Wool Act 1699

The Wool Act of 1699 is an Act of the Parliament of England (11 Will. III c. 13) [long title "An Act for continuing severall Laws therein mentioned, and for explaining the Act intituled An Act to prevent the Exportation of Wooll out of the Kingdoms of Ireland and England into Forreigne Parts and for the Incouragement of the Woollen Manufactures in the Kingdom of England" Statutes of the Realm: volume 7: 1695-1701 (1820), pp. 600-02. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=46972. Date accessed: 16 February 2007.] which attempted to heighten taxation and increase control over colonial trade and production. [cite book |author= John A. Garraty |coauthors= Mark C. Carnes |title= A Short History of the American Nation | edition = 8th |year= 2000 |publisher= Longman |id= ISBN 0-321-07098-4 |chapter=Chapter Three: America in the British Empire |chapterurl=http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/uhs/WebSite/Courses/APUSH/1st%20Sem/Garraty%20Short%20History%20Chapters%201-18/chapter_threei.htm] It opened Britain's wool industry by limiting wool production in Ireland and forbidding the export of wool from the American colonies. The Act prohibited American colonists from exporting wool, wool yarn, or wool cloth to markets outside the colonies and also restricted the import of woolens and linens created in other areas of the British Empire. In effect, it forced all wool and wool products produced by colonies and dependent areas of the United Kingdom to be sold to British markets, and then resold to British citizens in all areas of the empire. Each sale generated taxes on these goods. Shopkeepers had a very hard time during the Wool Act.

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