The Characteristics Of Mercantilism And British Colonies

The purpose of mercantilism was to increase power, wealth and self sufficiency for the mother countries. England, Spain and france would often compete with each other to gain colonies in regions such as North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. Raw materials such as lumber, wool, iron, cotton, tobacco, rice, and indigo were what England needed to be able to create manufactured goods. However, mercantilism in the American colonies were more dependent on the manufactured products of England. The Navigation Acts that were a series of laws were enforced by England so that they could make the American colonies more dependent on the manufactured goods of England.The American colonists were expected to buy manufactured goods like cloth, furniture,knives,

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.

1. How did the mercantilist system work? Explain how the “mother country” benefited from having colonies.

The colonists as we know came to the New World to start a better life in a new place. However, it was later proven that they wanted to make money in all sorts of things and ways and they also wanted to practice their religion away from anyone else. Therefore, it is clear to say that the colonists came to the New World to make money and practice their own religion.

The British had the idea of mercantilism where a the economys wealth was judged by how much gold and silver it had, the colonies supplied the mother land with materials and then the mother country produced products to sell back to the colonies

Mercantilism is an economic theory where a nation's strength comes from building up gold supplies and expanding its trade. Britain formed the American colonies so that they could increase their gold stores. They wanted raw supplies to make into products to sell and make money. They wanted America to pay taxes so that Britain could make money. America used the theory in that they thought they ought to, in order to be strong expand their trade beyond Britain. Countries like Belgium, and France wanted to also increase their trade, and expand it to trading with America. They also wanted to increase their gold stores by trading with America. Britain however did not want America to trade with France and Belgium and the Netherlands because they

Britain created a lot of policies to keep the colonies under their rule. They also had these policies in place because it benefited their own economy. American colonies would give Britain supplies, and they would use these supplies to manufacture for a profit. The Navigation Acts were created so that trade would be more regulated.

We came from colonies to America when we gained our independence from the Great British.There were many events that led American colonists to fight for the independence or their revolution. The American revolutionary war lasted (1775 - 1783). Theses were the Causes of the War. One cause was British wanted to make as much money as they could make from 13 Colonies. The British had adopted the policy which was called Mercantilism system. It was based on the benefits of profits. Based on my research I perceive that the Mercantilism system was profitable trading system in which the flow of raw materials from the colonies that profited Great

By the middle of the 18th century differences had developed between the mother country and the growing American colonies. Local political institutions and practice changed significantly from English ways. The British government, like other imperial powers in the 18th century believed in mercantilism. This belief had a detrimental impact on the relationship between the British and the American colonies because Since the colonies were only meant to bring wealth to the mother country. Prior to the 1760's laws imposed by Parliament were only loosely enforced. The colonies were by and large allowed to develop freely with little interference from England. Over time, these loosely enforced acts began to be enforced, causing tension between the colonies

Prior to 1776 in the newly colonized Americas, numerous European countries were working to build up civilizations and expand their empires. The relationship between these colonies and Britain may be seen as a good and bad one depending on one’s perspective. However, this relationship was overall a good one and Charles Inglis’ The True Interest of America Impartially Stated supports this. The reason this relationship between the colonies and Britain was a good one was because it strengthened relations between the European countries and also made the natives more civilized and uniform.

Around the seventeenth century, the North American settlers were dependent on their Mother Country, Great Britain. The colonies were dependent economically and politically. Great Britain maintained the colonies dependence with mercantilism. Mercantilism was an economic system used in early colonialism that allowed the government to regulate all trade and provided wealth to the Mother Country. By using mercantilism Great Britain was able to control the colonies with the closed system of trade. (Tusan, 1001, Feb 4). King George III, who was the ruler of the British Empire attempted to control the colonies with Stamp Taxes, Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts. The taxations forced the American colonists to go against the British Empire and declare their rights as Englishmen. “That it

Mercantilism and Bullionism had both positive and negative effects on the economy of Spain and New Spain. I believe that the main positive effect was that mercantilism resulted in great wealth for rulers and merchants of various countries like Britain, France, and of course Spain. These countries began to exploit foreign lands and establishing trade relationships amongst others. With this new system, they were able to gain enough power to overthrow their current leaders and set up colonies. European leaders used their urge and excitement to create their own colonies. They did this by encouraging merchants to invest their capital wherever they though it necessary. These merchants truly benefited from this investment, since they were given exclusive

At end of the seventeenth century Mercantilism is that ancient trade thought existing in the world. Commercial revolution argument trade was one of typical explanation of mercantilism trade thought. According to mercantilist, the concept of the commercial revelation means the way of transformation, that transform the market characteristic from local economic to national economic, from feudalism to capitalism and from small scale trade to large scale trade. The philosophers of mercantilism they strongly suggest that if a country will gain from the international trade by, will promote the export performance and limited import. This would have a positive gain for country gain thought trade. An accumulation precious metal (gold) was the main

Mercantilism was prominent in Europe for many centuries but was eventually replaced by a greater emphasis on the free market and limited government regulations. One of the fundamental problems associated with mercantilist thought was that if every nation was attempting to promote these policies of trade so that their colonies were producing raw materials for them and then the Mother country would manufacture the products and in turn sell them to their colonies to obtain gold and silver, this could not produce a good economic system. There does not really exist a solution where every nation could pursue this same system and all continuously acquire an increasing amount of wealth. Mercantilism also did not produce the ideas of equality or utility, which developed later. Ideas of equality are important for economic growth, as can be seen later in Europe with the free market system and capitalism. During this time period Europe did not adopt ideas of utility, as shown through its zero sum concept of trade. The focus was more on the benefit of the nation as a whole rather than the individual. The society was greatly hierarchical and did not express ideas of equality, which can also be seen through Europe’s exploitation of their colonies. The idea of the harmony of interests that came about in the later 18th century by Adam Smith was absent and national accumulation of wealth was the main goal.

Mercantilism was the dominant school of thought in Europe from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century. “It refers to the central policy prescription that the state should act like a merchant, augmenting the wealth of the nation by maximizing the surplus from trade with other nations” (Sandelin, 2014). It measured a country’s wealth by the amount of rare metals it owns. The country with more precious metals is better off than others. It aimed at making many exports and few imports to get positive trading balance. Mercantilism was dominant in France and England. Governments’ power were growing and they had big demand for lands at that time. This theory could be closely related to the wars during that period. “At the same time the rise of more powerful European states with burgeoning bureaucracies, frequent dynastic wars that required larger and more expensive armies, and more lavish court expenditures exacerbated this