The expansion and exploitation of triangular trade networks established by the British and Europe during the 1600s created vast wealth for those nations. In England, the government was pleased the system was working and began to loosen control over the governance of the colonies in North America in a policy known as salutary neglect from 1720 to 1742.
Little did Britain know that they were sowing the seeds of revolution as the American colonists strengthened their governments and exposed themselves to lucrative trade opportunities with other nations.
Triangular trade
A colonial network in which three regions were connected; the movement of raw materials from the Americas to Europe, manufactured goods from Europe to West Africa, and slaves from Africa to the Americas.
Fig. 1 Triangular Trade
Trade was not limited to this triangle - England also sold finished goods back to the colonies and to other European countries.
Background to the Era of Salutary Neglect
England’s mercantilism, the economic system used by England and other European countries in the late 1600s that focused on self-sufficiency, was working by the 1650s. Using the colonies as a source of raw materials for their industries created a trade network that perpetually created more wealth.
Fig. 2 Louvre Gelle Port
Mercantilism
The economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable resources, which a government should encourage by means of protection through laws strictly controlling the trade of those goods.
Fig. 3 Bulletin Mercantil 1871
England had created an economic system that was making them vast wealth, and they moved to protect it from the influence of other powerful nations such as the Dutch and Spain. Mercantilism was creating a booming economy in England, and in the 1660s, they moved to protect that system from outside influences.
The Navigation Acts
England began protecting its mercantile system with the colonies through the Navigation Acts. The significant acts passed in 1660, 1663, and 1673 established three primary principles for conducting trade with England:
- First, only English or colonial merchants and ships could trade in the colonies.
- Second, certain valuable American products could only be imported and sold in England. These goods included wool, sugar, tobacco, indigo, ginger, and dyes. Later additions would include furs, copper, rice, and items used in shipping such as tar and masts.
- Third, all foreign goods sold in the colonies had to be sent through England and pay British import taxes.
- Later, other acts made it so the colonies could not make or export items that competed with English finished products.
These Acts strictly limited trade for the American colonies to only England. Though it benefited England's economy, the Americans saw their economic choices stifled. In response, American merchants created illegal markets and trade routes to smuggle goods to other nations such as France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Fig. 4 Intercommunication of nations
Over time, the English practice of protecting their mercantile system changed as they reaped the economic benefits and avoided conflict with the American colonists. For a while, as long as Britain's trade networks were creating profits, they turned a blind eye to lapse governance in the colonies and colonial smuggling.
The practice of smuggling goods created during this time period would be addressed by the English government in the mid-1700s as they tightened control over a now rebellious continent.
The Period of Salutary Neglect
Fig. 5 Robert Walpole
Over the next few decades, following the passage of the Navigation Acts, especially under the rule of King George I (1714-1727) and King George II (1727-1760), royal officials, pleased by growing trade and increase in tax revenue, relaxed their supervision of internal colonial trade.
In 1775, Edmond Burke, a political philosopher, would coin the phrase “strategy of salutary neglect.”
The Influence of Sir Robert Walpole
Salutary neglect is by-product of the politics and policy of Sir Robert Walpole, who was the leader of the British House of Commons from 1720 to 1742. Walpole practiced giving his supporters political appointments to office and pensions, using this as a system to win parliamentary approval for his policies. However, his appointments usually put people in positions of power, such as Colonial governorship, who were unqualified or corrupt.
Walpole’s policies weakened colonial governance and the entire British political system. Other political parties in England protested that Walpole had used bribes to create a political party- the Court Party, as a means of artificially getting his policies past.
Walpole’s policies of high taxes and an expanded government authority seemed to threaten English liberties. In response, colonial legislatures complained that royal governors abused their powers. To preserve their freedom, many colonial governments strengthened the capabilities of their representative assemblies. In doing so, they laid the foundation for the movement for American independence from Britain.
That I know that the colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and suspicious government, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection; when I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt, and die away within me.
- Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, 1775 1
Examples of Salutary Neglect
An example of the inept governance in the colonies is the installation of Governor Gabriel Johnson in North Carolina in the 1730s. He took the position intending to limit the powers of the local colonial legislatures. But with little support, he quickly backed off the reform and decided to do nothing that would upset the current balance of power and commerce.
An example of smuggling markets created is after the passing of the Molasses Act in 1733, which placed a high tariff on French molasses, American merchants smuggled in French molasses by bribing officials. The Act was not rigorously enforced due to lapse oversight by the British ministry of the colonies and the rising prices of British sugar, almost negating the tariff.
The Effects of Salutary Neglect on the Colonies
The main effect of salutary neglect on the colonies was that it allowed colonial assemblies' power to grow.
After the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 in England, when King James II was removed from the throne and replaced by his daughter Queen Mary and her husband King William, many representative assemblies began to limit the power of crown officials. American colonists saw the Glorious Revolution and the policies enacted by the Whig party following the revolution as examples of changing British attitudes towards authoritative control.
Fig. 6 The Glorious Revolution
For instance, during the 1720s, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and New Jersey repeatedly ignored royal instructions to provide their royal governors with a permanent salary. Using tactics such as these, colonial legislatures eroded power away from royal bureaucrats and gradually took control of taxation and appointments.
Members of the elite led these empowered colonial assemblies. Although white property-owning men had the right to vote, only men of wealth stood for election into the legislature. Nevertheless, even these assemblies controlled by their elite had difficulty imposing unpopular acts and laws on the members of their colonies.
Protests by crowds against unpopular laws became commonplace in colonial life. This found freedom of protest mixed with the growing influence power of representative colonial government and the salutary neglect of trade enforcement created a system that would respond to the will of the wealthy colonial elite and resist more British control.
The Significance of Salutary Neglect
After the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763), Britain began to reinforce the protectionist policies and implement new taxes due to debts from the war. These policies, taxes, acts, and enforcement came in direct conflict with the freedoms the Americans had come accustomed to during the period of salutary neglect. Thus began the political and economic turmoil that would lead to the American Revolution.
Era of Salutary Neglect - Key takeaways
- Overall, the economic system of mercantilism was successful. England saw good profits from trade and taxation of goods imported and exported from the American colonies, so much so that they passed the Navigation Acts to protect their economic interests from rival nations.
- Salutary neglect is a by-product of the politics and policy of Sir Robert Walpole, who was the leader of the British House of Commons from 1720 to 1742.
- An example of this salutary neglect in the colonies through appointment is the installation of Governor Gabriel Johnson in North Carolina in the 1730s. He took the position intending to limit the powers of the local colonial legislatures. But with little support, he quickly backed off the reform and decided to do nothing that would upset the current balance of power and commerce.
- To preserve their freedom, many colonial governments strengthened the capabilities of their representative assemblies. In doing so, they laid the foundation for the movement for American independence from Britain.
- In the 1740s and 1750s, the English Parliament would take steps and enact laws to attempt to pull back the political power of the American colonial assemblies and reassert their authority. The conclusion of the French and Indian War (the Seven Years War) saw the “official” end of the era of salutary neglect.
1. Fundamental Documents: Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. (n.d.). University of Chicago Press. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch1s2.html
References
- Fig. 6: The Glorious Revolution (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Glorious_Revolution_stadtholder_Willem_III_(King_William)_sailing_to_England_in_1688_PK-1969-T-23,_PK_3605_035.tiff) by Simon Fokke (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Simon_Fokke) licensed by CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
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