The Trade Laws.-The third group of restrictive measures passed by the British Parliament related to the sale of colonial produce.An act of 1663re-quired the colonies to export certain articles to Great Britain or to her do-minions alone;while sugar,tobacco,and ginger consigned to the continent of Europe had to pass through a British port paying custom duties and through a British merchant's hands paying the usual commission.At first tobacco was the only one of the "enumerated articles"which seriously concerned the American colonies,the rest coming mainly from the British West Indies.In the course of time,however,other commodities were added to the list of enumerated articles,until by 1764it embraced rice,naval stores,copper,furs,hides,iron,lumber,and pearl ashes.This was not all.The colonies were compelled to bring their European purchases back through English ports,paying duties to the govern-ment and commissions to merchants again.
The Molasses Act.-Not content with laws enacted in the interest of Eng-lish merchants and manufacturers,Parliament sought to protect the British West Indies against competition from their French and Dutch neighbors.New England merchants had long carried on a lucrative trade with the French is-lands in the West Indies and Dutch Guiana,where sugar and molasses could be obtained in large quantities at low prices.Acting on the protests of English planters in the Barbadoes and Jamaica,Parliament,in 1733,passed the famous Molasses Act imposing duties on sugar and molasses imported into the colonies from foreign countries-rates which would have destroyed the American trade with the French and Dutch if the law had been enforced.The duties,however,were not collected.The molasses and sugar trade with the foreigners went on merrily,smuggling taking the place of lawful traffic.
Effect of the Laws in America.-As compared with the strict monopoly of her colonial trade which Spain consistently sought to maintain,the policy of England was both moderate and liberal.Furthermore,the restrictive laws were supplemented by many measures intended to be favorable to colonial prosper-ity.The Navigation Acts,for example,redounded to the advantage of American shipbuilders and the producers of hemp,tar,lumber,and ship stores in general.Favors in British ports were granted to colonial producers as against foreign competitors and in some instances bounties were paid by England to encourage colonial enterprise.Taken all in all,there is much justification in the argument advanced by some modern scholars to the effect that the colonists gained more than they lost by British trade and industrial legislation.Certainly after the es-tablishment of independence,when free from these old restrictions,the Ameri-cans found themselves handicapped by being treated as foreigners rather than favored traders and the recipients of bounties in English markets.
Be that as it may,it appears that the colonists felt little irritation against the mother country on account of the trade and navigation laws enacted previous to the close of the French and Indian war.Relatively few were engaged in the hat and iron industries as compared with those in farming and planting,so that England's policy of restricting America to agriculture did not conflict with the interests of the majority of the inhabitants.The woolen industry was largely in the hands of women and carried on in connection with their domestic duties,so that it was not the sole support of any considerable number of people.
As a matter of fact,moreover,the restrictive laws,especially those relating to trade,were not rigidly enforced.Cargoes of tobacco were boldly sent to continental ports without even so much as a bow to the English government,to which duties should have been paid.Sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch colonies were shipped into New England in spite of the law.Royal officers sometimes protested against smuggling and sometimes connived at it;but at no time did they succeed in stopping it.Taken all in all,very little was heard of "the galling restraints of trade"until after the French war,when the British government suddenly entered upon a new course.
Summary of the Colonial Period
In the period between the landing of the English at Jamestown,Virginia,in 1607,and the close of the French and Indian war in 1763-a period of a century and a half-a new nation was being prepared on this continent to take its place among the powers of the earth.It was an epoch of migration.Western Europe contributed emigrants of many races and nationalities.The English led the way.Next to them in numerical importance were the Scotch-Irish and the Germans.Into the melting pot were also cast Dutch,Swedes,French,Jews,Welsh,and Irish.Thousands of negroes were brought from Africa to till Southern fields or labor as domestic servants in the North.
