North American Colonies Dbq Essay

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

The French and Indian War, was a war fought between France and Britain. The war was the product of an imperial struggle, a clash between the French and English over colonial territory and wealth. Great Britain claimed that the French provoked war by building forts along the Ohio River Valley. Virginia’s governor sent a militia to the French and Native American allies. The war started out badly for Great Britain, about 2,000 British and colonial troops were defeated by the French and Native Americans. For the first three years of the war, the outnumbered French dominated the battlefield, soundly defeating the English in battles at Fort Oswego and Ticonderoga. The British then began to make peace with important Indian allies, and under the

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.

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 effects after the French and Indian War created an unbalanced relationship between Britain and the British colonies. The victory allowed Britain to expand their territory, but also brought Britain in great debt. Britain believed that Parliament should have more authority over the colonists and so they put in Acts to enforce their rules. The many different Acts created resentment throughout the colonies towards their mother country. The French and Indian War also had the effect on the colonies and the colonists because they all fought together and were unified. Before the war, the colonies were very untrustful of each other, but the war helped them fight against a common enemy. The French and Indian War caused Britain to enforce

(Devore, Lecture #3.) Even though most of the credit was issued from England, it allowed the colonists to buy more things and further strengthen and enhance the cohesiveness of the colonies. By this time the colonies had already well established external trade relationships with both the Indians and other countries. One of their major trade partners was the West Indies, where the colonists procured molasses from which they made rum. (Devore, Lecture #3.) All of these economic developments – consumerism amongst the colonies, Anglicizing of the colonies, the newfound availability and use of credit and the abundance of external trade – play a major role in the reasons that lead up to the American Revolution.

The British were actually more reasonable than most Americans have traditionally believed. For example, the navigation laws, laws that regulated trade to and from the colonies, would be seen as an American grievance but were not really enforced by the British government until 1763, which allowed people to smuggle goods, “But the truth is that until 1763, the various navigation laws imposed no intolerable burden, mainly because there were only loosely enforced. Enterprising colonial merchants learned early to disregard or evade troublesome restrictions. Some of the

For the people of Europe the Americas was a place to prosper, worship in there own way, and expand there kingdoms. The only problem is that they attempted to settle in their own way and all failed dismally. The New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Colonies grew differently in various ways, but each with the same state of mind, “do it our way”. Examining the three sets of colonies will prove that they were all different in religion, government, and ways of expansion.

Where there is disagreement, there will be conflict. America has experienced many of these problems since colonial times, and the fundamental issues disputed caused sectionalism. Sectional crisis began when the North and the South first recognized their differences and their ideas of different interests. Since arriving in the New World, Americans have struggled to find identity and unity. Just how did the journey to discovering oneself lead to the bitter sectionalism that divided the country? Some may disagree, but sectionalism was closer than you think.

In the 1650’s, the British government longed to embellish its authority and establish more centralized control governing its Colonies. Parliament established the Navigation Acts which only allowed British vessels to ferry

Navigation acts: laws that restricted the use of foreign ships for the use of trade trade between Britain and its colonies

Relationships between the colonists and the British Empire dwindled more after the seven years war in ended in 1763. The taxes of certain cargo and acts developed more occurrent with both the British citizens in England and the colonists in America. The colonists grew towards the idea of independence during the time period of 1763 to 1783, due to the British taxes and tariffs placed upon the colonists and the political influence from both legislatures on the people.

The relations between England and the British North American colonies could always be considered precarious. Prior to 1750 British essentially followed a policy of benign neglect and political autonomy in the American colonies. (Davidson p.97) The colonies were for the most part content with benign neglect policy, relishing in a “greater equality and representative government”(Davidson p.95) within the colonies. Competition among European Imperial nations began to effect British policy toward North America colonies causing rapid shifts from 1750 to 1776. During this period, the British Empire made a series of policy decision that sealed the fate of the British North American

Americans were not at liberty to buy, sell, ship or manufacture under conditions that they found most profit. The Boston Gazette explained how the colonists felt about