Salutary Neglect and Mercantilism

Key Concept 2.2.I C&D

Key Concept Thesis 2.2.I.C

• The British government increasingly attempted to incorporate its North American colonies into a coherent, hierarchical, and imperial structure in order to pursue mercantilist economic aims, but conflicts with colonists and American Indians led to erratic enforcement of imperial policies.

Key Concept Thesis 2.2.I.D

• Colonists’ resistance to imperial control drew on local experiences of self-government, evolving ideas of liberty, the political thought of the enlightenment, greater religious independence and diversity, and an ideology critical of perceived corruption in the imperial system.

What is Mercantilism?

• Mercantilism- A system of political economy based on government regulation. Beginning in 1650, Britain enacted Navigation Acts that controlled colonial commerce and manufacturing for the enrichment of Britain.

What is Salutary Neglect?

• Established by Sir Robert Walpole

• British colonial policy of both George I and George II

• American self-government was allowed to flourish with relaxation of British policy enforcement due to the growth of trade and import duties.

British Mercantile System

• Because of the European rivalries that carried over to the New World, England constantly acted in its own interest and not the interest of the colonists themselves.

• Example: – Establishment of Georgia:

To protect South Carolina’s rice trade

British (cont.)

• Treaties were also important because often Britain would make treaties with European rivals without concern for the safety and well being of the American colonist

• Example: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

Mercantilism and the Colonies • America took advantage of Salutary Neglect.

• Not only were they selling goods to the British West Indies, but also the French colonies as well.

• This led the British Parliament to pass the Navigation Acts on goods like sugar and molasses and the Currency Act to stop the establishment of land banks.

• Land Banks- An institution that printed paper money and lent it to farmers, taking a lien on their land to ensure repayment

British Mercantilist Laws

• Navigation Acts

• Sugar Act

• Quartering Act

• Stamp Act

• Townshend Acts

• Tea Act

• Intolerable Acts

• Quebec Act

Navigation Acts (1650-1763)

• Put in place by England, the Navigation Acts required that goods be carried on ships owned by the English or colonial merchants.

• It also put restrictions on foreign traders, making the colonists export sugar and tobacco only to England.

• This was backed by strict military force.

Navigation Acts (cont.)

• The Navigation Acts led many colonists to complain about and ignore the laws by smuggling products from foreign markets.

Sugar Act (1764)

• Tax placed on sugar and molasses because colonists were British subjects

• Colonists protested and smuggled sugar and molasses

Quartering Act (1765)

• Required colonies to provide British troops with quarters (shelter and food) and supplies

• Colonial assemblies voted to refuse to supply British soldiers

Stamp Act (1765)

• Any item that was made of paper required a stamped tax payment to be made

• Colonists argued “taxation with representation”, Stamp Act is repealed

Townshend Acts (1767)

• Tax on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea

• Colonists smuggled goods, boycotted British goods, and fought with British troops

Tea Act (1773)

• A plan to bail out the East India Tea Company through a tax on tea

• Boston Tea Party and smuggling of tea resulted from this act.

Intolerable Acts (1774)Also called the Coercive Acts

• Boston Port Bill—closed Boston Harbor to shipping

• Massachusetts Government Act—annulled the colony’s charter, prohibited town meetings

• Quartering Act—mandated new barracks for British troops

• Justice Act– allowed transfer of trials for capital crimes out of Massachusetts to other colonies or to Britain

Intolerable Acts (1774)--Response

• Militias form; colonies send representatives to 1st Continental Congress meets and starts colonial boycott

• In response to the Boston Tea Party

Quebec Act (1774)

• Prohibited colonists from moving into Ohio River Valley, Catholic religion in region

• Colonists expected to settle into the region

Questions from the Lecture

• How do you think an ordinary American felt after Salutary Neglect ended in the colonies?

• If you were a colonist during this era, which act would you have viewed as the most crippling to society?

• Although it was against the law, do you feel that the smuggling of venturing colonists, like John Hancock, was justified?