Why is it said that the Quebec Act was one of the direct causes of the American Revolutionary War?

The Quebec Act was passed to gain the loyalty of the French speaking majority of the Province of Quebec in Canada.

It revoked the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that aimed to assimilate the French-Canadian population under English rule. The Act received royal assent on 22 June 1774 and was put into effect on 1 May 1775. It sought to keep the French-speaking Canadians in good humour so that they would not join the American colonists in their struggle against the British.

The Quebec Act was not welcomed by the American population. In fact, it faced dire consequences from the North Americans. The Americans regarded the Quebec Act as a subset of the Coercive Acts proposed in 1774. The Coercive Acts had four new laws which closed the Boston harbour to all trade, revoked the charter of Massachusetts taking away the colony’s form of self-government, and prevented colonial courts from bringing royal officials to trial. The Act also required colonists to allow British soldiers to stay in their homes.

The Coercive Acts were commonly known in the North American colonies as the Intolerable Acts. These Acts are believed to be one of the driving forces behind the American Revolutionary War.

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