st with foreign nations in so far as possible were snapped.
The British empire was to become a unit, closely knit by economic bonds
and presenting to all other nations a hostile front. With this in view
Parliament passed a series of Navigation Acts, under which the trade of
the colonies was regulated for many years to come.

It is necessary for us to enquire, therefore, into the effects of these
laws upon the tobacco trade, for tobacco, as we have seen, was the key
to the prosperity of the colony, and favorable economic conditions alone
could make it possible for the newcomer to establish himself as a member
of the Virginia yeomanry. If the strict enforcement of the Navigation
Acts should bring low prices for tobacco and wipe out the margin of
profit for the man who tilled the soil with his own hands, not only
would the small planter class not expand, but might actually decline in
numbers.

There were three main features of the colonial legislation of Parliament
during this period, all of them interrelated and all tending toward the
one great object of keeping the English plantations for the English. It
was provided that the chief colonial products such as tobacco and sugar
should be sent only to England or to English colonies, that the colonies
should with few exceptions import goods only from British territory,
that all products taken to or from any colony should be conveyed only in
English vessels manned by crews composed mainly of Englishmen.

In committing itself to this policy the royal Government felt that the
plantations would play a useful and necessary part in the great system
which was planned, and in so doing would find prosperity. It had been
the hope of the English people that their colonies would produce the
articles which were so badly needed by the mother country to revive her
waning industry and permit a greater measure of economic independence.
Although more than half a century had passed since the first foothold
had been gained upon the American continent, this expectation was as far
from realization as ever. The colonies, from Massachusetts to Barbados
were producing, not the articles which England especially needed, but
those for which they had the greatest natural aptitude, especially
tobacco and sugar. And these staples they sent, not to England alone,
but to various foreign countries as well.

In short the vision of a closely knit, self-sustaining empire, the
vision which had been in men's mi