Mercantilism: Economic Policy And System During The 16th-18th Century

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Mercantilism is an economic policy and system that was implemented by many different European colonies during the 16th-18th centuries in order to closely regulate trade in the American colonies. The goal of this was to maximize more domestic exports and halt foreign imports. In order words they wanted to monopolize domestic markets in order to benefit the mother country. This helped to promote a dominant relationship over the colonies, forcing the colonies to provide the mother country with raw materials which would be shipped to the home country and made into manufactured goods before being returned to the colonies to be bought and sold. (Foner, Give Me Liberty, p. 88). Many of the colonies had staple crops or good that were the major economic

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