed terrorists and banned torture and other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding.