Mercantilism

1143 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Self government colonies

Mercantilism

Mercantilism is the economic theory that a nation's prosperity depends

on its supply of gold and silver; that the total volume of trade is

unchangeable. This theory suggests that the government should play an

active role in the economy by encouraging exports and discouraging

imports, especially through the use of tariffs. Spain and England used

the mercantile system to benefit the mother countries. The mercantile

system had special regulations, which usually extracted some sort of

reaction from the colonies. If necessary, the policies would be

changed to better suit the mother country.

The favorable balance of trade was upheld through certain regulations.

No foreign trade was allowed for the colony unless it passed through

the mother country first and it moved on mother country ships.

Furthermore, no foreign settlers were allowed in the colony. No

colonial industry was allowed. The colony had to remain dependent on

the mother country for industrial necessities, it was not allowed to

become competition for foreign markets, and migrations restrictions

limited availability of skilled artisans. Regulatory taxation was

another mercantile regulation. Protective “tariffs” were used on

foreign imports to the colony, and revenue was raised for the mother

country. No colonial self-government was allowed, either. The mother

country avoided challenges to its economic authority, and the colonies

couldn’t enact pro colonial/anti-mother country laws. The Spanish used

three mercantilist devices to protect their commercial monopoly in the

New World. They prohibited foreign ships from entering Spanish

colonial ports, and no foreigner could send goods to the colonies or

take gold bullion out of Spain in pay...

... middle of paper ...

...land, vigorous attempts to

prevent smuggling in the American colonies after 1765 led to arbitrary

seizures of ships and aroused hostility. The legislation had an

unfavorable effect on the Channel Islands, Scotland (before the Act of

Union of 1707), and especially Ireland, by excluding them from a

preferential position within the system. Shaken by the American

Revolution, the system, along with mercantilism, fell into decline.

The acts were finally repealed in 1849.

Mercantilism was widely used in many different superpowers in the 18th

century. Depending on what superpower used it, the colonies under the

superpowers were restricted from doing certain things, and had to

follow certain mercantile regulations. The mercantile systems most

likely ended up with the colonies undergoing revolutions (America and

England) which resulted in the end of mercantilism.

Show More
Related

  • Financial Impact of the Seven Years’ War on British Colonies

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    For example, the Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663 specified a number of key trade related rules. First, they specified that all colonial trade had to be carried on ships owned by British or colonial traders. Secondly, all colonial goods bound for North America had to pass through certain English ports, in order to be taxed and monitored. Finally, enumerated goods such as sugar were to be shipped only to English ports. Despite these laws existing, the government in London did not enforce them strictly up until 1763. This policy is often referred to as ‘salutary neglect’ and it had the effect of introducing a perceived sense of autonomy and self-determination in the North American colonies. Following 1763, the British government began to enforce the Navigation Acts British lawmakers began to introduce more Acts which further restricted and monitored colonial trade and increased taxes. To the parliament in London this was just enforcing and building upon old laws, an opinion that was not shared by the

    Read More

  • Significan Mercantilism In The Columbian Exchange

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    It was expected to result in a favorable balance of trade, with imports not exceeding exports. The significance of this term is that this system allowed gold and silver to flow into England, bringing economic expansion. As a result, these mercantile policies laid the ground for overseas colonization and allowed England to rise as a challenge to Spanish power in the New World.

    Read More

  • The Colonies By 1763: A New Society?

    497 Words  | 1 Pages

    In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. In England, the common view was that the colonies only purpose was to compliment and support the homeland. This resulted in a series of laws and protocols called th...

    Read More

  • Examining Whether or not the Boston Massacre was a True Massacre

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the French and Indian War ended, England had massive debt and little revenue, so Parliament passed laws taxing the American colonists to aid in paying for the British army and navy that helped protect the colonies. Parliament passed a series of laws, including the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, which taxed goods purchased by the colonists. Colonial merchants, who did not feel they should be taxed without representation in Parliament, signed non-importation agreements promising not to buy or import British goods. There was a lot of violence committed on the customs officials who were enforcing the...

    Read More

  • Primary Differences between Colonial America and England

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...

    Read More

  • British Rule In Britain During The 1700s

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    “When on December 22, 1775, the British Parliament prohibited trade with the colonies, Congress responded in April of 1776 by opening colonial ports—this was a major step towards severing ties with Britain.” (history.state.gov) The colonies no longer depend solely on British goods, but had set up strong trading agreements with numerous countries. These agreements sustained the colonies. By setting up trade agreements with other countries, the colonies had, in a way, become “independent’ from the necessity for British goods. These British goods had become obsolete to the goods of rival

    Read More

  • Britain Vs the Colonies: The American Revolution

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.

    Read More

  • The French and Indian War

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...

    Read More

  • The Start of US Revolution

    1902 Words  | 4 Pages

    One way of the British controlling the colonies was to impose trade regulations on them. They forced the colonies to trade only with them, as dictated by the Navigation Acts and the mercantile system.

    Read More

  • Economic And Religious Concerns Contributing To The Settling Of British North America

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    Economic concerns of the British caused the colonization of British North America. Such economic concerns included the opportunity to acquire gold, silver, a North American waterway that would lead directly to China and the Indies, and the prospect of countering Spain's dominance in North America (Boorstin et al. 34). In addition to these economic reasons for colonization, the English were also seeking to obtain the essential "raw materials" in America that they had been previously buying from other European countries for exorbitant amounts of money and gold (Boorstin et al. 34). Great Britain also sought to solve other economic problems through American colonization. For example, England needed to replenish some of its diminishing materials and assets, generate another "market" to export its cargo and merchandise, maintain its powerful navy and "merchant marine" through business with new American colonies, and to provide a new place for the unemployed to settle rather than escalating populace/crime and the economic burden in its own cities (Boorstin et al. 34).

    Read More

  • The American Revolution Was Truly Revolutionary

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the years leading up to the American Revolution, important economic changes took place within the colonies as their economies transitioned from the previous subsistence farming and subsistence living type of economies into true consumer economies. (Devore, Lecture #3.) This shift toward a true consumerism society in the colonies, also known as Anglicizing the colonies, began to make the colonies more uniform and began to bring the colonies together into more of a cohesive unit. (Devore, ...

    Read More

  • The American Revolution Was NOT Justified

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    The British also implemented new taxes. The Sugar act of 1764 sought to reduce smuggling, which occurred partly as a result of the earlier Molasses Act. This gave British possessions in the Caribbean the upper hand in sugar trade, which in the British view helped the empire as a whole, but to Americans, and especially the merchants, this put limits on their opportunities. The Currency Act, passed about this time forbade the printing of colonial currency. British merchants benefited because they didn't have to deal with inflated American currencies. The Americans felt they were at an economic disadvantage as very little sterli...

    Read More

  • Canadian Confederation

    3837 Words  | 8 Pages

    Trade was important to the Maritimes. Up to 1846 Britain had provided the British North American colonies with a market for their goods, but then began a policy of free trade. Because there were no tariffs placed on any country the colonies lost a sure market for their goods. Many colonists were concerned that some might consider union with the United States and the British North American colonies was brisk with large amounts of lumber and grain being imported by the U.S. When the Americans ended the Reciprocity Treaty in 1865, many Maritimers became uneasy about the economic future. It became apparent that in order to develop thriving trade; new economic links would have to be developed. 3

    Read More

  • American Colonies

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a similar economic revolution, the colonies out grew their mercantile relationship with England and developed their own expanding capitalist system. The idea of a set amount of wealth in the world and that if one were to become wealthy, he or she had to take from someone who is already wealthy, is basically what mercantilism means.

    Read More

  • Imperialism

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout American History the U.S. has sought to expand its boundaries. This need increased greatly during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the start of the industrial revolution. This Expansion was a big departure from earlier attempts to expand the boundaries of the U.S. The needed for Natural resources forced the U.S to look for places that could supply them with the natural resources they needed and markets where they could sell their goods in. The need to imperialize caused the U.S. to look to foreign places to gain resources to better the nations industries.

    Read More

More about Mercantilism

Open Document