They were purely repressive and their goal was to stop dissent and rebel attitutes in Massachussetts and Boston, and utimately, in all the colonies. They were passed to quell "commotions and insurrections" that had taken place in Boston, where a large group of colonists had thrown 342 chests of tea into the sea as a form of protest. Five acts were passed by the British Parliament. In the colonies they were called "The Intolerable Acts."
