Can one country prevent others from participating in trade? This is what Britain tried to achieve with its Navigation Acts—a series of laws mainly issued in the 17th and 18th centuries. These Acts were protectionist in nature within the economic system of British mercantilism. The purpose of these regulations was to protect and increase British imperial wealth through trade and shipbuilding. On the one hand, Britain eventually grew to be the most powerful empire in the world. On the other hand, it lost its American colonies in part, because of these Acts. Show Fig. 1 - The Battle of Terheide, by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten, ca. 1653-1666. The Navigation Acts were British laws released starting from the first Navigation Act in 1651. These laws regulated many aspects related to maritime trade, such as shipping, in order to protect British commercial activities in Europe and its colonies and limit those of its European rivals, such as the Netherlands. For example, the 1651 Navigation Act differentiated between the types of goods. Both British ships and ships from other European countries were allowed to transport European goods to Britain. In contrast, items from abroad, such as in Africa, could only be transported by using British or British colonial ships. Likewise, only British ships could engage trade off that country's coast. This particular act was meant to challenge another powerful maritime country, the Netherlands. The Purpose of the Navigation ActsThe overall purpose of the Navigation Acts was:
The legislation was protectionist. However, even though the first Navigation Act was issued in 1651, it was only toward the middle of the following century that Britain’s enforcement of these acts became more aggressive. One of the main reasons for their enforcement was the need to pay off war debts from the French and Indian War (1754–1763) in North America and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) in Europe. The Acts also helped exert greater control over the American colonies by issuing duties on key goods, such as tobacco and molasses. Protectionism is an economic system that protects domestic manufacturing and trade by different methods including tariffs (taxes) on foreign goods. Tariffs are taxes attached to goods imported from a foreign country in order to protect the domestic economy. As a result, Britain’s Navigation Acts served as one of the main reasons for the growing dissatisfaction in its American colonies. Consequently, they were one of the catalysts for the American Revolution. The Navigation Acts should be viewed in the context of other British regulations such as the Molasses Act (1733) that contributed to dissent in the Thirteen Colonies. British MercantilismThe economic system of mercantilism arose in Europe in the 16th century. This was a time of important changes. Renaissance humanism arose in European culture and the arts. The continent’s monarchies, including Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, began exploring, conquering, and settling the world outside Europe. In economics, mercantilism began to replace Medieval feudalism in which land access was exchanged for labor and service. However, the institution of feudalism as a whole—with its political, legal, and social implications—was slower to decline.
Important DatesIn the 17th-18th centuries, Britain released several protectionist Navigation Acts which covered maritime trade, imports, and exports. Britain also issued other related regulations which impacted colonial economics. DateLegislation1651Act for Increase of Shipping, and Encouragement of the Navigation of this Nation 1660Act for the Encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation 1663Act for the Encouragement of Trade 1673Act for the Encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland Trades 1696Act for Preventing Frauds and Regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade 1733Molasses Act 1764Sugar Act 1764Currency Act 1765Stamp Act 1766Revenue Act1767Free Port Act1767Townsend Act The Navigation Act: Effects on the ColoniesThe British Navigation Acts significantly contributed to the growing dissent in the American colonies. The Acts prohibited the colonies from trading with countries other than Britain—or its colonies elsewhere—and trade was to be conducted by using British vessels. The unpopularity of these regulations was only matched by the way they were ignored or disobeyed outright—by smuggling. Fig. 2 - Thirteen Colonies in 1774, McConnell Map Co, 1919. Issues with the Navigation ActsThere were a number of issues linked to the Navigation Acts. They affected colonial economies and increased British control over the American settlements. The Navigation Acts of 1651 Related to Colonial LifeBritain’s initial Navigation Act of 1651 sought to protect its trade.
Disobeying the Navigation Acts also served as the justification for increasing British control over its American settlements by converting them to royal (crown) colonies. For instance, in 1692 the Massachusetts Bay colony became a royal colony after its charter was revoked. This event came in the wake of the 1684 ruling by a Court in Britain that the colony deliberately violated British regulations such as the Navigation Acts. The British crown went further and established the Dominion of New England by revoking the charters of other colonies in its geographic proximity. Sir Edmund Andros took on the role of a central administrator of this vast territory. In Virginia, the dissatisfaction with the Navigation Acts even led to Bacon’s Rebellion (1675-1676), according to some historians.
Fig. 3 - The Burning of Jamestown, by Howard Pyle, c. 1905. Other LegislationLater on, the purpose of the 1733 Molasses Act was to challenge Britain’s French commercial competitors in the West Indies.
The French and Indian WarThe French and Indian War (1754–1763) took place between France and Britain with support from different Indigenous tribes on each side. The two European powers sought to control the upper Ohio River Valley. As was sometimes the case with colonial conflicts, the French and Indian War was linked to Europe's Seven Years' War (1756-1763). As a result of this conflict, the French essentially lost control of their colonies east of the Mississippi River through the Treaty of Paris (1763). Despite the territorial gain in North America, the British incurred significant debt from these two wars. From the British perspective, additional land benefitted the colonies, whereas the British troops protected them from the Indigenous tribes. In the eyes of the Americans, however, they already paid for this new territory in blood. Furthermore, many colonists did not fear the French and considered this conflict Britain’s problem. Taxation without representation was another key issue. American colonists believed that paying taxes to Britain should offer them a voice in the British Parliament. The British decision to additionally tax the colonies, therefore, became one of the key reasons for the American Revolution. |