Editing Navigation Acts (section)

==Historical precedents==
Some principles of English mercantile legislation pre-date both the passage of the Navigation Act 1651 and the settlement of England's early foreign possessions. A 1381 Act<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ferry |first1=Tim |title=The story of the Jones Act: America's 'expression of sovereignty' that's piling pressure on offshore wind |url=https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/the-story-of-the-jones-act-americas-expression-of-sovereignty-thats-piling-pressure-on-offshore-wind/2-1-1667612 |website=rechargenews.com |language=en |date=30 June 2024 |quote=England reserved coastwise trade to English vessel owners as far back as 1381}}</ref> passed under King Richard II provided "that, to increase the navy of England, no goods or merchandises shall be either exported or imported, but only in ships belonging to the King's subjects." The [[letters patent]] granted to the Cabots by Henry VII in 1498 stipulated that the commerce resulting from their discoveries must be with England (specifically Bristol).<ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/cabot01.asp "1498 – The letters patent of King Henry the Seventh Granted unto Iohn Cabot and his Three Sonnes, Lewis, Sebastian and Santius for the Discouerie of New and Unknowen Lands; March 5"]</ref> Henry VIII established a second principle by statute: that such a vessel must be English-built and a majority of the crew must be English-born. Legislation during the reign of Elizabeth I also dealt with these questions and resulted in a large increase in English merchant shipping.<ref name=ColSelf1>[[Charles McLean Andrews]], [https://archive.org/details/colonialselfgov00andrgoog/page/n28 Colonial Self-Government, 1652–1689], p.&nbsp;10 (1904)</ref> Soon after actual settlements had been made in America, these early requirements illustrate the English theory then held regarding the governmental control of maritime commerce.<ref name="ComPolE">[https://www.questia.com/read/4414094/history-of-domestic-and-foreign-commerce-of-the-united Chapter III – The Commercial Policy of England Toward the American Colonies: the acts of Trade] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625032919/https://www.questia.com/read/4414094/history-of-domestic-and-foreign-commerce-of-the-united |date=25 June 2016 }}{{ISBN?}}, in Emory R. Johnson, T. W. Van Metre, G. G. Huebner, D. S. Hanchett, ''History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States'' – Vol. 1, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915.</ref>

With the establishment of overseas colonies a distinct colonial policy began to develop, and the principles embodied in the early Navigation and Trade Acts also had some more immediate precedents in the provisions of the charters granted to the London and Plymouth Company, in the various royal patents later bestowed by Charles I and Charles II, as well as in the early regulations concerning the tobacco trade, the first profitable colonial export.  An [[Order in Council]] of 24 October 1621 prohibited the Virginia colony to export tobacco and other commodities to foreign countries.<ref name="AndrCofT&P">Charles M. Andrews, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33313/33313.txt British Committees, Commissions, and Councils of Trade and Plantations 1622–1675], 1908</ref>

The London Company lost its charter in 1624; the same year a proclamation, followed by Orders in Council, prohibited the use of foreign ships for the Virginia tobacco trade.<ref name="ColSelf1" /> These early companies held the monopoly on trade with their plantation; this meant that the commerce developed was to be England's. The Crown's purpose was to restrict to England the future commerce with America; it is well shown in the patent granted by Charles I to [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]] in 1639, by which the patentee was "to oblige the masters of vessels, freighted with productions of the colony, to give [[Surety bond|bond]] before their departure to bring same into England ... and to forbid all trade with foreign vessels, except upon necessity."<ref name="ComPolE" />

As early as 1641 some English merchants urged that these rules be embodied in an act of Parliament, and during the [[Long Parliament]], movement began in that direction. The ''Ordinance for Free Trade with the plantations in New England'' was passed in November 1644. In 1645, both to conciliate the colonies and to encourage English shipping, the Long Parliament prohibited the shipment of [[whalebone]], except in English-built ships;<ref>6 May 1645 ''Ordinance to prevent the importation by foreigners of whale oil, fins or gills, commonly called whalebone.''</ref> they later prohibited the importation of French wine, wool, and silk from France.<ref>28 August 1649 Act prohibiting the importation of any Wines of the Growth of France, and all manufacturers of wool and silk made in France.</ref> More generally and significantly on 23 January 1647, they passed the ''Ordinance granting privileges for the encouragement of Adventurers to plantations in Virginia, Bermudas, Barbados, and other places of America''; it enacted that for three years no export duty be levied on goods intended for the colonies, provided they were forwarded in English vessels.<ref name=ColSelf1/> [[Adam Anderson (economist)|Adam Anderson]] noted that this law also included "security being given here, and certificates from thence, that the said goods be really exported thither, and for the only use of the said plantations". He concluded: "Hereby the foundation was laid for the navigation acts afterward, which may be justly termed the Commercial [[wikt:palladium#Etymology 1|Palladium]] of Britain."<ref>Anderson 1787, [https://books.google.com/books?id=chpPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA404 p.&nbsp;404]</ref>

The English were well aware of their inferior competitive trading position. Three acts of the Rump Parliament in 1650 and 1651 are notable in the historical development of England's commercial and colonial programs. These include the first [[Board of Trade|Commission of Trade]] to be established by an Act of Parliament on 1 August 1650, to advance and regulate the nation's trade.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinances-interregnum/pp403-406 August 1650: An Act for the Advancing and Regulating of the Trade of this Commonwealth.]</ref> The instructions to the named commissioners included consideration of both domestic and foreign trade, the trading companies, manufacturers, free ports, customs, excise, statistics, coinage and exchange, and fisheries, but also the [[Plantation (settlement or colony)|plantations]] and the best means of promoting their welfare and rendering them useful to England. This act's statesmanlike and comprehensive instructions were followed by the October act [[An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego|prohibiting trade with pro-royalist colonies]] and the first Navigation Act the following October. These acts formed the first definitive expression of England's commercial policy. They represent the first attempt to establish a legitimate control of commercial and colonial affairs, and the instructions indicate the beginnings of a policy which had the prosperity and wealth of England exclusively at heart.<ref>Charles M. Andrews, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33313/33313-h/33313-h.htm#page24 British Committees, Commissions and Councils of Trade and Plantations 1622–1675], Chapter II, Control of Trade and Plantations During the Interregnum, p.&nbsp;24 (1908)</ref>

The 1650 Act prohibiting trade with royalist colonies was broader, however, because it provided that all foreign ships were prohibited from trading with any English plantations, without license, and it was made lawful to seize and make prizes of any ships violating the act. This Act, sometimes referred to as the Navigation Act 1650, was hastily passed as a war measure during the [[English Civil War]]s, but it was followed by a more carefully conceived Navigation Act 1651 the following year.<ref name="ComPolE" />