Final answer:
Britain responded to the colonial protests against the Townshend Acts by threatening to suspend colonial legislatures, sending military forces, and enacting the Intolerable Acts after the Boston Tea Party, escalating tensions that led towards the American Revolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
Britain's Response to Colonial Protests Against the Townshend Acts
In response to the colonial protests against the Townshend Acts, Britain's government took a stance that reflected both an insistence on asserting its authority and an underestimation of colonial resolve. Colonists' boycott of British goods and assemblies' petitions for relief were met with British threats to suspend colonial legislatures. The situation escalated exponentially when Britain sent a warship to Boston in 1768, followed by troops, which directly resulted in the deadly altercation known as the Boston Massacre in 1770. The Townshend Acts themselves placed taxes on goods like tea, glass, and paper and established a stronger enforcement mechanism, thereby further infuriating colonists.
The peak of the colonial protests led to the infamous Boston Tea Party in 1773, with colonists dumping tea into Boston Harbor as a direct act of rebellion. In retaliation, Britain enacted the Intolerable Acts, punitive measures that only exacerbated tensions and led the colonies closer to the brink of revolution, with colonists sending grievances and George III contemplating the inevitability of conflict.