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Early Forms Of Capitalism

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Capitalism was encouraged and created under the influence of three Papal Bulls, the Bull Dum Diversas (1452), the Bull Romanus Pontifex (1455), and the Bull Inter Caetera (1493). Rules and policies introduced by these edicts formed the foundation of early forms of Capitalism (eg. Mercantilism), and established a mindset that we today refer to as the 'Doctrine of Discovery', a set of rules and principles that guided the discovery of non-Christian lands by the Christian world. This Doctrine set the standard for how the discovery of new lands and peoples was handled and continues to do so to this day, as evidenced by America's propensity for extreme protectionism.

The Bull Dum Diversas granted Christian monarchs permission "to invade, conquer, fight, subjugate the Saracens [Muslims] and pagans, and other infidels and other enemies of Christ...and to lead their persons in perpetual servitude" (Dum Diversas). This exploitation of native peoples was …show more content…

Similar to it's later derivative, Mercantilism relied on privately owned land, labor, and management, under the rule of a single individual in control of their own capital. The main goal of Mercantilism is profit by trade, hence the word 'mercant' (Catalan for merchant) embedded in the word. The discovery and colonization of new lands provided the perfect environment for Mercantilism to flourish. Large influxes of raw materials allowed for rapid economic growth, and a captive marketplace kept the majority of the progress focused inwards. An example of one such market can be found in England in 1651 and 1660. "'The Navigation Acts'...severely restricted the ability of other nations to trade between England and its colonies."(“What was mercantilism?” The Economist, August 23, 2013) The 'Doctrine of Discovery' enacted by the edicts of the Pope encouraged the spread and growth of Mercantilism, and also affected its evolution towards the Capitalism we know

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During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British government was in control of the North American colonies. The prime reason for the British government to control the English colonies was so Britain could trade with the colonies. The English colonies had crops like sugar and tobacco that couldn’t be grown in England so the British relied on the colonies to ship these products to them. The colonies were able to use the British ships in trade for the colonies’ crops. With the policy of mercantilism developing in the 17th century, Britain said they could help the English colonies become a strong country by trading, even though the trading mostly helped the British.

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England used this system to benefit economically from the colonies. Salutary Neglect played a huge role in keeping the colonist in check using mercantilism as a way to show that they were obedient to the king and if they went against the rule of the king then that would be treason. The navigation acts were placed to prevent foreign trade to rival countries like France, and the Netherlands. They implemented this act to ensure that all shipping goes through British ports and are carried by British ships. This act made sure that the colonies were still under control of the British.

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The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.

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England hummed with social and economic change after the 17th century. The joint-stock company flourished with new investors and colonies began to form under England. Peace and unity within England, control of the Atlantic due to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the willingness of citizens to leave provided England with many reasons to colonize. The economic theory of mercantilism arose and England began to send settlers over to the new world to colonize in efforts to increase England’s wealth and power. High levels of poverty and a surplus population led citizens to seek social mobility and economic prosperity in the new world.

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. Maryland Toleration Act: Created in 1649 to ease tensions between Protestants and Catholics; ultimately failed and did not end bickering between the two religions . triangular trade: the trade between eastern colonies, Africa, and Europe; included an exchange of slaves to the colonies, manufactured items such as guns and alcohol from EUrope to colonies and West Africa, and crops to Europe . Mercantilism: foundation of the mercantilist theory is that a nation must export more than it imports; high value for gold, silver, and other precious metals . Navigation Acts: essentially a series of tariffs imposed upon the colonies beginning in 1651 to create an English monopoly over trade; colonists could only trade with England and had to use English

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‘New money’ would allow upward social mobility. Also, there was lots of land that could be acquired, and that allowed for economic growth. Mercantilism was a way that the British kept economic control of the colonies. This way, the colonies would make money for Britain. The navigation acts and the sugar act were both laws enacted to restrict trade in the colonies.

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This big mush in mercantilist ideas came along with the help of tariffs, or trading taxes on imported goods. Hence, we no longer had to rely on Britain for our much needed produced goods such as clothing, furniture, or tools. This caused Britain to lose money, the money they desperately needed to fund their war effort. So, along with impressing our sailors and enforcing a tax, they also took goods from any ships they boarded. This only helped to infuriate the country further as they saw no real reason why britain had to do this.

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