Warpole believed that a certain degree of non-intervention was necessary to ensure the cooperation and obedience of colonists much to the benefit of England. If the colonist believed that they were able to practice some level of self-determination, then it would serve to keep them more loyal to the crown.
Unlike those that may see the crown as being too authoritarian in their governance of the colonies. Though often avoided due to increased smuggling and non-compliance, the regulations imposed by the Navigation Acts became increasingly important to the economic strength and stability of the British Empire because of the access to raw materials found in North America; resources desperately needed in England.
Salutary neglect was essential in allowing merchants to independently and freely determine the path of their businesses, which in turn kept them satisfied.
During this era the colonists began to sow the seeds of economic and governmental self-determination that would eventually set the stage for the American Revolution. Local colonial assemblies formed throughout America. Access to the right to vote was often time restricted to land holding whites, but there was elected representatives none the less. Determining local political and economic policy due to the absence of British influence thanks to salutary neglect shaped American beliefs in self-rule and self-governance.
Following the events of the French and Indian War the British Empire was left in tremendous financial debt and the continuing practice of salutary neglect was no longer an option. The established wealthy planters wanted to protect their interests by restricting access to land that would allow for the creation of plantations to rival their own.
Bacon and his followers saw these actions as corrupt because Berkeley did not allow them to pursue their own economic interests as others maintained a stranglehold on the tobacco profits. Bacon and his followers levied charges of political corruption against both Governor Berkeley and the House of Burgesses. These charges ultimately led to a battle for political control between the two strong-willed men.
Bacon wanted swift and harsh action to be taken against the native tribes for their attacks on local settlements which Berkeley refused. Berkeley urged for a more cooperative relationship with the natives and a restriction of expansion plans by those in the west. Neither of those options was satisfactory to Bacon and simply furthered the divide between the two men. By , the Virginia House of Burgesses had restricted the vote of landless free white men who now made up more than half of the population in an effort to quell the growing voices of dissent.
Strong colonial voices sprang up to defend colonists against perceived British transgressions, Samuel Adams and John Hancock were some of the first to take up the mantle of independence.
Debates over taxation policies, representation in government, and the ever growing presence of British soldiers knows as redcoats in the colonies, ultimately led to the formation of resistance groups like the Sons of Liberty and events such as the Boston Massacre in and the Boston Tea Party in While there were several renditions of these acts, the policy was expanded to include certain products that were only allowed to be transported on English ships, such as indigo, sugar and tobacco products.
Unfortunately, the act was often not enforced due to difficulties with finding enough customs officials to handle the management.
Because of this, goods were often snuck in with other countries including the Dutch and the French West Indies. This was the very beginning of the triangular trade between the North American colonies, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.
Britain had the upper hand when it came to the illegal triangular trade. Despite it going against the Navigation Acts , here are a few ways Britain benefited:. The salutary neglect period ended as a consequence of the French and Indian War , also known as the Seven Years War, from years to This caused a large war debt that the British needed to pay off, and thus the policy was destroyed in the colonies.
Many believe that the French and Indian War affected the relationship between the British and the colonists by leading to the revolution. This is because the colonists were not worried about France if breaking away from Britain.
Once the British government became stricter in their enforcement of commerce laws after , protests and eventually calls for independence became more pronounced amongst the colonists. This would, of course, lead to the American Revolution. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. The law required that all goods shipped to and from the American colonies had to be carried on English ships.
This was an attempt at prohibiting colonists from engaging in trade with other countries besides England, according to the book Wars of the Age of Louis XIV:. The Navigation Act was primarily aimed at the Dutch, whom had colonized what is now New York state and had a monopoly in the North American trade industry.
This act consisted of a series of acts: the Navigation Act of , the Navigation Act of , the Navigation Act of and the Navigation Act of The additional Navigation Acts continued the policies of the act by adding to the list of items that could only be shipped on English ships, which included sugar, tobacco, cotton-wool, indigo, ginger, fustic and etc and requiring ships heading to the American colonies to first stop at English ports for inspection and payment of extra duties.
Despite passing the Navigation Act, the British government rarely enforced it in the colonies, mostly because it was difficult to do so. The colonies had ports all along the colonial coastline which would have required the government to send over a large number of customs officials to regulate.
As a result, American colonists ignored the law and continued to smuggle goods and trade regularly with both the Dutch and the French West Indies. Although it was unenforced, the Navigation Act of was a contributing factor in the First Anglo-Dutch war of , which was a naval war between the English and the Dutch over North American trade routes and colonial land.
The Navigation Act also caused a ripple effect in the colonies when the war it started led to tension in the New England Confederation , an alliance formed between the New England colonies to help bolster colonial defenses.
The goal of the Dominion of New England was to strengthen colonial defenses, appoint government officials in the colonies and help enforce the Navigation Act.
The problem was the mega colony was too large to run effectively and it quickly came to an end in after news of the Glorious Revolution in England prompted the rebellious colonists to overthrow the Dominion officials. The new King and Queen of England, Mary and William of Orange, made the Massachusetts Bay Colony a royal colony in and issued it a new charter with stricter rules than the original charter.
These changes caused a lot of unrest and anxiety in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and many historians believe it was one of the many underlying factors in the Salem Witch Trials of After Robert Walpole took over as the Lord of the Treasury in , a major change happened regarding colonial trade regulation and the government began to avoid enforcing trade laws. It is believed that Walpole, who served from to , and the Duke of Newcastle, who served as the secretary of state for the southern department from to were the creators of the salutary neglect policy.
Walpole and Newcastle had three main interests in colonial governance, according to the book An Economic History of the United States:. A source of patronage to help maintain a majority of supporters in Parliament 2.
Thus, from through the s, the American colonies were virtually de facto independent of British imperial control, an independence bolstered by a libertarian spirit and ideology eagerly imbibed from the radical libertarian English writers and journalists of the period.
The Board of Trade, the body principally responsible for enforcement of mercantilist legislation, was in an institutionally weak position from the end of the seventeenth century, becoming weaker in policy decisions especially after , and it would only become an effective enforcer of the law when reorganized in Newcastle, as Secretary of State Southern Department , came to the post without preparation on the details of the system, resulting in a suspension of much administrative activity while he learned the duties of his office after
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