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The Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed by the English Parliament in the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. Their goal was to control maritime trade and increase revenue from their colonies. The conflicts of interest generated by the Navigation Acts originated the Anglo-Dutch wars, since the Netherlands was a naval power with which England competed; This eventually sparked the American War of Independence. These laws were an effort to further the development of mercantilism and combat the threat of the rapid growth of Dutch trade. These laws became a milestone in the rise of England as the predominant naval power.
Background
When the Navigation Acts were passed, England already had a long tradition of commercial law. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, a law had been passed under the reign of Richard II requiring that all English imports and exports be made only in English-owned ships, excluding ships from participating in trade with England. from other countries. Later, under the reign of Henry VIII, the scope of this law was extended and it was required that merchant ships also had been built in England, with a mostly English crew.
England’s mercantile policy was associated with the expansion of its empire with the establishment of multiple colonies, issuing royal charters and patents aimed at strengthening control of English maritime trade. The regulation of the transport of tobacco, one of the main products of the North American colonies, and the prohibition of the entry of merchandise from France, constituted antecedents of the Navigation Acts.
The Navigation Acts
Beginning in 1651, the English Parliament passed a series of laws called the Navigation Acts, which made it possible to boost England’s maritime trade and increase the transfer of resources from its colonies. These laws made all the colonies subordinate under the English parliament, which thus developed an imperial policy. Parliament forbade any industrial development in the colonies that might compete with England and monopolized the colonies’ trade with England, shutting down the participation of other powers.
The collection of the English customs increased more than three times between 1643 and 1659, and increased tenfold towards the end of the century. The Netherlands was the dominant maritime power at the time and the Navigation Acts sought to protect English interests. This generated three armed conflicts called the Anglo-Dutch Wars: from 1652 to 1654, from 1665 to 1667 and from 1672 to 1674.
The Navigation Records are listed below.
In 1651 the English Parliament, controlled by Oliver Cromwell, passed a law that prohibited foreign ships from engaging in trade with the English colonies. It included a specific ban on the transport of salted fish that affected Dutch traders.
A new law passed in 1660 reinforces that of 1651, increasing restrictions on the nationality of the crews of ships that traded between England and its colonies. As of the new rule, the minimum number of sailors of English origin on each ship should be 75% of the crew; if the condition were not met, the captains could lose both the ship and its cargo.
In 1663, a law was approved that forced merchandise from the English colonies to have to pass through England when being exported. In English ports the goods had to be inspected and duty paid before they set sail again. This law prevented the English colonies from developing their own commercial system, increasing the time and cost of transporting their products.
In 1673 a law was approved that stimulated trade with Greenland and the Baltic countries. This law increased England’s participation in the whale oil industry and in fishing in the Baltic Sea area. New customs duties were also instituted on merchandise traded between English colonies.
The law passed in 1690 toughens the regulations of the previous laws, granting the customs of the colonies a power similar to that of the English customs.
In 1733 the Sugar Law was approved. Trade in the American colonies was strictly restricted by legislation that had been passed up to that time, but perhaps no law had as much impact as the Sugar Act of 1733. This law, like the others, was designed to limit trade with the French West Indies. Sugar was a very important product and this law imposed a heavy tax on its importation: six pence for each gallon of sugar. This forced American rum distillers to buy cane sugar at the highest price in the British West Indies. The Sugar Act was in force for only thirty years, but in those three decades English revenues increased considerably.
The Sugar Law, which raised taxes on imported goods in already financially troubled colonies, forced merchants to raise their prices. Relevant people of the time such as Samuel Adams protested against the Sugar Law, arguing that its economic impact could be devastating for the colonies. Samuel Adams wrote about it:
… [ this law] annihilates our right to govern ourselves and generate our taxes. It strikes at our rights as Britons, rights which we have not relinquished and share with Britain’s native subjects. If taxes are imposed on us without our having any representation where they are approved, are we not reduced from the character of free subjects to the miserable state of tax slaves?
Instructions of Samuel Adams to the representatives of Boston, 1764. Own translation.
Repercussions of the Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts generated extensive benefits for the economic development of England. English port cities became commercial centers thanks to the exclusion of foreign merchants from the transactions of the British colonies.
The monopoly of English merchants allowed them to buy products at low prices and sell them at high prices, which meant an accumulation of capital. This capital would go to industry, in a commercial revolution that fueled the subsequent industrial revolution.
In turn, the colonies were an important market for English manufactures, limiting their industrial development. The State was a support of the industrial development of England, protecting its interests through war conflicts with the powers with which it competed, while internally it protected the interest of the bourgeoisie.
The expansion of the English merchant fleet took place, which became the most important of the time. At the same time the British navy developed which made England a global power, the leading maritime power of the 17th century.
On the other hand, the Navigation Acts generated deep discontent in the American colonies. The Navigation Acts are considered to be one of the direct causes of the subsequent American War of Independence, also commonly called the American Revolution.
Sources
- Broeze, Frank JA The New Economic History, the Navigation Acts, and the Continental Tobacco Market, 1770-90. The Economic History Review, 1973. Available at www.jstor.org/stable/2593704 .
- Navigation Acts . Digital History, 2021. www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=4102 .
- Rosas Bravo, Pedro. Oliver Cromwell. God’s Interpreter . Amazon Books , 2015.
- United States History. Navigation Acts , www.us-history.com/pages/h621.html .
- Samuel Adams Heritage Society. Samuel Adams’ Instructions to Boston’s Representatives .
