The goal of the Boston Port Bill, one of the Intolerable Acts, was to isolate Boston by closing its harbor.
This law, a direct consequence of the Boston Tea Party, closed the Boston harbor to all ships, whatever the purpose of their trip, until compensation was paid to the Royal Treasury and the East India Company. The settlers objected that the Boston Port Bill punished all of Boston and not just the individuals who had destroyed the tea, and that this penalty was imposed without having had the opportunity to testify in their own defense.
Since the Boston harbor was one of the main sources of supply for the citizens of Massachusetts, colonies as far away as South Carolina expressed their solidarity by sending provisions to the inhabitants of the Bay of Massachusetts; this meant the first step in the unification of the Thirteen Colonies.
