How far do you agree that the Navigation Acts were the main reason for the growth of the British Empire in the years 1680- 1740?-Otto and Olivia

The Navigation Acts set the sails to the exponential increase of the BE, to a very high extent. The Navigation Acts ultimately protected English manufacturers, accumulated bullion, and allowed more growth to the marine fleet. However, other factors aided the growth of the BE to an extent, along with other factors; international relations, the growth of British ports, and trade and commerce, although, as one will see, all of these factors were either caused by, or were spearheaded by the Navigation Acts.
There were numerous Navigation Acts, mostly ranging from 1650- 1750, and over this period, they had helped the growth of the BE; the main purpose of the Navigation Acts was to stimulate English trade in order to strengthen the economy, which gave England a monopoly on trade…………….

‘The Navigation Acts main purpose was to stimulate Britain's trade and strengthen the British economy at the expense of all other nations. The Acts gave Britian a monopoly on trade, especially with the colonists in America, under British rule. England became a prosperous ship building center, creating many new jobs for the citizens of England. The goal of the Navigation Acts was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the Netherlands, France and other European countries.’- include some of this in the essay Otto :D, along with the sheet we got with the different types of navigation acts there were with the dates:
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England (after 1707 Great Britain) and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the Netherlands, France and other European countries. The original ordinance of 1651 was renewed at the Restoration by Acts of 1660 and 1663, and subsequently subject to minor amendment. These Acts also formed the basis for British overseas trade for nearly 200 years. On the whole, the Acts of Trade and Navigation were obeyed, except for the Molasses Act of 1733, which led to extensive smuggling because no effective means of enforcement was provided until the 1750s. Irritation with stricter enforcement under the Sugar Act of 1764 became one source of resentment by merchants in the American colonies against Great Britain, helping cause the American Revolution.

International relations, especially between other European countries (like the Netherlands for example), had greatly helped England to successfully follow through with trade. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (with William of Orange coming to England), Anglo- Dutch wars had stopped, which resulted in less expenditure on men, money, weaponry, and ships, and better trade routes, and more money to focus on the economy and trade………………

The growth of British ports was crucial in the growth of British economy, due to more materials being transported (due to an increase in transoceanic trade), more jobs being available, and more immigration arriving in Britain………
Talk about the support of the colonies in building ships for trade allowed English to increasingly exclude the dutch trading with amercias (which links to the navigation acts as they too, excluded other rival countries from trade, which further gave England more trade power and money)

Trade and commerce was another highly important factor for the growth of the BE; all of the previous factors merely aided trade, which, in turn, aided the growth of English economy which lead to a further increase in the BE……..
Include facts and figures about trade, include brief pointers of the SSC, RAC and EIC (plus fatcs and colony names and places)