the key instrument of local rule: whereas a great abuse has been made of the power of calling such meetings, and the inhabitants have, contrary to the design of their institution, been misled to treat upon matters of the most general concern, and to pass many dangerous and unwarrantable resolves: for remedy whereof, be it enacted... no meeting shall be called... without the leave of the governor, [apart from one annual election meeting]. Implementation When Governor Thomas Gage invoked the act in October 1774 to dissolve the provincial assembly, its Patriot leaders responded by setting up an alternative government that actually controlled everything outside Boston. They argued that the new act had nullified the contract between the king and the people, who ignored Gage's order for new elections and set up the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. It acted as the province's (from 1776 the state's) government until the 1780 adoption of the Massachusetts State Constitution. The governor had control only in Boston, where his soldiers were based. Parliament repealed the act in 1778 as part of attempts to reach a diplomatic end to the ongoing American Revolutionary War. See also Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies Notes Further reading Raphael, Ray. The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord (2011) excerpt Sosin, Jack M. "The Massachusetts Acts of 1774: Coercive or Preventive?." Huntington Library Quarterly (1963): 235–252. in JSTOR Walett, Francis G. "The Massachusetts Council, 1766-1774: The Transformation of a Conservative Institution." William and Mary Quarterly (1949): 605–627. in JSTOR External links complete text of Act http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/laws/intolerable.htm Legal history of Massachusetts 1774 in Massachusetts Massachusetts in the American Revolution Laws leading to the American Revolution Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1774 Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts