Response to the Boston Port Act
The Boston Port Act, a piece of legislation responding to the Boston Tea Party, was largely responsible for helping to unite and incite the British colonies of North America to rebellion. It also demonstrates how important the shipping industry was to citizens of Boston. The act blocked commerce, except for that which had authority from the King of England from entering the port. In an economy that was so centered on the trans-Atlantic trade, it could not be enforced without resistance. In a letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence, leading figures in the city called for help from surrounding colonies and confirmed that nearby towns in Massachusetts had already supported resistance. In the postscript of the act, the writers also mention a speech that called for suspended shipping with Britain, claiming that its manufacturers would have to “emigrate or starve” for want of American demand for British goods. Because of the British Parliament’s Boston Port Act, the colonies’ loyalties drew closer to each other and farther from Great Britain.
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Source: Boston Comittee of Correspondence, "Response to the Boston Port Bill," (1775), quoted in Library of Congress,
"Boston, May 12, 1744" Accessed 4/24/2022,
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.03702700/.
