Final answer:
The correct answer is b. Samuel Adams led opposition to the Tea Act of 1773, which was one of several acts he opposed including the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts. The Tea Act allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies, leading to significant protests like the Boston Tea Party.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Tea Act of 1773 was a significant piece of legislation that Samuel Adams and other American colonists opposed vehemently. It was an act that offered a financial bailout to the struggling British East India Company by allowing it to sell tea directly to the colonies, bypassing colonial merchants. This act not only challenged local business but also was seen as another example of taxation without representation, a principal grievance of the American colonists. The Tea Act led to organized resistance, and perhaps the most famous protest against this act was the Boston Tea Party.
Samuel Adams was a staunch critic of British policies, opposing not only the Tea Act, but also the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts, among others. The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774, after the Boston Tea Party. These acts were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance. Adams was a key figure in the organized opposition to these acts, as they galvanized the thirteen colonies against what they saw as an overreach of British authority and infringement upon their rights.