Navigation Acts Timeline

The Exportation Act 1660 banned the export of wool and wool-processing materials, while the Tobacco Planting and Sowing Act 1660 regulated tobacco production.

The Navigation Act 1660 was immediately followed by the Customs Act 1660, adding customs provisions to the developing commercial and colonial regulatory system.

After the Restoration of Charles II, the 1651 act was declared void as legislation passed by the usurping Commonwealth authorities.

The Convention Parliament passed the Navigation Act 1660, An Act for the Encouraging and increasing of Shipping and Navigation. The Cavalier Parliament confirmed it on 27 July 1661.

Image source: Navigation Acts

The Customs Act 1662 tightened the customs framework introduced after the Navigation Act 1660 and reinforced control over colonial and overseas commerce.

The Navigation Act 1663, also called the Staple Act or Encouragement of Trade Act, further required colonial goods to pass through English ports and strengthened the mercantilist system.

The Tobacco Planting and Plantation Trade Act 1670 tightened colonial trade legislation and restricted the movement of plantation goods, including tobacco.

The 1670 legislation repealed Ireland’s ability under the 1660 act to obtain the necessary bond for products shipped to overseas colonies, tightening restrictions on Irish participation in plantation trade.

The 1673 provisions sought to prevent plantation goods from being carried to another plantation and then shipped abroad while technically satisfying the requirements of the 1660 act.

The Navigation Act 1673, also called the Trade Act 1672, encouraged the Greenland and Eastland trades and secured the plantation trade. It relaxed restrictions for whaling by permitting up to half the crew to be foreign on English ships and removing duties on whale products for ten years.

The Treaty of Westminster, following the Third Anglo-Dutch War, reconfirmed relevant provisions of the navigation and colonial trade system.

After the Act of Union 1707, Scottish ships, merchants, and mariners enjoyed the same privileges under the navigation system as their English counterparts.

Image source: Acts of Union 1707

The Navigation Act 1696, also called the Plantation Trade Act 1695, tightened the 1660 rules. It required qualifying vessels to be built in England, Ireland, or the colonies, wholly owned by their people, and navigated with local masters and three-fourths local mariners.

The Registering of Ships Act 1697 extended the deadline for registering ships under the strengthened navigation system.

Following the 1696 act, instructions addressed oaths and bonds for proprietary governors. Admiralty courts and additional staff were instituted in more places, producing more general obedience to the trade and navigation laws.

Image source: Board of Trade

The Wool Act 1699 forbade exports of wool from Ireland and the American colonies, seeking to maximize English trade and prevent colonial competition in wool production and processing.

Image source: Wool Act 1698

The Molasses Act 1733 led to extensive smuggling because no effective enforcement system was provided until the 1760s. The act was set to expire in 1763.

Image source: Molasses Act

The Sugar Act 1764 renewed and modified the expiring molasses legislation. Its stricter enforcement became a source of resentment among merchants in the American colonies toward Great Britain.

Rhode Island colonists attacked and burned the Royal Navy revenue schooner Gaspee while it was enforcing the Navigation Acts off the coast of Rhode Island.

Image source: Gaspee affair

The system established by the Navigation Acts was still in place in 1792, although major policy changes and reversals had occurred during the intervening years.

The Navigation Acts were repealed in 1849 under the influence of free-trade philosophy. Their repeal, together with the repeal of the Corn Laws, aimed to reduce food costs through cheaper foreign imports and lower the cost of maintaining labor power.