Bounties

Bounties, or grants, were implemented by Great Britain in the eighteenth century to encourage the production of vital or hard-to-obtain goods. Although rewards were given for the production of silk and indigo, the most important bounties in North Carolina were those paid for naval stores, including tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin. The practice of paying bounties for naval stores, which were essential to maintain Britain's large fleet, began in the early 1700s with the realization that it was dangerous to depend entirely on northern countries (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) for such goods. Knowing that England's colonies could not hope to compete commercially with these nations without governmental assistance, Parliament in 1705 offered a bounty of four pounds sterling per ton of tar and pitch produced and three pounds sterling for rosin and turpentine.