The
Boston Port Act is an
Act of the
Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III. c. 19) which became law on
March 30,
1774, and is one of the measures (variously called the
Intolerable Acts, the
Punitive Acts or the
Coercive Acts) that were designed to secure
Great Britain's jurisdictions over her
American dominions.
A response to the
Boston Tea Party, it outlawed the use of the
Port of Boston (by setting up a barricade/blockade) for "landing and discharging, loading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise" until such time as restitution was made to
the King's treasury (for
customs duty lost) and to the
East India Company for damages suffered. In other words, it closed Boston Port to all ships, no matter what business the ship had. Colonists objected that the Port Act punished all of
Boston rather than just the individuals who had destroyed the tea, and that they were being punished without having been given an opportunity to testify in their own defence.
As the Port of Boston was a major source of supplies for the citizens of Massachusetts, sympathetic colonies as far away as
South Carolina sent relief supplies to the settlers of Massachusetts Bay. This was the first step in the unification of the
thirteen colonies. The
First Continental Congress was convened in
Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, to coordinate a colonial response to the Port Act and the other Coercive Acts.