Chinten

Mercantilism is the doctrine that says government control of foreign tade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and security of a state. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. In thought and practice it dominated Western Europe from the 16th to the late-18th century. Mercantilism was a cause of frequent European wars in that time. It also was a motive for colonial expansion. Mercantilist theory varied in sophistication from one writer to another and evolved over time. Favors for powerful interests were often defended with mercantilist reasoning. Even before the first boatload of Englishmen landed at Jamestown, Virginia, European countries had experimented with empire-building, engaging in the system of mercantilism. Although it was never a cohesive system, and changed from nation to nation, its variations had similar characteristics and, most important, a shared economic philosophy. First and foremost was state control over human behavior: the belief that many aspects of a nation's economy had to be regulated. With the acquisition of colonies came the recognition that their purpose was to satisfy the needs of the mother country. The regulation of economic activities in the colonies, then, centered around the accumulation of wealth for the European powers, at the colonies' expense. The degree of control varied according to the nation. In the 1500s, Spain and Portugal exerted strict control over their colonial inhabitants. However, the British were more lax in governing their colonies. For the first 150 years after the initial settlement at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, English control over the colonies was minimal. With all her involvement with European nations in wars of conquest, little energy or time was available to dictate the colonies' economic options. Three thousand miles of ocean made it difficult to monitor such a policy. Nevertheless, as the colonies grew and became more prosperous, the English realized that the colonies could provide increased trade, if competition could be eliminated. Americans had established profitable trade with other countries, notably the Dutch. In order to increase her wealth, Britain tightened the economic noose around the neck of the colonies by implementing regulatory policies, thus changing in degree her relationship with the colonies.
 * Define Mercantilism as it relates to the American colonies in the 1600 and the 1700s.**

From 1650 on, England instituted a series of laws of trade and navigation known as the Navigation Acts. Their purpose was to limit colonial trade to the British only. In order to accomplish this, all trade between colonists and the British was to be conducted on either English vessels or colonial-built vessels. If colonists intended to trade with any other nations, all goods had first to be shipped to England, giving her an opportunity to handle them and collect revenue from taxation. In addition, there were certain products that could be traded only with Britain, such as tobacco, sugar and cotton. As time went on, the list of enumerated goods grew -- continually decreasing merchandise that the colonists could sell to other nations. In keeping with the general policy of mercantilism, England encouraged the colonists to specialize in the production of raw materials. English factories converted raw goods to products which were then shipped back to the colonies. This provided the British with a profitable market, free from competition. In order to discourage manufacturing, regulations governed certain industries that would have been competitive with the British, such as the woolen-garment industry, hat making, and the iron industry. Meeting domestic needs was permissible within the regulations; they were intended mainly to prevent exports. Even though many of these restrictions were on the books, they did not cause havoc to the North American colonists, as was the case with those in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. In fact, there were many advantages that the colonists received from this system, such as having a built-in market for their raw products. Also, trade regulations were not rigidly enforced.
 * What were the Navigation Acts and how did it help Mercantilism? **

With the culmination of the French and Indian War in 1763, the British were victors in the world struggle for commercial supremacy and their policies of mercantilism changed. Now they began to enforce their mercantilist policies, which led to intensified animosity between the English and their colonies. Having tasted economic independence for too long a period, the American colonists had no desire to return to the mercantilist policies endured by the colonies of other European nations.
 * Why did Britain attempt to enforce mercantilism and other economic policies in the 13 colonies following the French and Indian War? **

The interests of England within the colonies were self-centered. The English were exploiting were trying to govern the colonies by using the mercantilist system. Mercantilism is when the state directs all the economic activities within it's borders. England was not attempting to make any changes that would help the colonists. They limited the colonies commerce to internal trade only. The English were exploiting the colonies by demanding that the colonies import more from England then they exported to the colonies. They were importing raw materials from the colonies and making them into exportable goods in England. They would then ship these goods to foreign markets all around the world including the colonies. Throughout the sevententh century the English saw America as a place to get materials they didn't have at home and a market to sell finished products at after the goods had been manufactured. This was detrimental to the colonies because it prevented them from manufacturing any of the raw materials they produced and made them more dependent upon England.
 * Did mercantilism cause the Revolutionary War? **

Salutary Neglect was an undocumented, though long-standing, British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, meant to keep the American colonies obedient to Great Britain. Prime Minister Robert Walpole stated that "If no restrictions were placed on the colonies, they would flourish" This policy, which lasted from about 1607 to 1763, allowed the enforcement of trade relations laws to be lenient. Walpole did not believe in enforcing the Navigation Acts, established under Oliver Cromwell and Charles ll and designed to force the colonists to trade only with England, Scotland and Ireland,which were also under Britain's control. Successive British governments ended this policy through acts such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Act, causing tensions within the colonies.
 * How did Salutary Neglect help the development of Free Enterprise?**

[]
 * Cites:**