...In 1493, Columbus brought sugar across the Atlantic to the West Indies. Although commercial shipments of sugar had arrived in England since 1317, in the late 1600s and 1700s sugar growing had a firm grasp in the Caribbean. Ideal cultivating conditions, raving consumers, and a profit-centered market were the driving forces behind the sugar trade. Newly discovered and settled lands in the western hemisphere satisfied all sugar’s growing needs. Most English commoners had no idea what sugar was, let alone what it tasted like. The mass production of sugar shocked the English market as production rose from 4.6lbs to 16.2lbs over seventy years. As competition increased, mercantilism came into play as companies looked to cut any expenses to increase profit margins, resulting in the mass use of slaves. The New World was perfectly qualified for growing sugar cane. The West Indies had the precise climate and precipitation levels for the crop, and the soil was full of nutrients specific to the crop’s needs. When the triangular slave trade was established, nearly free workers came from Africa for the labor-intensive plant. Raw goods from the colonies were sent to England to be manufactured, which in turn were used to purchase slaves from Africa. These manufactured goods could be anything from a “cheap sort of firearms”(Campbell) to “glass beads”(Campbell), all of low quality and not really an expense (costing around £14 per slave) to those purchasing slaves. Slaves could be sold for £32 in...
Words: 705 - Pages: 3
...Question: Explain the relationship between mercantilism, the Navigation Laws, and British efforts to create an administrative structure for their empire after 1696. A close relationship existed between mercantilism and the Navigation laws. The British authorities embraced a theory called mercantilism which was the idea that the wealth of a nation depends on its possession of precious metals and that the government of a nation needs to take full advantage of the foreign trade surplus, and promote national commercial interests, the establishment of the colonies, so on and so forth. Mercantilists believed that wealth was power and that a country’s economic wealth could be measured by the amount of gold or silver in its treasury. In order for maximum accumulation of gold or silver, a country needed to export more than it imported. The London government discouraged buying goods from other countries; Americans were expected to provide products needed in the mother country such as tobacco, sugar. The control is evident. Britain didn’t want the Americans to even think about self-government. Parliament passed laws to control the mercantilist system. They were called the Navigation laws. They were a series of English laws that required the American colonies to trade primarily with England; set duties on some goods. I imagine this upset a few colonists. Adam Smith states, “To prohibit a great people, however, from making all that they can of every part of their own produce, or from...
Words: 505 - Pages: 3
...“NAVIGATION ACTS” TERESA HAMMOCK MR. CREWS US HIS 1111 1 DECEMBER 2013 Teresa Hammock Mr. Crews US History 1111 December 1, 2013 “Navigation Acts” The Navigation Acts were a series of acts passed by the English Parliament during the seventeenth century to protect England’s trade an prevent the American colonies from directly trading with foreign countries or other colonies. The Navigation Acts, in English history, was a name given to certain parliamentary legislations, more properly called the British Acts of Trade. The acts were an outgrowth of mercantilism and followed principles by Tudor and early Stuart trade regulations. Mercantilism was an economic system of the major trading nations during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, based on the premise that national wealth and power were the best served by increasing exports and collecting precious metals in return. Mercantilist nations were impressed by the fact that the precious metals, especially gold, were in universal demand as the ready means of obtaining other commodities. The tended to identify money with wealth. As the best means of acquiring bullion, foreign trade was favored above domestic trade, and manufacturing or processing, which provided the goods for foreign trade. State actions were the essential feature of the mercantile system, which was used to accomplish its purpose. Under the mercantilist policy a nation sought to sell more than it bought so as to accumulate bullion. There was a rise in Dutch...
Words: 915 - Pages: 4
...------------------------------------------------- The development of the classical theories of international trade between countries March 30, 2016 Danel Louw 17752302 March 30, 2016 Danel Louw 17752302 Contents Introduction 1 1 Mercantilism 2 2 Absolute Advantage 2 3 Comparative Advantage 3 4 Factor Proportions 4 5 Bibliography 6 * * Introduction International trade may seem simple. It is simply the exchange of goods between two people or entities from two different countries. People trade because they get some kind of benefit in the transaction. Sometimes it is something that they need and sometimes it is something that they desire. International trade it is not always that simple. There is a lot of theory, business strategy and policy behind it. International trade can be described in many different ways. There are many different theories, classical and modern, that we use to describe International trade. Mercantilism Mercantilism was developed in the sixteenth century. It was the first effort in developing an economic theory at the time. This theory stated that a country’s wealth was determined by the amount of its gold and silver holdings (Anonymous, 2012). Mercantilists believed that a country should increase its holdings of gold and silver by promoting exports and discouraging imports. In other words the government would use policies to encourage exports while restricting imports. They would do this by rewarding merchants...
Words: 1083 - Pages: 5
...2009). Great Britain was no stranger to colonialism, and since the first settlers arrived at Jamestown, the British Empire expanded its control over the first thirteen colonies for nearly 170 years. An intricate part of colonialism was the economic doctrine of Mercantilism. In Companion to British History, Mercantilism is explained as a basic economic theory to increase the country’s wealth by amassing gold. He listed amongst other aspects of the theory the following trade policies: trade restraints by prohibition, taxation on imported goods which could be produced in the colony, prohibition of imports from countries with unfavorable trade balance, goods exported to colony had to pass through home country ports first, establishment of trade treaties, and the regulation of colonial trades so that the colony’s raw materials were exported to the imperial power in exchange for the import of that power’s manufactured goods (2008 Charles Arnold-Baker). At the end of the French and Indian wars in 1763 and in order to fund the British debt from that war, Great Britain began to exercise more control over the colonies by passing trade acts to include increased taxation. The Sugar Act of 1764, increase the duties on sugar and many other raw materials which restricted the colonies’ ability to trade, impacting their economy negatively. In 1765, two acts were passed in British Parliament: the Quartering Act and the Stamp Act,...
Words: 1088 - Pages: 5
...limited colonial trade by using the system of mercantilism. It forbade the colonists from trading specific items such as sugar and calston with any country other than England two the act also required colonists to use English ships to transport goods. Colonists to these protests by saying it would benefit everyone because they are good people. Paragraph 2 body - The british and the colonists muilitia will defeat the french native. American, and the spanish however, the british and leave a perment army in the colonists to protect them from NA attacks. As a result prime Minister George Greenville asked paraliment to pass higher taxes on the...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...Matthew Jensen Mr. Vitale British Lit 23 March 2015 British Control of the Bullion Mercantilism started around three hundred years ago for the wealth of the mother nation. The British government wanted colonies because colonies would increase their wealth and power. The thought was that no great nation would be able to exist and survive without colonies. In the beginning of the 17th century, mercantilism was becoming a popular economic theory in the British Empire. However, this is not the first time in history that mercantilism shows up. This economic policy appeared in France as a state intervention, which would protect the domestic merchants and manufactures. The origin of this economic policy comes from a man named Adam Smith....
Words: 1459 - Pages: 6
...The difference between this and previous taxes levied was that the sole purpose of the Sugar Act was to raise money off the backs of the colonists. They felt cheated by that and later acts following which functioned only to show control over them. The Stamp Act specifically sent colonists into a boycott of all British goods, which financially hurt their mother country. The Tea Act sparked the Boston Tea Party, a blatant sign of disrespect that offended the king. The Intolerable Acts caused all colonies to band together with the city of Boston, displaying a unity against Britain not seen before. The Prohibitory Act, which blockaded American ports, was the final straw for the representatives in the Continental Congress. Just six months later, they signed the Declaration of...
Words: 511 - Pages: 3
...relative to elected representatives in parliament * Mounted attacks on use of patronage and bribes by king’s ministers * Symptoms of wider moral failure in society - “corruption” * Dukes and princes = unknown in colonies * Property ownership and political participations were relatively widespread * Murices unmolested by remote officials in London * Distance weakens authority * Mercantilism and Colonial Grievances * British authority embraced theory - MERCANTILISM * Justified their control over colonies * Mercantilists believed that wealth = power and country’s economic wealth could be measured by amount of gold or silver, a country needed to export more than it imported * London gov. looked on murican colonists as tenants * Expected to furnish products needed in mother country (tobacco, sugar, ships’ masts) to refrain from making for export certain products (woolen cloth or beaver hats) to buy imported manufactured goods from Britain * Parliament passed laws to regulate mercantilism system * NAVIGATION LAW OF 1650 - aimed...
Words: 1967 - Pages: 8
...Navigation Laws, and the Intolerable Acts. One of the first injustices levied against the colonist were the many taxes. Due to the high cost of the revolutionary war, parliament decided that it was the responsibility of the colonists to pay for one- third of the cost. The stamp and sugar acts were passed and tis led to such outrage that protesters chanted, “no taxation without representation,” throughout the colonies. The colonist felt that the taxes were unjust. As Benjamin...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...A man named Marquis de Mirabeau in 1763 first introduced the term mercantilism. Although it would not be until 1776 when a man by the name of Adam Smith, who was a Scottish political economist, popularized the term in his book The Wealth of Nations. Mercantilism is based on the simply theory that states that in order for a nation to accumulate economic strength, that nation must have to be able to export more than it imports., creating a favorable balance in trade. As a country with limited resources, there were many was that England could do this, one of the ways was to acquire colonies in that could be a reliable source of raw materials. This is exactly were the colonies fell into place. After the colonies had been established, England could take advantage of the colonies and use them as a producer of the materials that were otherwise unavailable to them. As the colonies role, they were expected to aid what was referred to as the “Mother country” in order for them to achieve a favorable balance in their trades. Colonies supplied products such as tobacco, sugar, and grain. The mother country also created an outlet for exports through the colonies, which increased the industrial development, as well as jobs at home. Colonies reduced the dependence on foreign countries for England by providing them with raw materials, which would allow them to discard the idea of having to purchase it from another country. Furthermore, the colonies role was not only to supply raw materials...
Words: 373 - Pages: 2
...Ricardo Davila Modern Europe Professor Hagai M. Segal September 29, 2015 Why Free Trade is Superior to Mercantilism The Industrial Revolution brought great success to the British Empire. It helped establish the Empire as one of the leaders (if not the strongest) of the European powers that would colonize lands all over the globe. By the end of the 18th century, Britain had amassed global economic power, and needed to regulate it somehow. The British government's plan of action was to enforce regulations on trade in order to keep control of what was produced, and what would benefit the motherland most. Adam Smith, arguably the most influential economic theorist in modern history, coined this system as 'Mercantilism,' and felt it was not optimal. Economic development and growth is inhibited by the mercantile system because resources are not allocated for maximum efficiency. For Smith, natural tendencies for exchange rooted in the self-interest of individuals would lead to an improved standard of living. Mercantilism was situational. As described by the Library of Economics and Liberty, it is a "system of political economy that sought to enrich the country by restraining imports and encouraging exports." Economic nationalism is another way to perceive it. The system originated in the 16th century when European powers began fighting over resources, often leading to armed conflict between each other (LaHaye, 2004). The objective of the mercantile system was to sustain a trade...
Words: 1226 - Pages: 5
...Mercantilism was a system of government that controlled the economic affairs of the state to fulfill national wealth. The British Colonists coped with the economic restraints placed upon the by this imperial economic theory by asking the for government assistance. The colonists became extremely dependent on the empire. Trade was only allowed within their empire, in fear that they would make the other empires richer. This became a competition in world trade. The government were so wrapped up in this competition that they didn’t also give the British colonists what they needed or asked for. New England, Middle Colonies, Chesapeake and the Southern colonies all participated in the Atlantic World trade routes. New England was close to the ocean...
Words: 285 - Pages: 2
...checkmarks from anticipation to reaction and explain why you changed your mind. Anticipation Reaction _____ 1. _____ 1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____ 6. _____ 7. The British government usually left American colonists to make their own laws pertaining to local matters. American colonial trade was severely crippled by British trade laws. The European Enlightenment had little influence on the thought of American colonists. Because they were part of the British empire, colonists were constantly involved in England’s imperial wars with France and Spain. Parliament taxed the American colonists as a way to express its authority over them, not because it needed. the money. Colonists protested the Sugar Act and Stamp Act as violations of their rights as Americans. Colonists protested the Tea Act because it threatened to raise the price of tea. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____ 6. _____ 7. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 3 you should be able to: 1. 2. Define the basic assumptions of the British colonial system and describe its operation. Assess the impact of the Great Awakening and Enlightenment on the spiritual and intellectual life of the colonies. 42 3. 4. 5. Describe the relationship between the French and Indian War and the coming of the American Revolution. Trace the course of key events...
Words: 4419 - Pages: 18
... South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. You can see them in the map below. The Kingdom of Great Britain in London rehearsed a strategy of mercantilism. It regulated the colonies...
Words: 992 - Pages: 4
