What happened
Britain passed a set of punitive measures in response to Boston's destruction of tea and the wider colonial resistance. The package included closing Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for, stripping Massachusetts of much of its self-government, allowing royal officials accused of crimes to be tried outside the colony, and expanding the quartering of British troops.
Why it matters
The Coercive Acts convinced many colonists that the crisis was no longer about a single tax or port dispute. It became a broader constitutional struggle over authority in the empire.
Notes
Use this as the legislative backlash that bridges the Tea Party to organized colonial resistance. The colonists usually called these measures the Intolerable Acts.