Navigation acts 1651 The Navigation act prohibited the use of foreign ships for trade between the colonies, other than Britain. The reason for the mercantilism was to keep all benefits in the empire. It was passed in 1651, but was renewed in 1660, 1663, 1670, and 1673. It was passed because of the deterioration of English trade after the Eighty Years’ War. The colonists followed the act except for the molasses part and starting smuggling goods that were taxed by the molasses act. The Navigation act and success from smuggling goods become a spark for rebellion.
“For cutting of trade our trade with all parts of the world” (¶ 18) this quote is directly related to the Navigation act because Great Britain cut off trade with all parts of the
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He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations. (¶9) This relates to French and Indian war/ the port because the reason for fighting the Indians was for more settling. Once the colonists won the land they were told that they could not settle there.
Writs of Assistance 1761 The Writs of Assistance was a law passed by the British in the year 1761. It allowed loyalists with search warrants to enter homes or buildings to search for smuggled goods. The reason that the law was passed was because the colonists were paying the taxes and instead smuggling goods. The British established the rule to prevent the colonists from smuggling goods. Colonists reacted angrily because they believed search their house without their consent went against their natural rights. “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” (¶26) Writs of assistance violated colonial privacy and it changed the life of the colonists. If a colonial house is looked at like a sea then plundering the seas and ravaging the coasts are the equivalent of stealing (plundering) and controlling the area around (ravaging the coasts).
Boston Tea Party/Boston Port Act 1763 and 1774 In December of 1763 colonists dressed up as Indians and marched to British ships in
The Navigation Act of 1651 was an attempt to put more control over where and who England could trade with. It was decided that only English ships could carry goods that were going to and from the colonies. The English government was trying to have a close watch on England’s Imports and Exports. This
For example, as directed by the Navigation laws, Virginia tobacco planters who played by the rules could only sell their products to England, even if other countries were offering a higher price. The Americans answer to this was to largely ignore the mercantile system and smuggle their products to other ports.
Soon the Quartering Act was passed, directing the colonies to provide quarters for British soldiers. Americans found this oppressive because it meant that soldiers were placed in colonial homes. In 1764 Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a duty on most printed materials. This was a normal tax for the British as it had been going on in Britain for a long time, and it made sense that the rest of their empire would pay the same tax. This placed a burden on merchants and the colonial elite who did most legal transactions and read the newspapers. Also passed in the same year was the Declaratory Act, which stated that the colonies were subject to the will of Parliament. This made a lot of sense to the British, as Parliament was their ruling body, but, to the colonies who had become used to their own government during the years of salutory neglect, this was a direct threat to their way of life.
Navigation Acts- During the reign of Charles II, these acts were devised to allow English control of colonial trade. The Navigation Act of 1651 required hat goods be carried on ships owned by English or Colonial merchants. Later on, the acts kept the British sugar trade in hands of British merchants.
To insure that the American colonies would contribute to this overall sense of British wealth, various Navigation Acts were passed beginning in 1650 to regulate trade between the colonies, England, and the rest of the world. In many cases, ships carrying American products to other European countries had to stop in England first to pay duties before continuing onward. Also, goods traveling to and from America had to be
The writs of assistance was wrote by James Otis in 1763. The writs of assistance was used by police officers to search in people's homes and business for the smuggled goods.George Grenville is the one who lead the writs of assistance because the colonists were smuggling things so they could avoid paying taxes. The colonists were smuggling british goods into their homes and business. This event was located though the colonies
This document countered many of the other documents that were instated as colonial law by the British. One such example would be the Quartering Act, which allowed British soldiers positioned within the colonies to be allowed in the homes of any colonist. Acts
The mercantilist system was an imperial policy enforced by European nations in order to increase their wealth and fuel the economy by having their colonies provided raw material. The trade and Navigation Acts were a series of British laws mandating that all trade between England and its colonies must take place in British ships and have enumerated goods such as cotton, sugar, indigo, ginger, tobacco, rice, fur, lumber, tar, and pitch to be only sold to England. (Mercantilism) In Adams’s Plan of Treaties of 1776 Adams wrote that mercantilism was an unfair system and advocated for the “equal treatment in duties, navigation and commerce” (Hill, 198) in order “to gain free trade” (Hill, 198). “Every Navigation Act, every act of trade must be repealed. America and the East and West Indies and Africa too, must have equal liberty to trade with all the world, that the favoured inhabitants of Great-Britain have now” (Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 2).
To enforce the before mentioned acts, Townshend began to use the writs of assistance. The writs of assistance allowed British troops to search someone’s house for goods that were smuggled into America. Usually someone would have to obtain a warrant in order to search the house, but the writ allowed the house so be searched without a warrant and without even specifying what was being targeted in the inspection. The writs of assistance enraged the colonists more than any of the other acts. Before the laws would be enforced though, Townshend died (Hansen 141).
By 1763, the English
Salutary neglect was Britain’s practice of “turning a blind eye” toward colonial activity, predominantly economical activity. The British Order in Council of 1763 was a written document intended for the King, or other Britons, with a purpose of exposing the fact that the colonists were failing to pay their necessary taxes and made it clear that it was not fair to Britain to have a military establishment in North America to aid the colonists when the colonists were not financially supporting this establishment (document F). This document raised British awareness that the practice of salutary neglect in the colonies harmed profit levels that could be used to sustain a standing army in the colonies. As a result, the Navigation Acts of 1763 began to be enforced and only allowed British and American ships in colonial ports. In order to raise funds to pay for the war, Britain decided to tax the colonies on items such as stamps and paper(document G).
By 1765, at a Stamp Act Congress, all but four colonies were represented as the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” was passed. They were determined to let Parliament know that they were equal to British citizens, that there would be no “taxation without representation,” and all efforts to stop tax on colonists would continue (Kennedy, etal 2011.) Although Lord Rockingham, the predecessor of Grenville, sought to repeal of the Stamp Act, this in no way meant Parliament was conceding their control. In fact, while the Stamp Act was repealed, another called the “Declaratory Act of 1766,” gave Parliament the authority to make laws binding the American Colonies, “in all cases whatsoever.” In 1767, George III passed the Townshend Acts to collect tax on glass, lead, paints, paper and, tea. Recognizing that tea was a favorite among the Americans, it ensured greater revenue the British government. Again, the colonists’ rights for representation were ignored and they started to boycott British goods and ultimately, smuggle tea. When the Quartering Act was passed, which specified that colonists were to give room and board to British troops, tension began to rise. For two years, the colonists tolerated British troops on their soil and their dissatisfaction with the British Parliament and King George III became evident through many violent riots, abusiveness of tax collectors and destruction of property. According to Kennedy, etal (2011), Parliament, continually met with
Regarding the Navigation Acts, it should be noted that although England created these acts to benefit the mother country, they were overall lax on punishment for those from the year 1651 until the acts were repealed in 1849. Since the acts promoted mercantilism while ensuring that England would truly reap the benefits by making more money and preventing the colonies from trading with other foreign nations. The first benefit of these acts is in relation to how the British followed the policy of salutary neglect. Due to not being able to truly enforce them, this brought forth smuggling around £700,000 worth of illegal goods (Smuggling, para. 2). Although some smugglers were caught, they were often let go by sympathetic juries in the American
The frustrations amongst colonists did not stop with the Proclamation Line. In 1764 the Revenue Act, more commonly known as the Sugar Act was passed cutting the duty on molasses in half. Though the reduction in duty was favorable, the act also meant that ships carrying cargo were very closely monitored and those who breached laws regarding duty were tried in juryless admiralty courts. Following the Revenue Act was the Currency act of 1764, which prohibited colonies from producing their own currency; the reasoning was to restrict colonists from paying off debt with currency that was worth less than face value.
March 5, 1770 – Boston Massacre – A crowd gathered, “a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and mulattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tars” as John Adams called them during the soldiers’ trial.