Navigation Act

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 17^th and 18^th 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.

Fig. 1 - The Battle of Terheide, by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten, ca. 1653-1666.

Navigation Act: Definition

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.

The Purpose of the Navigation Acts

The overall purpose of the Navigation Acts was:

1. to grow British trade and shipping around the world,
2. and to restrict other European countries from challenging Britain.

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.

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 Mercantilism

The economic system of mercantilism arose in Europe in the 16^th 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.

• Mercantilism was a European economic system of the 16th-early 18th century that used such measures as tariffs in order to protect trade by increasing exports, decreasing imports, and preventing the colonies from purchasing foreign products. Mercantilism also used a system of processing raw materials into usable products in the colonies.
• The system of mercantilism presupposed limits to the amount of global wealth available. This belief prompted the European powers to fight for what they perceived to be their share. One way in which European countries attempted to grow wealth was by growing trade through exports and minimizing imports with tariffs.
• Mercantilism also used the export of raw materials from the colonies into other colonies for processing and then their sale back to Europe. This system made the empires self-sufficient. The European countries even resorted to military conflicts in order to protect trade routes and access to markets as part of mercantilism.

Important Dates

In 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.

The Navigation Act: Effects on the Colonies

The 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 Acts

There 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 Life

Britain’s initial Navigation Act of 1651 sought to protect its trade.

1. First, it ordered a British inspection for exports from its colonies before being able to enter the rest of Europe.
2. Second, this Act prohibited foreign ships from conducting trade operations along the coast of Britain. This Act specifically targeted the Dutch—Britain’s main maritime competitor at this time.

Disobeying the Navigation Acts also served as the justification for increasing British control over its American settlements by converting them to royal (crown) colonies.

In Virginia, the dissatisfaction with the Navigation Acts even led to Bacon’s Rebellion (1675-1676), according to some historians.

• Virginia relied on tobacco exports, and the price reduction in the 1660s left many locals placing the blame onto Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor of the territory. The Navigation Acts and several other grievances spilled over into a rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon. In the short term, the results of Bacon's Rebellion limited the governor’s power but also increased the slave trade. Some scholars view events like this early revolt as one of the precursors of American independence. Others believe the rebellion was primarily about a local power struggle.

Fig. 3 - The Burning of Jamestown, by Howard Pyle, c. 1905.

Other Legislation

Later on, the purpose of the 1733 Molasses Act was to challenge Britain’s French commercial competitors in the West Indies.

• Molasses was used to make certain types of sugar and was a key ingredient in rum production. Britain sought to make its imported molasses more affordable by imposing a tax on this product coming from anywhere other than the British colonies. This measure negatively affected one of the main industries in New England: distilling and exporting rum. The colony bypassed this measure through smuggling. This type of illegal activity prompted Britain to issue the Sugar Act in 1764 which increased colonial dissatisfaction even further. The stringent enforcement of the growing list of British regulations toward the middle of the 18th century greatly contributed to dissent in the American colonies.

The French and Indian War

The 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.

Fig. 4 - Treaty of Paris, 1763.