ABSTRACT
The Puritan merchants who dominated the English government during the Commonwealth were ardent mercantilists who were eager to derive full advantage from the already-existing colonies. Goods produced in European nations might be carried to the colonies in the ships of the nation which produced them as well as in British ships. The first Navigation Act had relatively little effect on the colonies, since the English government had not yet developed the machinery to enforce it. The most significant action of the New England colonies during this period was the formation of the United Colonies of New England, oras it is usually called the New England Confederation. The restoration of Charles II inaugurated a new and expanded era of English colonization. With the development of industry in England, the fear of overpopulation disappeared and Parliament actually passed laws limiting emigration. England had now completed planting a line of colonies along the Atlantic coast that extended from French Canada to Spanish Florida.
