Essay About Britain’S Colony And American Colonies

Britans Policy of Salutary Neglect
Essay title: Britans Policy of Salutary Neglect
Essay
America was Britain’s colony and obviously Britain had control of its colonies
affairs. But Britain did not enforce its power until the colonies began to become stronger.
Britain’s policy of salutary neglect prior to 1750 highly influenced the development of
society in America.
The American colonies were not intended to have legislative bodies since
parliament was the legislative body for the entire British Empire. But due to the great
distances between Britain and its colonies, immediate law decisions were not possible.
Hence the colonies developed legislatures for day to day procedures, such as the Virginia
House of Burgess that became the symbol of representative governments. This is why
when the British imposed heavy laws and taxes the colonist cried out “no taxation
without representation”. The colonies learned they could govern themselves without
British interference developed the idea of representative government in society.
Until 1763 the various Navigation Laws, involving commerce, imposed no burden
on the colonies, and were loosely enforced. They had open trade with Spain. They also
had the triangular trade going between the Caribbean sugar island, with the Spanish and
Portuguese and then to London then back to America to sell industrial goods for a heavy
profit. The laws were not enforced because the British mercantilist class gained