Political union briefly offered a way to combine the English Commonwealth, the Netherlands, and their colonies into an economic superpower. Many English republicans favoured it, while Dutch enthusiasm was limited principally to the stadtholder. After union failed, an English proposal for alliance and joint conquest met a Dutch counterproposal for free trade. English merchants saw unequal competition ahead because the Dutch possessed much greater commercial power and a larger merchant fleet. Although the Navigation Act is often treated as a contributor to the First Anglo-Dutch War, this interpretation places more weight on the diplomatic rejection and the anger it caused, especially for Cromwell.
Notable Point · 39:14-45:32
A rejected Anglo-Dutch union and unequal free trade
English republicans imagined an Anglo-Dutch commercial superstate but rejected free trade when Dutch shipping superiority made openness look one-sided.