Mercantilism: A Major Cause Of The American Revolution

Mercantilist ideas emphasized that nations should strive toward economic self-sufficiency and that the power of a nation should be measured by the amount of its gold and silver reserves. Ultimately, a nation should arrange to produce everything it needed for its own citizens and sell surpluses to for hard currency. This metal reserve, in turn, could be used in emergency situations to pay for wars or solve shortages. Colonies, like those England had in North America, played an important part in this economic equation. They could help England become self-sufficient by producing things that could not be made or grown there such as tobacco, sugar, and tall masts for ships. Colonists could also provide a market for British goods, particularly manufactured products, such as woolen cloth or beaver hats. This meant that the home economy in England could become more fully developed, while the colonial economies were relegated to a role of supplying raw materials.

(Devore, Lecture #3.) Even though most of the credit was issued from England, it allowed the colonists to buy more things and further strengthen and enhance the cohesiveness of the colonies. By this time the colonies had already well established external trade relationships with both the Indians and other countries. One of their major trade partners was the West Indies, where the colonists procured molasses from which they made rum. (Devore, Lecture #3.) All of these economic developments – consumerism amongst the colonies, Anglicizing of the colonies, the newfound availability and use of credit and the abundance of external trade – play a major role in the reasons that lead up to the American Revolution.

The American Revolution modeled the path taken by a social and economic movement in many more aspects than that of a political and intellectual movement. Even though political reasons existed for the cause the Revolution, the revolution should be considered an economic movement based on the idea of “no taxation without representation.” The colonists believed that the British rule in the colonies was extremely unfair, but these intellectual causes are greatly outnumbered by economic causes such as taxes and trade.

So first off, let's talk about Mercantilism. What is bad about it you may ask? Well lets see from a coloniest point of view. So the mother country gets rich, as the colonies do not. The colonists must sell basically all of their raw materials to the mother country for whatever price the Mother country decides (a cheap price). They must buy manufactured goods from the Mother country (at a high prices) so do you see what I mean.

Most had traded directly with royal countries. This happened because Great Britain made sure Massachusetts traded with them using the Navigation acts. The Navigation Acts were passed by the British so they could could control colonial trade in New England. The Spanish had trade monopolies in which Joint-Stock companies granted royal monopolies to be the only agents of trade with the colonies. Two differences on how New England was different was how New England had a diversified economy in which colonist grew only enough food for their own families. This happened because in New England only had enough land for themselves. Also New England had a diversified economy meaning New England drew wealth from a number of sources. This happened because The Spanish mainly traded bullion New England had fur , cod fish , craft goods, and wool. That’s why New England colonies was different from the Spanish colonies

The common theme connecting the Columbian Expedition, the American Revolution, and Manifest Destiny is greed. The aspiration to achieve something, whether it be fame, wealth, or land, compelled the people involved in these events and their extreme want connects them all. As the time in which these events occurred vary, the objects sought and reasons for the desire do as well. However, despite the wide array of reasons, motivations, and items unique to each event, greed is undoubtedly a factor involved in all.

The societies and economies of New England, the southern colonies, and the middle colonies were similar yet very different in many ways. They all had different weather conditions, different types of soil for farming, and different religious beliefs. They were all similar in the ways of trading goods for other goods they may have needed from the other regions, and they all attracted immigrants that fled to these regions to get their freedom.

Mercantilism Mercantilism was an economic theory which was practiced and aimed to carry balance trade by the European colonies. Also, this theory played a significant role the expansion of the colonies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. b. Stono's Rebellion It was an uprising of the armed slaves which occurred in the early 18th century in America. This rebellion was also known as slave rebellion.

Local artisans, laborers, and small merchants who traded outside of the British Empire, embraced the boycott of British goods and severance with England entirely because it afforded them economic opportunities that made the risk of revolution worthwhile (p. 145, Berkin). These groups had been living under the yoke of unfair taxation and an inexhaustible source of British competition in labor and goods. Revolution, for them, meant “a release from Britain’s mercantile policies, which restricted colonial trade with other nations, held out the promise of expanded trade and an end to the risks of smuggling (p. 145, Berkin).”

The 15th century saw a revolution in the history of the world. What we now know as the “Old World” changed in every facet, from politics to economics to culture to the very fabric of society. Though great change happened in abundance, each change was different for the multitude of continents present. The greatest changes possibly occurred in respect to Europe, West Africa, and the Americas. Europe experienced a complete overhaul of society. They moved away from societies based on protection and moved more towards being ruled over by monarchs. They moved away from services dependent on others and tried to focus more on mercantilism. Contrarily, West Africa had stayed the same for many centuries. Slowly, empowering themselves over time they were

The periods from the 16th to the 18th century saw many European nations move to seek more wealth from the other parts of the world. Christopher Columbus is the pioneer of the New World that would later be used by the European nations in search of better colonies where they thought they would benefit. The British, Spanish, French and the Portuguese were the major pioneering nations that moved from their countries to the New World in search of resources and wealth for the betterment of their countries. Britain had occupied North America and some parts of India, and this caused rivalry with the French. France, during the Napoleonic wars, had held Saint Domingo, which they later came to rename as Saint Dominique, the present-day Haiti.

Mercantilism was the economic policy of Great Britain from the 16th century to the 18th century. The government controlled the economy to accumulate national wealth. Mercantilism promoted government regulation of the nation’s economy to

The acts involved that imported goods from Asia and Africa had to arrive in English ships. Imported goods from non English America had to arrive in English ships. American colonies could only export their goods in English ships. Any seafood or whale products had to be caught by English ships. Basically the English wanted to closely supervise England's imports and exports. This angered the colonists.

The English, like most European countries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, followed the economic policy of mercantilism which looked upon colonies, accumulation of wealth, and trade as a basis for a country’s political and

In the years leading up to the war, the American industrial revolution was driving the United State’s economy. Large factories set up in major cities in the north provided a high supply of quality made goods that would be sold around the world. In the south, the cotton and tobacco industry was making plantation owners richer than ever before. This of course was done on the backs of slaves. In the true origins of the war, world trade became a major factor in the rising tensions between the two sides. Those who worked for or ran industrialized factories in the north were especially influenced by the economic outcomes of succession. They worried because the South held distain for the the Union would smuggle in British made goods which were cheaper, and better made. This would be threatening to the North’s economy. British goods could also find a way into North America without facing the Union ports. It would hurt the shipping industry because Great Britain would no longer ship to the Union, and Great Britain would be able to bypass the tariff’s the United States had placed. If this were to happen, the United States would be cut out of a then thriving global economy, and North American trade routes would run through the South. European shipping would not have been shy to pledge allegiance to the Confederacy as well, as they produced two thirds of the cotton used to make these finished goods around the world. In this instance, not only would the South be able to dominate the