What events led to the English governments policy of salutary neglect

Question

What events led to the English government's policy of salutary neglect?

Answer 1

For the American colonies of Britain, the British tended not to enforce their trade rules during the years 1607 through 1763 (establishment of Jamestown to the end of the 7 years war also known as the French and Indian war). Think about why the colonies were founded. They were first and foremost given charters to establish settlements in the New World and then return valuable goods. At first the British thought that would be gold, but soon they realized that they could make a lot of money from tobacco, sugar and later cotton in the South, and beaver and other furs in the North. It just so happened that many of the groups who wanted to go were religious separatists so the British encouraged that. So Pilgrims, Puritans, and later Quakers and other splinter Protestant groups, then Catholics migrated. As long as the colonies produced wealth, the British did not interfere. One of the reasons that the colonists in Massachusetts began to move up into northern New England was that the forests were full of beaver. Salutary neglect literally means that neglecting to micromanage the colonies was good for Britain. Later on the triangular trade with slaves and rum and sugar produced even more wealth.  However during the French and Indian war, the British wanted the colonists to help - provide troops and food and supplies for the soldiers. Many colonists did help out (notably George Washington) so the real problems occurred when the British wanted to tax the colonies to help pay for the enormous costs of the War. Suddenly the British had a problem on their hands - very well educated and powerful colonists (John Hancock was a bootlegger, for example). The British tried, too late, with the Stamp Act and other taxes, but the colonists had been "neglected" for too long. And you know what happened next....