To Whom it may concern,
I am here to request enforcement of British Mercantilist policies, including the Navigation Acts. The two main purposes of the Navigation Acts are: to protect British shipping against competition from foreign powers, and to grant British merchants a monopoly on colonial commodities increase their personal bullion supply. The set of laws passed in 1645-1663, provided the basis of the Navigation Acts. These acts set up several laws and restrictions that give Britain a monopoly on economic control, establish England as the main market for products/good for the colonies, and provide a steady bullion influx into Britain.
One of the first Navigation Acts passed in 1651 stated that goods could only enter England, Ireland, or the colonies aboard English ships. Additionally, colonial coastal trade had to be conducted only aboard English ships. Even the trade between foreign countries at colonial ports are limited to English vessels. Ships from other countries are excluded from colonial ports and can trade only at ports within the British Isles. The shipbuilding industry, particularly in New England, prospered. The second Navigation Act of 1660 reassured that goods could only be transported aboard English ships and set up a list of enumerated goods that had to be shipped directly to England, including sugar, cotton, tobacco, indigo, rice, molasses, apples, and wool. Tobacco plantations in the New World proved to be very successful and profitable, particularly in the Chesapeake region.
Until 1663, England required the colonies to sell their materials directly to English merchants or pay fees on goods sold to other countries. When the Parliament passed the Staple Act, it became illegal for colonies to buy products from foreign countries. Foreign countries will first need to ship their products to England which would then be transported to the Americas, or they can pay customs fees. England quickly became the main source for finished goods and the main market for raw materials. Additionally, we provide the colonies with military goods and protection from other nations and outside threats. The intent of this Navigation act was to prevent the colonies from trading with any other countries other than Great Britain, therefore England could set the price on products high and continue rise to the top of the global economic ladder.
All of these Navigation Acts came about in the context of Mercantilism, the dominant economic system of this time among all the European powers. According to mercantilist thought, a nation measures its wealth in bullion, or accumulated supply of gold. Then, because there is a finite supply of gold in the world, there is also a finite supply of wealth. To retain wealth in the mercantilist imperial economy, a trading power must utilize its colonies' resources within a closed-trade system, just like the Navigation Acts are implementing. Under all these acts, our British colonies all over the globe can import and export goods only in English vessels, and three-fourths of each crew must be English. Through the Navigation Acts, England is trying to establish itself as the gatekeeper of colonial imports and exports.
As long as the trade and navigation laws are limited to promotion of total commerce of the empire, they generally found support in eighteenth-century America. The enumerated products are still largely coming from the colonies that are loyal. The bounties were implemented largely to the colonies that revolted. With these laws and bounties, the colonies are acting correctly and providing us with all the materials we need.
Best Regards,
The British Parliament