The Intolerable Acts, a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party, were a major cause of the American Revolution. The acts were designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance of British authority, and included the closure of the port of Boston, the imposition of martial law, and the forced quartering of British troops in private homes. These measures were deeply resented by the colonists, and helped to galvanize support for the revolutionary cause.