What were the Navigation Acts? How did the colonists respond to these laws?

The
Navigation Acts, or the Acts of Trade and Navigation, were a series of laws passed by the
British Parliament over a number of decades that regulated how colonists were legally allowed to
trade with other countries. Essentially, many of the Navigation Acts required colonists to only
trade certain goods, such as tobacco, sugar, and indigo with England, thus benefiting England's
economy. This also strengthened the Industrial revolution in England in the mid-eighteenth
century as raw materials for England's textile mills were shipped from the American
colonies.

However, many colonists were infuriated by the restrictions on
their ability to trade with other countries. As such, smuggling of goods to other countries was
a common place tactic. Smuggling before the era of mass surveillance and large police
departments was a rather achievable process in which colonists were able to continue their
business of illicit trading.

Throughout the mid-1700s, the English government
attempted to increase trade restrictions and increase enforcement against smuggling. The
tensions, as a result, continued to rise and colonial anger continued to spread against the
English crown. This decades-long struggle between smugglers and English parliament and their
enforcers only served to strengthen tensions that led to the Revolutionary War of
1776.