Why did colonists denounce the British response to the Boston Tea Party as coercive?
Determined to punish the destruction of British property and suppress the colonists' rebellion, the British government passed a series of laws. The Boston Port Bill closed the city's harbor until colonists paid for the destroyed tea. The Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony's charter and sent Gen. Thomas Gage, an army officer, to govern the colony. It also greatly reduced the number of elected public officials and increased the number of officials appointed by the governor. The Administration of Justice Act decreed that any British official accused of committing murder or other serious crimes while performing his duties would be tried by a court in England, not in America. Finally, the Quartering Act permitted the British army to house troops and supplies in unused buildings in the colonies. Colonists referred to these laws as the Coercive Acts, which were passed to force (or coerce) Americans to submit to British rule.
In response to the Coercive Acts, twelve of the thirteen (all except Georgia) American colonies sent delegates to the First Continental Congress. The Congress declared that Americans would not obey the Coercive Acts, would continue to boycott British goods, and were even prepared to defend themselves against British attacks if necessary. In 1775, the Congress voted to raise and supply an army of 150,000 men. On April 19, 1775, after the British learned that the Americans had stockpiled weapons west of Boston in Concord, Massachusetts, British troops began marching westward to confiscate these weapons. A decade of arguing about American rights and British power now erupted in outright fighting. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, King George III declared the colonists to be in rebellion against Great Britain and began raising an army to restore British rule. Many Americans still debated whether they ought to remain part of the British Empire or bid complete defiance to British authority, but the time for debate had vanished, to be replaced by armed conflict.