The 1651 Navigation Act was one source of friction before the First Anglo-Dutch War. A larger contest concerned which maritime state would lead the Protestant world. Cromwell's military victories had left the Commonwealth government unusually assertive across the three kingdoms. That political and confessional rivalry helps explain why commercial disputes could become war, and why a single statute is an incomplete cause.
Notable Point · 18:14-18:50
Why the 1651 Act was not the whole cause of war
Rivalry over Protestant leadership and the Commonwealth's military power contributed to the First Anglo-Dutch War alongside the 1651 trade statute.