Mercantile System & The Navigation Acts

1. Mercantile System & The Navigation Acts • Oliver Cromwell & colonial trade • 1651 – Parliament adopted the Navigation Act • Required that all goods imported to England or the colonies be carried only on English ships and that the majority of each crew be English. • World’s gold and silver fixed • One nation could gain wealth only at the expense of another – by seizing its gold and silver and dominating its trade. Led to the development and protection of shipping. • 1660 – Navigation Act • Ship’s crews must be ¾ English (not just a majority) • Enumerated (products grown or extracted from the colonies) goods • 1663 – Navigation Act • All colonial imports from Europe to America stop first in England, be offloaded, and have duty paid on them before shipping to America • Results • England had a monopoly on tobacco and sugar from the Chesapeake and West Indies. • Customs revenues increased • Enriched English shipbuilders • American colonies became more important to England’s economy

2. Enforcing the Navigation Acts • Enforcement of the Navigations Acts was spotty at best • Charles I – bureaucracy of colonial administrators • Charles II – Lords of Trade • 1670’s – Customs duties appeared in all colonies • Surveyor General – Edward Randolph • 1678 – Massachusetts legislature declared Navigation Acts had no legal standing in the colonies • 1684 – Lords of Trade won a court decision the annulled the charter of Massachusetts

3. The Dominion of New England • James II succeeded Charles II • James II approved a proposal to create a Dominion of New England (all colonies south through New Jersey) • Sir Edmund Andros appointed royal governor in 1686 in Boston. • Rule reached from Massachusetts to Connecticut, Rhode Island and eventually New York and East & West Jersey. • Andros’s presence and leadership led to great resentment in the colonies. • Dominion of New England fell apart with England’s Glorious Revolution in 1688

4. The Glorious Revolution in America • James II fled to France and Protestant Mary Stuart & husband William III of Orange invited to assume the throne as joint monarchs. • Colonist’s response to William & Mary’s arrival to the throne • Andros and councilors were arrested • Massachusetts reverted to its former government • Long term effects of the Glorious Revolution in America • Bill of Rights & Act of Toleration – 1689 • James II overthrow set precedent for revolution against a monarch

5. An Emerging Colonial System & Salutary Neglect • Refinement of the Navigation Acts under William and Mary • Act to Prevent Frauds and Abuses of 1696 – colonial governors required to enforce trade laws. Writs of assistance • Lords Commissioners of Trades and Plantation (Board of Trade) – investigate enforcement of Navigation Acts • Salutary Neglect • 1696 – 1725 – Board of Trade worked to enforce Navigation Acts and assert royal control. However, deaths and inconsistencies in leadership led to “a wise and salutary neglect” of the colonies. • Relaxed policies towards the colonies gave them greater freedom to pursue their economic interests and consequently enabled them to pursue greater political independence

6. Powers of the Governors • Crown never vetoed acts of Parliament after 1707 • Colonial governors held absolute veto powers • Crown could disallow colonial legislation on advice of the Board of Trade • Governor still had power to determine when and where it would meet, legislative sessions, and dissolve the assembly for new elections/postponement of elections • In short, colonial governors could appoint and remove officials, command the militia and naval forces, and grant pardons.

7. Powers of the Assemblies • Members of the council were NOT appointed by an outside authority (i.e. crown/proprietor), they were elected officials • Women, children, Native Americans, and African Americans were excluded from the political process – why? • Early 18th century, the colonial assemblies held two important strands of power: • Purse strings – right to vote on taxes and expenditures • Power to initiate legislation • “Self-government became first a habit then a “right.”