Soon after England established the colonies in the New World, it began a period of salutary neglect. The English rarely intervened with colonial business. It was during this time that the colonies began gradually to think and act independently of England. This scared England, and initiated a period in which they became more involved in the colony's growth. Parliament tried o establish power in the New World by issuing a series of laws. The passage of these laws undermined the Colonist's loyalty to Britain and stirred the Americans to fight for their freedom. Before 1763, the only British laws that truly affected the colonists were the Navigation Acts, which monitored t