Why did England want colonies at all? The answer is an economic idea that ruled European empires in this era. It links the colonial economies you have studied to the quarrel that would later break the empire apart.
Key idea
Why it works
| Law | Year | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation Act | 1651 | Goods brought into England or its colonies from Asia, Africa or America had to come in English ships. |
| Navigation Act | 1660 | Listed "enumerated" goods (tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo and others) that could be shipped only to England or English colonies. |
| Molasses Act | 1733 | Taxed molasses from the French and Dutch islands; widely evaded by smuggling. |
Worked example: Who gains?
- English merchants and shippers get the trade and can resell tobacco to Europe at a profit.
- The English government collects customs duties.
- The planter may get a lower price, but his tobacco has a protected market in England.
Answer: England gains most; the colonist gains some protection but loses freedom to sell where he likes.
Worked example: Salutary neglect
- Prime Minister Robert Walpole (1721 to 1742) thought a growing colonial trade would enrich Britain more than strict enforcement.
- Customs officers were few and smuggling was easy along a long coast.
- Britain was busy with wars in Europe.
Answer: Leniency seemed to pay, and strictness was hard. The phrase "wise and salutary neglect" is Edmund Burke's, from 1775.
Because of this long leniency, colonists grew used to trading, smuggling and governing themselves with little interference. When Britain began enforcing the laws and adding new taxes after 1763, the change felt like an attack on their rights.
Common mistake