Salutary neglect Essay Example

Salutary neglect Essay During the middle-years of the development of the colonies, Britain let go of their colonial possessions, and let the colonies be a freestanding nation for a period of time in order for Britain to pursue political and military ventures elsewhere. This policy of salutary neglect gave the colonists a taste of freedom from the crown, and it gave the colonies a warming-up period to start their own legislature, commercial transactions, and religious affiliations. The colonies from early on have created and maintained their own forms of self-government. Since the Virginia House of Burgesses was founded, political relations with England have been on the decline. British colonialists consider themselves part of their respective colonial governments, but they still feel strong ties back to Britain. This causes tension between the colonies and Britain because the colonies want Britain to acknowledge them and support them, but Britain ignores the colonies for a long period of time in order to p ursue its own affairs. When Britain is in economic strife, parliament tries to raise taxes over in the colonies to support the mother country, but by that time, most colonists do not wish to serve Britain because they have been getting along fine without the mother countrys support. By ignoring the colonies, Britain has made them stronger than imaginable. While being ignored by the super-power, colonialists needed to create new ties with other countries to trade their cash crops with. In doing so, the trade was in direct violation of the British Navigation Acts which prohibited trade with any other country except Britain. The British again ignored the colonial activities because in the end the gold that was traded to the colonies for crops worked its way back to Britain eventually. By trying to serve their own selfish interests, the British added fuel to the fire by allowing colonials to create economic contacts outside the mother country making it eas