In October 1651, the English Parliament passed its Navigation Acts of 1651. This acts were designed to tighten up the government's control over trade between England, its colonies and the rest of the world. The mercantilist theory behind the Navigation Acts assumed that world trade was fixed and the colonies existed for the parent country.
Main features:
1. Only British ships could transport imported and exported goods from the colonies. The only people who were allowed to trade with the colonies had to be British citizens.
2. Commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton wool which were produced in the colonies could be exported only to British ports.