Question

Why did some American colonists engage in smuggling and piracy?

Answer 1

Restrictions were placed on what the colonies could manufacture, whose ships they could use, and most importantly, with whom they could trade. British merchants wanted American colonists to buy British goods, not French, Spanish, or Dutch products. In theory, Americans would pay Duties on imported goods to discourage this practice. The Navigation Acts and the Molasses Act are examples of royal attempts to restrict colonial trade. Smuggling is the way the colonists ignored these restrictions.

Answer 2

Because it was an ingenious way to avoid regulations. From 1696 to 1725, the Board of Trade sought to impose more efficient royal control over the colonies. But colonists continued to resist. They lobbied against the various Navigation Acts, challenged them in court, and resisted them by smuggling, bribery, fraudulent bookkeeping, and even violence. The fifty or so British customs officials struggled to police hundreds of American vessels operating along a thousand miles of jagged coastline.