Navigation acts' role in England's commercial rivalry

Question 1

by who and when was the first navigation passed

Answer 1

• passed by the Rump parliament
• in 1651

Question 2

what restrictions were laid down by the first navigation act

Answer 2

• no goods or commodities would be imported or brought into the commonwealth of England
• goods which weren’t transported by English ships will be taken without payment
• any fish will not be imported into the commonwealth and that it’ll be only allowed if the fishes were caught in vessels that belong to the people of the nation
• foreign ships can trade with England only if the foreign ships ‘do truly and properly belong to the people of that country’

Question 3

what were the purposes of the clauses within the first navigation act

Answer 3

• any goods that are taken, half of that goes to the Crown and the other half, the owner can keep
• it was an incentive to keep the goods

Question 4

what did the first Navigation act aim to do

Answer 4

• to break a dutch monopoly on the baltic and North Sea carriage trades
• aimed to protect English trade
• raise customs for revenue to join in a new crusade against catholic powers in Europe

Question 5

what did the first Navigation act make overseas English colonies subject to + what principle did it proclaim

Answer 5

• made overseas English colonies subject to centralised parliamentary control
• proclaimed a mercantilist principle forbidding foreign ships from carting goods between English ports

Question 6

what did the first Navigation act liberate

Answer 6

• internal trade with a previously closed English system
• disallowed royal monopolies and exclusive charter companies
• eroded patronage systems in favour of interest

Question 7

what did the first Navigation act give voice to

Answer 7

to an idea of England as a world power which required a large, permanent navy to prosecute aggressively its interest in oversea trade and colonial expansion

Question 8

consequences of the first Navigation act by 1700

Answer 8

• English merchant marine doubled in size
• customs revenues increased threefold
• internal island economy and oversea trade was enormously expanded

Question 9

what policy did the Interregnum fully embrace

Answer 9

policy of mercantilism

Question 10

what was the policy of mercantilism

Answer 10

practice of accumulating wealth through trade with other countries, and is normally done by building overseas empires and colonies

Question 11

what war did the navigation ac 1651 help trigger

Answer 11

the first dutch war

Question 12

how was the first dutch war ended

Answer 12

by the treaty of Westminster

Question 13

what were the terms of the treaty of Westminster

Answer 13

• dutch were required to adhere to the terms of the navigation act, including saluting English ships in the channel
• both sides agreed to allow Swiss representatives to arbitrate any future disputes between England and Holland

Question 14

what did the treaty of Westminster stipulate about William III and why was this clause inserted

Answer 14

• he was prevented from becoming Head of state in the Netherlands
• the clause was inserted to allay fears in England that William would assist the Stuarts in restoring the monarchy, as he was the son of Mary, daughter of Charles I and Henrietta Maria

Question 15

what two acts refined the proviso of the 1651 navigation act

Answer 15

• 1660 navigation act
• 1663 staple act

Question 16

who was the chief architect of the 1660 navigation act and what did he believe

Answer 16

• Sir George Downing
• he believed a favourable balance of payments was the only way to ensure the nation’s economic health

Question 17

what was the balance of payments

Answer 17

• the difference in total value between payments into and out of a country
• in 1660, England’s balance of payments was a problem

Question 18

how was Britain’s merchant shipping fleet inadequate

Answer 18

• simply not enough English ships
• English shipbuilders didn’t produce ships that could compete with the Dutch merchant ‘flyboats’

Question 19

what was the main solution to the balance of payments

Answer 19

to develop London and other British ports into entrepôts

Question 20

what did the 1660 navigation act refine

Answer 20

refined the unenforceable act of 1651 which prohibited all imports carried in foreign ships

Question 21

what were the prohibitions of the 1660 navigation act

Answer 21

those commodities whose import was fully prohibited were those carried in bulky cargoes that had mainly been carried up to that time in the superior Dutch merchant ships

Question 22

what did the prohibitions of the 1660 navigation act serve to stimulate

Answer 22

the demand in English shipyards for suitable ships

Question 23

what were a range of other goods from Europe which were designated as ‘alien goods’, the subject to under the 1660 navigation act

Answer 23

they were the subject to double customs duties if not imported in English owned and manned ships

Question 24

how did the 1660 navigation act change the imports from American colonies and African and Indian trading stations and the import of important goods

Answer 24

• imports from American colonies and African and Indian trading stations were reserved for English ships only
• most important goods could only be shipped to England, Ireland or other English colonies

Question 25

what was established under the 1663 Staple Act

Answer 25

under the act, those in English colonies could only purchase goods that were made in mainland Europe from England

Question 26

how did the Navigation acts play an important role in the ‘commercial revolution’

Answer 26

• British merchant fleet increased rapidly
• British re-export trade soared in value
• nations balance of payments situation strengthened

Question 27

what was the percentage increase in the total tonnage of English-owned merchant ships between 1660-1686

Answer 27

109% increase

Question 28

what was the percentage increase in the value of re-exported goods between 1663-1701

Answer 28

231% increase

Question 29

between 1699-1701, how much did tobacco, sugar and Indian calicoes amount to of England’s exports

Answer 29

amounted to 30% of English exports