What happened after the Boston Tea Party?

After the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, Britain responded with severe punitive legislation known as the Intolerable Acts (or Coercive Acts in Britain), the colonies coordinated resistance through the First Continental Congress in autumn 1774, and within sixteen months fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Lord North's ministry chose to make an example of Boston rather than negotiate. Parliament passed five statutes in spring 1774.

The Boston Port Act of March 31, 1774 closed the harbor effective June 1 until Massachusetts paid the East India Company for the destroyed tea. The Massachusetts Government Act of May 20, 1774 voided the colony's 1691 charter, replaced the elected council with a royally appointed body, and limited town meetings. The Administration of Justice Act of May 20, 1774 allowed royal officials accused of capital crimes in carrying out duties to be tried in Britain or another colony. The Quartering Act of June 2, 1774 expanded requirements that colonies house British troops. The Quebec Act of June 22, 1774 extended Quebec's borders south to the Ohio River and recognized French civil law and Catholicism.

General Thomas Gage replaced Thomas Hutchinson as governor of Massachusetts and was sent with troops to enforce the laws. Far from isolating Boston, the Acts unified the colonies in solidarity. Virginia's House of Burgesses called for a day of fasting on June 1, 1774 and was dissolved by the royal governor for its trouble. Other colonies sent food, livestock, and money to Boston as the port closed.

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress assembled at Concord and Cambridge in October 1774 as an extralegal alternative government. The First Continental Congress convened at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774 with 56 delegates from 12 colonies. It endorsed the Suffolk Resolves on September 17, 1774, adopted the Declaration and Resolves on October 14, 1774, signed the Continental Association nonimportation pact on October 20, 1774, and sent petitions to King George III, the British people, and the people of Quebec.

Throughout the winter of 1774 to 1775 colonial militias drilled, gathered powder and arms, and prepared for confrontation. King George III rejected the petitions and Parliament passed the Prohibitory Act in late 1775. Gage received secret orders dated January 27, 1775 to use force, and on the night of April 18, 1775 he sent troops to seize colonial military stores at Concord. The battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 began the Revolutionary War, and within weeks an army of New England militia had besieged Boston.