16631776 Club
Parliament seals off colonial trade; all goods must now pass through England first
Foreign ships lose the colonial trade, and Dutch merchants lose the most.
By 1663, Dutch traders were slipping goods directly into England's American colonies, bypassing English merchants and English ports entirely. Charles II's Cavalier Parliament closed that gap on July 27, passing the Navigation Act of 1663, known as the Staple Act. The law required that European goods bound for the colonies be trans-shipped through England first, and that colonial cargo travel only on ships built and crewed predominantly by Englishmen. Non-compliant vessels forfeited both ship and cargo…
