Navigation Acts in Colonial America

Navigation Acts in Colonial America

THE BRITISH MERCANTILE SYSTEM IN OPERATION. America had 13 colonies in 1765, and the young country was part of the British Empire, which had only the Atlantic Ocean as a "line of communication." The navigations laws of 1649 and 1651 were "reenacted with modifications in 1660 by the Restoration Parliament" (p. 7) and they then became the "basic Navigation Act" of that era. What did the Navigation Act provide? The answer is, to protect England's hold on its empire, and keep the Dutch competition from pushing into the lucrative shipping trade England enjoyed, "no goods (after Dec. 1, 1660) or commodities whatsoever should be imported into or exported out of any colonies or plantations in Asia, Africa, or America," that were the property of "...or might in the future be acquired by, the King of England." And only English vessels could carry goods in and out of the Mother Country. Basically this was a monopolistic policy imposed by the British; the goods that were part of this decree included tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton-wool, ginger, fustic, hemp, rice, molasses, beaver skins, furs, copper ore, coffee, pimento, cocoa nuts, whale fins, raw silk, hides, and more. Additionally, the British offered colonial producers of goods like sugar, tobacco, hides, iron, lumber and silk "bounties" (bonuses) when they were delivered exclusively to England. But the colonists didn't gripe, because it kept foreign competition out of their trade relationship with England and gave the colonies

CHAPTER #2: WERE THE NAVIGATION ACTS OPPRESSIVE? Shipbuilding became a profitable industry in the colonies; in fact, by 1775 (p. 32), "nearly one third of all the ships in Britain registered as English were colonial built." The Navigation Act had "become an important source of colonial prosperity which was shared by every colony." The three "enumerated" products (which were given special attention and certain perks and monitored closely by England, which demanded nearly exclusive rights to colonial exports) from the colonies were tobacco, indigo, and rice. But the market for all three enumerated products fell off considerably after the Revolutionary War, the author points out. "While England remained their best market, total exports (for rice) for the five years beginning in 1782 were less than half what they had been in the five-year period before (p. 41). Meanwhile, the woolens act, the hat act, and the iron bill were all believed to be "hostile to colonial manufacturing" (p. 44), but Dickerson writes that they were relatively mild. Meanwhile, the bounties England paid to the colonies ended around the eve of the Revolution (they included naval items such as "tar, pitch, resin...masts..."), lumber, "cooperage materials made of white oak," and indigo (p. 49). The point of this chapter, overall, is that "those who condemn the Navigation Acts" were wrong, since the "colonies were prosperous and wages of labor" where above what workers in other nations received (pp. 51-52). Indeed, "no case can be made out for the navigation Acts as a cause of the Revolution..." (p. 55).

CHAPTER #3: EVASION OF THE NAVIGATION ACTS. The author explains that there were not many chances for the colonists to disobey the Navigation Acts, especially in cases like tobacco, which was bulky and pungent in its odor. The complaining about the Navigation Acts was loud and angry in England itself, as "Englishmen complained that Americans could buy both foreign and English-made goods cheaper than could the resident of England, and that the Englishman was taxed for the benefit of the American," the author explained on page 75. But what the bounties did was to discourage the American colonists from trying to profit from "illegal" trade with foreign countries outside of England. Dickerson constantly makes the case that it was either difficult for the colonies to get around the Navigation Acts, or it just wasn't worth it since money was being made by American merchants, and it was good money, and many were living as well or better than aristocracy in England. The instances that Dickerson mentions where the British laws were thwarted were not so much by the colonist growers and manufacturers as they were by the customhouse officials and shipmasters themselves (who "probably deliberately forged their papers" from time to time). And undoubtedly the local customs officer "accepted more for his own personal use than he recorded for the government" (p. 85), the author continued.

CHAPTER #5: ATTITUDE OF LEADING AMERICANS. The writings of Samuel Adams carried a lot of weight with New Englanders in the years leading up to the Revolution, Dickerson writes; in fact Adams' writings (even though he used fictitious names) became "the political bible of the Revolution" (p. 104). The attitude expressed by Samuel Adams - which reflected not necessarily his own person views, but the views of groups from Boston - was that England had a right to pass laws such as the Stamp Act, but it was also the duty of colonists to "resist taxation" where it was unreasonable, and designed only to raise money for the furtherance of the British Empire. Dickerson's theme throughout this book is that many historians are wrong to suggest that all of the colonies were raging against the Navigation Acts; again and again he insists that "nowhere" did this person or that person "attack the Navigation Acts themselves" (p. 110). The list is long, including Ben Franklin, of important people who didn't talk about the Navigation Acts much at all, although Franklin did write eloquently about the desire of the colonies to become independent and not be taxed too much. Even the widely read and highly respected revolutionary Thomas Paine (p. 137) did not complain about the Navigation Acts.

CHAPTER #6: NEW LEADERS AND NEW POLICIES. In this chapter Dickerson sets the stage for the American Revolution by pointing out that "England was without effective political leadership" (p. 162) and meanwhile English merchants "were heavily committed financially to continued American prosperity" (p. 163). In other words, the British merchants were making a lot of money off the colonists, and they wanted to keep it that way; "...they were the friends of America...suspicious of or hostile to the new schemes" of the government that might hurt the colonists.

CHAPTER #7: THE SUGAR ACT. The author notes that while the Sugar Act (1764) "has usually been discussed as a taxation measure" (p. 179), in fact only six of the sections had to do with new taxes, while "more than 40" sections had to do with a totally new relationship between England and her colonies. That relationship was arrogant and pushy on the part of the British. One of the provisions that was unreasonable was that all ships found beyond seven miles of the coast had to carry paperwork that documented cargo, a "description of each package, its contents, by whom shipped, and its destination." And to get the paperwork itself (the "cocket") the captain had to pay for it; if the ship did not have the proper paperwork or it didn't cover all the goods on board, the goods were confiscated (and one-third of the goods went to the person who informed; one-third to the governor of the jurisdiction where the goods were seized; one-third to the British treasury). Dickerson writes (180) that it was clearly very difficult for any ship's captain to know for sure if he was 7 miles out; this Sugar Act (186) amounted to "direct taxation of the colonies for imperial purposes." It was fuel for dissent and rebellion.

CHAPTER #8: OTHER TAX MEASURES: The Townshend Acts Stamp Act (1765) applied to all colonies, and Newfoundland, Canada, and the West Indies, and stirred "intense" protests within the American colonies that hadn't been aroused before. Basically, the act required taxes on more and more items being shipped (newspapers, almanacs, licenses, advertisements, commissions, etc.). It was opposed not only by the colonists, but also by the British merchants. Next came the Tea Act (1767) that Dickerson writes (196) "...was designed to encourage the use of tea in the colonies" (mainly tea from England) and actually repealed the excise duty. The Revenue Act was "anti-trade" and taxed glass, lead, "painters colors" and paper. Dickerson, as usual, reported all the tax data that resulted from the acts he discusses.

CHAPTER #9: ERA OF CUSTOMS RACKTEERING. Dickerson points out that the new and unfair taxation alone did not cause enough dissent to start a revolution. But the manner in which the new laws were enforced was a source of great friction; indeed, the officers sent to the colonies from England to install the new system "...entered upon their new duties with the attitude of the staff of an army occupying an enemy country" (p. 210). This chapter shows how colonists responded to and sometimes skirted the new, tough, autocratic laws; for one thing, a black market emerged; "stool pigeons" were paid by British customs people to spy on colonial ships and goods and report them like narcotics officers infiltrating drug rings. This chapter is 59 pages, much of it documenting instances of corruption arrogance on the part of the Mother Country. In looking over "...thousands of pages of records" on this period, Dickerson writes that he couldn't find "a single instance" in enforcement of the Townshend Acts that the British "expressed the remotest interest in promoting the trade of the Empire." It was purely harassment and fundraising for the Empire, and the colonies now had one more solid reason to rebel.