What is salutary neglect and its impact on the colonies?

On paper, Great Britain had imposed strict trading regulations on the American colonies. American goods were supposed to travel on British or authorized American ships and be sold only to Britain. This kept, for example, the Dutch from profiting by charging fees for carrying goods back to England on Dutch ships and allowed the Britsih to set low prices on the raw materials coming in from America. Further, ships that arrived in American ports from other countries were supposed to pay high tariffs. This would make their goods far more expensive than the British goods coming into port and thus ensure that the Americans bought from the British.

However, starting under Prime Minister Horace Walpole, these strict trade policies were often ignored. This was called salutary neglect. To save money, the British government did not send as many officials as it should have to oversee what was going on in American harbors. Without this oversight, the Americans developed a backdoor trade with countries such as France. For example, if there was no British official at an American port to insist a French ship pay high tariffs, those goods, tax free, could be brought into America and sold for reasonable prices.

The British were content to let this occur because the American colonies were profitable and prosperous, so it didn't seem to matter much if they made money on the side. However, in retrospect, it seems that salutary neglect helped Americans build an independent identity and sense of freedom that weakened their ties with the British.

How did the colonies benefit from salutary neglect?

Salutary neglect was the British enforcement policy of ignoring certain trade laws. This policy benefited the colonies by allowing a trade system to develop.

The root cause of salutary neglect was that it was simply too difficult to enforce these trade laws nearly 3,000 miles away. There was no agency in colonial America to monitor the trade policies, and it was extremely expensive to even attempt it. Therefore, the British felt that it would be more beneficial to them, and to loyalty of the colonies, to ignore it.

The major benefit was that the colonies were able to trade more freely and without interference. This allowed each colony to develop an economy and also allowed the British to receive profits from the sales of natural resources.

How did salutary neglect benefit both the British King and the American colonies?

Britain's unwritten and unofficial policy of relaxing trade regulations on its colonies, which became known as salutary neglect, did indeed have a positive effect on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1720s, when Parliament decided to relax enforcement of the Navigation Acts, the colonists began to trade more in non-British goods and with non-British entities. This allowed a flowering in a trade that was technically illegal, but mostly unenforced.

Without the restrictions of the Navigation Acts, the American colonies prospered as more money from commerce flowed in. Merchants from the colonies would trade directly with the French, Dutch, and sometimes the Spanish, bypassing English middlemen. It opened up the possibility to trade in a wider array of raw materials and goods with a more diverse range of parties. This was a boon for the economy of the colonies, particularly in the trading hubs of New England.

This relaxation of trade restrictions ended up benefiting England as well. With more wealth in the colonies, the colonists were able to spend their money on more British goods and products. Ironically, allowing the colonists to trade with non-British entities resulted in a more profitable trade with Britain.

A further benefit of salutary neglect for Britain was that they stopped spending the resources on enforcing the Navigation Acts. Smuggling became profitable almost immediately after the Navigation Acts were put in place. Effectively combating this took up a considerable amount of resources. By easing enforcement, the British were able to focus their attention on important matters closer to home.

Why was salutary neglect important in the colonial economy?

The British established colonies in North America so that the British would benefit from having these colonies. The British got raw materials from the colonies and then sold the finished products made in the British factories to the colonies. This gave the British a guaranteed market for their products. To ensure that the British would benefit from the colonial trade, they established laws known as the Navigation Acts. These laws required the colonists to buy certain products only from Great Britain. The colonists were also required to use British ships when trading. However, the British often did not enforce these laws. This was known as salutary neglect.

The colonists became used to the lack of enforcement of the Navigation Acts. They illegally smuggled products from other countries and used the ships of other countries. When the colonies became more expensive to operate, the British began to crack down on smuggling. This angered the colonists. After the French and Indian War ended, the British began to pass laws that angered the colonists. Some of these laws dealt with trying to control the smuggling that was occurring. Other laws controlled where the colonists could go or created new taxes. The Proclamation of 1763 and the Stamp Act were examples of these laws. These events helped lead to the start of the Revolutionary War.

Why was salutary neglect important in the colonial economy?

Salutary neglect, which was the British policy towards the American colonists in the early to mid-1700's.  It was a system of loose imperial control over the colonies and a lax enforcement of trade laws.  The Navigation Acts made it impossible for colonists to trade with nations other than England.  This led to smuggling of goods from the colonies.  England turned a blind eye towards the abuses of the colonists during this period.  The result of the period of salutary neglect was that the colonists learned to govern themselves and manage their own economies.  An elite class emerged in the colonies that benefited from the autonomy.  After England's prolonged war with France that included the French and Indian War in North America, the crown was desperate for increased revenues.  They looked to the colonies for this bump in revenue.  When England decided to enforce the tax and trade laws that were already on the books, the American colonists ultimately rebelled and the American Revolution was born.