Salutary neglect was the policy by which England was largely non-interventionist with its colonies in North America. This did not mean that mercantile laws and regulations were nonexistent, however (consider the Navigation Acts, which were certainly designed under mercantilist principles). However, execution of these laws remained rather lax, and in practice, the colonies were left to govern and oversee themselves.

The reason for this policy was largely a result of distance and technology. In many respects, trying to control colonial behavior did not really make sense for Britain when viewed from a cost-benefit perspective. The colonies were too far away (on the other side of the Atlantic), and it took too long for communications to travel from one side to the other. In the end, the British government recognized the impracticality of maintaining any kind of strict oversight.

In the long term, this history had a profound influence on the origins of the American Revolution. The colonies had, for a long time, enjoyed these policies of lax oversight, and when (after the French and Indian War had left Britain in debt) the British chose to reverse course on these policies, it came as a rude awakening and created a great deal of anger within the colonies. Salutary neglect, therefore, was critical in the history of the American Revolution.