Navigation Acts, in English history, name given to certain parliamentary legislation, more properly called the British Acts of Trade. The acts were an outgrowth of mercantilism, and followed principles laid down by Tudor and early Stuart trade regulations. They had as their purpose the expansion of
the English carrying trade, the provision from the colonies of materials England could not produce, and the establishment of colonial markets for English manufactures. The rise of the Dutch carrying trade, which threatened to drive English shipping from the seas, was the immediate cause for the Navigation Act of 1651, and it in turn was a major cause of the First Dutch War. It
forbade the importation of plantation commodities of Asia, Africa, and America except in ships owned by Englishmen. European goods could be brought into England and English possessions only in ships belonging to Englishmen, to people of the country where the cargo was produced, or to people of the country receiving first shipment. This piece of Commonwealth legislation was substantially reenacted in the First Navigation Act of 1660 (confirmed 1661). The First Act enumerated such colonial
articles as sugar, tobacco, cotton, and indigo; these were to be supplied only to England. This act was expanded and altered by the succeeding Navigation Acts of 1662, 1663, 1670, 1673, and by the Act to Prevent Frauds and Abuses of 1696. In the act of 1663 the important staple principle required that all foreign goods be shipped to the American colonies through English ports. In return for restrictions on manufacturing and the regulation of trade, colonial commodities were often given a
monopoly of the English market and preferential tariff treatment. Thus Americans benefited when tobacco cultivation was made illegal within England, and British West Indian planters were aided by high duties on French sugar. But resentments developed. The Molasses Act of 1733, which raised duties on French West Indian sugar, angered Americans by forcing them to buy the more expensive British West Indian sugar. Extensive smuggling resulted. American historians disagree on whether or not the
advantages of the acts outweighed the disadvantages from a colonial point of view. It is clear, however, that the acts hindered the development of manufacturing in the colonies and were a focus of the agitation preceding the American Revolution. Vigorous attempts to prevent smuggling in the American colonies after 1765 led to arbitrary seizures of ships and aroused hostility. The legislation had an unfavorable effect on the Channel Islands, Scotland (before the Act of Union of 1707), and
especially Ireland, by excluding them from a preferential position within the system. Shaken by the American Revolution, the system, along with mercantilism, fell into decline. The acts were finally repealed in 1849. See studies by G. L. Beer (1907–13); L. A. Harper, The English Navigation Laws (1939, repr. 1964); O. M. Dickerson, The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution (1951, repr. 1974). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,
6th ed. Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History The Navigation Acts were passed by the English Parliament in the 17th century. The Acts were originally aimed at excluding the Dutch from the profits made by English trade. The mercantilist theory behind the Navigation Acts assumed that world trade was fixed and the colonies existed for the parent country. The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1696 restricted American trade in the following ways:
Before 1763 the English civil war and the Glorious Revolution were taking place in Europe. During this time the British were busy with the wars in Europe and didn’t enforce the Navigation Acts. Colonist then stopped following the laws, and smuggling and bribery became common. The colonists began trading with non-British colonies in the Caribbean, which helped many colonial merchants and farmers to prosper. Britain tried to enforce these laws after the French and Indian War, but the colonists objected, and these acts aroused great hostility in the American colonies. The Navigation Acts were finally revoked in 1849 after the Britain supported the policy of free trade. The Navigation Acts were a series of laws imposed by England’s Parliament in the late 1600s to regulate English ships and restrict trade and commerce with other nations. In the 1760s, Parliament made significant changes to the Navigation Acts in order to increase colonial revenue, thus directly influencing the onset of revolution in the colonies. Key Takeaways: The Navigation Acts
BackgroundBy the time the Navigation Acts were first enacted in the 17th century, England had a long history of mercantile legislation. In the late 1300s, a law was passed under King Richard II stating that English imports and exports could only be transported in English-owned ships, and no trade or commerce could be undertaken in vessels owned by foreign parties. Two centuries later, Henry VIII declared that all mercantile ships had to be not only English-owned, but also built in England and consisting of a majority English-born crew. These policies helped expand the British empire when colonialism began to take root, and charters and royal patents were issued that continued the tradition of English control over maritime commerce. In particular, legislation regulating the transport of tobacco—a major commodity from the North American colonies —and the prohibition of French goods laid the foundation for the eventual passage of the Navigation Acts. Navigation Acts in the 1600sIn the latter part of the seventeenth century, a series of laws called the Navigation Acts were passed, in part due to demand by merchants. These laws allowed Parliament to rigidly define all matters of maritime shipping and trade. Each successive Navigation Act is listed below beneath each act's official title. An Act for increase of Shipping, and Encouragement of the Navigation of this Nation (1651)Passed by Parliament under Oliver Cromwell, this law gave the Commonwealth the power to pass further legislation regulating international trade. It also reinforced the previously existing statute that forbade foreign-owned ships from importing or exporting goods to or from England or its colonies. A specific prohibition against the transport of salted fish was aimed at Dutch merchants. An Act for the Encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation (1660)This law further strengthened the Act of 1651. It also tightened restrictions on crew nationality, increasing the required number of English-born sailors from "a majority" to a strict 75%. Captains who failed to ensure this ratio could be forced to forfeit their ship and its contents. An Act for the Encouragement of Trade (1663)This law required that any and all cargo bound for the American colonies or other countries had to be routed through England for inspection, and taxes had to be paid upon the goods before they could leave English ports. In effect, this law blocked colonists from forming their own trade economy. In addition,the law led to increased shipping time, which resulted in higher costs on goods. An Act for the Encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland Trades (1673)This law increased England’s presence in the whale oil and fishing industries in the Baltic region. It also instituted customs charges on goods traveling from one colony to another. The Plantation Trade Act (1690)This law tightened up regulations from previous Acts and gave colonial customs agents the same scope of power as their counterparts in England. The Molasses Act of 1733Commerce in the American colonies was tightly restricted by this series of laws restricting trade, but perhaps no Act had as much impact as the Molasses Act of 1733. This law, like the others, was designed to limit trade from the French West Indies. Molasses was a hot commodity, but this act imposed a steep import tax on the product—sixpence on each gallon of molasses—which forced American colonists to buy the more expensive cane sugar from the British West Indies. The Molasses Act was in effect for just thirty years, but those three decades increased English revenue considerably. The year after the Molasses Act expired, Parliament passed the Sugar Act. The Sugar Act increased taxes on goods imported into the already financially-strapped colonies, forcing merchants to raise prices. Figures such as Samuel Adams protested against the Sugar Act, believing that its economic impact could be devastating for colonists. Adams wrote: "[This law] annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves – It strikes our British Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Britain: If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves?" Consequences of the Navigation ActsIn England, the Navigation Acts had clear benefits. In addition to creating decades of economic upswing, the Navigation Acts turned English port cities into hubs of commerce thanks to the exclusion of foreign shippers. London, in particular, benefited from the Navigation Acts, and the eventual rapid growth of the Royal Navy helped England become a maritime superpower in the seventeenth century. In the American colonies, however, the Navigation Acts led to significant upheaval. The colonists felt unrepresented by Parliament, and although most of the Acts had little effect on the average colonist, they drastically affected the livelihoods of merchants. As a result, merchants vocally protested the laws. The Navigation Acts are considered one of the direct causes of the American Revolution. Sources
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