Navigation Acts

British  

plural noun

1. a series of acts of Parliament, the first of which was passed in 1381, that attempted to restrict to English ships the right to carry goods to and from England and its colonies. The attempt to enforce the acts helped cause the War of American Independence

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Example Sentences

Randolph was astonished to discover that officials in Boston, the largest port in North America, were completely ignoring the Navigation Acts on the grounds that their colony’s charter exempted it from acts of Parliament.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

The Navigation Acts were particularly important to colonists who participated directly in international trade, especially the merchants who bought and sold the colonies’ principal products, and the planters and farmers who supplied them.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

West Indies merchants and planters depended on the Navigation Acts for protected markets in Britain, and while they grumbled at parliamentary interference, they would not endanger their privileged position.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

In order to reap the greatest economic benefit from England’s overseas possessions, Charles II enacted the mercantilist Navigation Acts, although many colonial merchants ignored them because enforcement remained lax.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

And this opportunity, because of the enforcement of the Navigation Acts and the consequent ruin of trade, they did not have in Virginia.

From The Planters of Colonial Virginia by Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson