The Trade And Navigation Acts Essay

Every year, Americans across the country gather to celebrate their independence and freedom from the British government. On July 4th, 1776, America officially declared their independance from England, and the American people would be free from British tyranny. In the beginning, the Colonists did not want to be independant from the British Government, and were happily living in America and making money and embracing their freedoms(Notes Cite). However, the British government began to take away their freedoms and their rights by using taxes and implementing acts that upset the Colonists(Notes Cites).The colonists came to America to free themselves from persecution in Britain, and to start over and create a better life for themselves. In the

These acts were comprised of four major acts that would incite anger in the American people. The Trade and Navigation Acts forced all trade between America and England to occur on ships owned and manned by English or American people(Cite notes). This act gave England more control over the trade in the colonies. The Trade and Navigation Acts, also forced all imports from foreign countries to the colonies to go through England first(Cite Notes). This act allowed the British to tax and control imports to America. Another part of these acts, was that certain goods were enumerated and certain goods could only be produced in England(Cite Notes). This angered Americans because England would get all the money from manufacturing certain goods like wool and iron items in England, taking away the opportunity for Americans to make money from manufacturing and selling important goods like iron tools or wool clothing. The enumerated goods were only allowed to be sold in England, so products like tobacco which were high quality, could not be sold to other countries, and the farmers could only make money by selling it to England, then the buyers in England would sell it to other countries for even more money. The Trade and Navigation acts were one of the first instances of the British government taxing the American people without providing them with proper representation in the

This would in turn cause a great deal of anger among the American people. After the French and Indian war, the British government was in a large amount of debt due to funding their large and powerful armies and navies(Cite Notes). Because of the large debt in England, the citizens of England were being taxed 40% of their income. The British people were extremely unhappy about being taxed so much money, but it was necessary to pay back debts from the war. However, the money being taken from the citizens of England still wasn’t enough to fully pay back the massive debt, so instead of risking being overthrown because of raising the taxes even higher, the king decided to tax the American people instead(Cite Notes). This plan may have worked out, but the American people did not want to be taxed any amount of money, without being represented in the British government. JOHN LOCKE 2ND TREATISE ON GOVERNMENT MORE INFO REQUIRED OUTSIDE SOURCE. The British claimed that the American People had representation in their government via virtual representation(Cite Notes). According to the British government, the British Parliament represented English citizens wherever they were, and that included the English citizens living in America(Cite Notes). The king of England could not give direct representation to America, because the