Point Of No Return

Although Great Britain and the thirteen colonies had a close relationship for many years, all relationships must come to an end. Unfortunately for both England and the colonies, the relationship ended with bloodshed, war, violence, and death. For the majority of their relationship, it seemed that Britain and the colonies would have a peaceful life, and even though there were disagreements, there always was light at the end of the tunnel. However, eventually the colonies and Great Britain reached a standoff, a point of no return that forever created an icy, tense relationship between the two. A point of no return is crucial to any relationship because it is the point in time where no matter what, the past cannot be made up for. The mistakes
The point of no return in colonial-British relations between 1760 and 1776 was the Coercive Acts or as many colonists knew it, the “Intolerable Acts”. As the title “Intolerable Acts” suggest the colonists thought this law was unbearable because of the four major points it stated. The first of the four important acts was the Boston Port Bill enacted on April 1st, 1774. This declared that the British Navy shut down Boston harbor unless the town agreed to reimburse Great Britain for the tea that was ruined during the Boston Tea Party. The second Coercive Act was the Governmental Act which restructured the government to make it less democratic. This was done by having the Massachusetts’ upper house appointed by the crown; governor had total control over judges and sheriffs, and lastly it restricted communities to only one town meeting a year. The
Before April 1st, 1774, the significant events in the relationship between Britain and her property was the Writs of Assistance (1760), Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Quartering Act (1766), Townshend Act (1767), and the Tea Act (1773). Most of these events were met with written, non violent, complaints such as Patrick Henry’s letter of protest, the statement of “No Taxation without Representation”, John Dickinson’s “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”, Samuel Adams goal of a Committee of Correspondence, or the Boston Tea Party (where no one was injured or killed). However, after the Coercive Acts, events like the First Continental Congress were far different than the events before the “Intolerable Acts. For example, the First Continental Congress on September 5th, 1774 in Philadelphia led to defensive measures being taken, and the colonies were officially going under “passive rebellion”. In addition, fighting began at Lexington and Concord shortly after the Coercive Acts as many British and Minutemen (local colonial militia) were killed. Lastly, the Declaration of Independence set the foundation for the freedom of our nation. Because of the fact that before the “Intolerable Acts” most problems were met with written pacifist complaints and after, war was being prepared for or carried out, shows me that