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MODULE 2.4 The Eighteenth-Century Atlantic Economy 101

While France’s mercantile system was limited by the size of its empire, England ben-
efited more fully from such policies. The English crown had access to a far wider array of
These sample pages are distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
natural resources from which to manufacture goods. In 1651, under Oliver Cromwell,
Parliament passed the first Navigation Act, which King Charles II renewed in 1660 after
the restoration.
Over the next three decades, Parliament passed a series of Navigation Acts that Navigation Acts
Copyright (c) 2024 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
required merchants to conduct trade with English colonies in English-owned ships. In Acts passed by Parliament
addition, certain items imported from foreign ports had to be carried in English ships or in in the 1650s and 1660s
ships with predominantly English crews. Finally, a list of “enumerated articles” — including that prohibited smuggling,

Strictly for use with its products. NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION.
tobacco, cotton, sugar, and indigo — had to be shipped from the colonies to England before established guidelines for
legal commerce, and set
being re-exported to foreign ports. Thus, the crown benefited directly and indirectly from duties on trade items.
nearly all commerce conducted by its colonies. While colonies were hurt by these limitations
on their trade, they also sometimes benefited, such as when Parliament helped subsidize the
development of indigo in South Carolina.

AP ® WORKING with EVIDENCE

Source: British Parliament, Navigation Act, 1660
“Be it enacted, etc., that no commodity of the growth, production, or
manufacture of Europe, shall be imported into any . . . colony, territory,
or place, to his Majesty belonging . . . in Asia, Africa, or America . . ., but
which shall be . . . shipped in England . . . in English-built shipping . . .; and
whereof . . . three fourths of the mariners, at least, are English, and which
shall be carried directly thence to the said . . . colonies . . . and from no
other place or places whatsoever; . . . under the penalty of the loss of all
such commodities. . . .”
Questions for Analysis
1. Identify the rules that regulated exports to the colonies.
2. Describe the penalties for merchants who broke these rules.
3. Explain the reasons governing authorities in England could have used to justify the
Navigation Acts.

In 1663, Parliament expanded its imperial reach through additional Navi- AP EXAM TIP
®
gation Acts, which required that goods sent from Europe to English colonies also
pass through British ports. And a decade later, ship captains had to pay a duty or Mercantilism and the
post bond before carrying enumerated articles between colonial ports. These acts development of an Atlantic
economy are required in
ensured not only greater British control over shipping but also additional revenue the AP Course and Exam
®
for the crown, as captains paid duties in West Indies, mainland North American, Description. The concepts,
and British ports. Beginning in 1673, England sent customs officials to the colonies which overlap, are often used
to enforce the various parliamentary acts. By 1680, London, Bristol, and Liverpool as the main topics in long ®
all thrived as barrels of sugar and tobacco and stacks of deer and beaver skins were essay questions on the AP
Exam. Be able to give in-depth
unloaded and bolts of dyed cloth and cases of metal tools and guns were put on definitions for each, and try
board for the return voyage. to describe how these two
As mechanization and manufacturing expanded in England, Parliament sought to developments shaped each
keep the profits at home by suppressing the growth of industry in the colonies. It thus pro- other.
hibited the sale of products such as American-made textiles (1699), hats (1732), and iron
goods (1750). In addition, Parliament worked to restrict trade among the North Ameri-
can colonies, especially between those on the mainland and in the West Indies.

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