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How Did Mercantilism Regulate Colonial America

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From the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, the British Empire was the biggest power in the world. Some said that the sun never set on the British Empire because of its greatness, and Britain wanted to continue growing. To do this they tried to regulate trade to favor them. This principle of creating a favorable export and import balance is mercantilism. Mercantilism shaped the life of eighteenth century Colonial America by regulating their trade, by economically weakening them and putting them in debt, and by socially creating the tensions that led to the Revolutionary War. The principle of mercantilism caused Britain to regulate Colonial America’s trade. In 1584 Richard Hakluyt wrote a defense of the benefits of western planting. In the defense, he states that Britain should plant these new discoveries quickly and in a couple places, so that they are not precluded by other nations who want to do the same …show more content…

People came to America to be free, to do what they wanted to do. In a Description of Philadelphia, Peter Kalm talks about how people came from all over, and almost no one was similar. However, no one was discriminated against or molested for beliefs they had, as long as they believed that God is the Creator (Kalm). Those who came to America came for freedom, not to be under a king. Everyone in Philadelphia was described as enjoying liberties so freely that they basically live like kings (Kalm). When people started to be regulated from Britain, and started to feel the negative effects of the restrictions and regulations that they tried to escape before, they were mad. The people became mad at Britain and wanted the freedom to be their own nation and to control their own trade, and not be negatively regulated by a king. It was this idea that caused America to fight for freedom in the Revolutionary

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David McCullough is the author of “1776” a book taking about the revolutionary war. It all started with the American colonies wanting their freedom.1775 is when everything started building up to 1776 when the American Revolution when the revolutionary war was started. The Americans where done being under the British control. So when the American took action to get their freedom British was not to happy about it. America wanted to be their own country and the British did not want that happing.

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After using resources and assets, the British tried to regain control over the colonies by using an idea called mercantilism. This established that a countries wealth is determined by its gold and silver. This set forth that a country must become wealthy by increasing exported goods. This

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Prior to the American Revolution the gap between American and British views on many issues got increasingly larger. The resulting differences in opinion eventually led to the American desire for independence. Colonists disagreed with Britain over the taxes, Proclamation of 1763, and the Quartering Act of 1765. So the British were able to pay for a very expensive war, and because they felt the colonists were below them. They decided to start taxing the colonists to help sustain themselves.

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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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1.Great Britain controlled the economy in the colonies through trade. 2.Every culture or country traded so that they could receive all of the essential goods that they needed to survive. 3.Great Britain forced the colonies to trade only with them so they could make a profit, and also so they could obtain the things they needed from. 4.As a result of the New World not having all that the colonists needed , Great Britain would have those goods that the colonists could use to survive; so they traded their goods back and forth.

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The English Colonies alongside the Atlantic Coast in the 1600’s - 1700’s began with the failed attempt to establish the Roanoke Colony in Virginia, which was later surpassed by the Virginia Company, a joint stock company, that established the colony of Jamestown in the Chesapeake Bay area. Following the success of the establishment of Jamestown was a series of devastating events known as the “starving period”, which caused scare food sources, conflicts with natives, and starvation that characterized the lives of the early settlers. However, once the government had a stable foundation of laws, and once people started to settle into the colonies, the menacing conditions transpired into renowned opportunities. As these opportunities arose, so did the differences amongst the colonies and the reasons for leaving England. As people continued to settle into these colonies, England found ways to become highly profitable through a system called mercantilism, which provided it with sustainable wealth.

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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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The colonists were angry, and their outrage ultimately fueled the colonies to unite against a common enemy: Britain. The colonists argued that their freedom

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The colonists refused to submit to a king that was only interested in their money, causing the colonists to become irate with the British once more. Since Great Britain thought that it was superior to the colonies, Great Britain did not give colonists the opportunity to speak up for what they wanted, which lead the colonists to rebel. The arrogance of Great Britain led to the rebellion of the colonists, which sparked the Revolutionary War through social, economic, and political actions. Furthermore, Great Britain caused a tremendous amount of irritation to develop inside of the colonists. The Revolutionary War showed that it is a necessity for Americans to have their opinions voiced.

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With all of their reserves, and at the ease it took to get them, England also became a great threat to all conflicting countries as they feared to be taken over. Therefore, as many did not want to be a slave under Britain, people began to voice their opinions to their leaders and from it the smallest spark of rebellion

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The European countries founded colonies in the Americas because they could buy cheap resources from their colonies, the colonies would serve as captive markets, and they could collect taxes from the colonists. Colonies were only allowed to trade resources with their mother country and their mother country wanted to buy resources as cheaply as possible. This meant that the colonists had to sell resources to their mother country at low prices even if they could sell their resources for more elsewhere. After buying resources from their colonies, the mother country would make refined goods to sell back to their colonies at a high price with a large profit. The colony would have to buy the goods from their mother country because they could not buy from anyone else, thus creating captive markets.

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The people of America (colonists) were tired of being controlled by England. They wanted to be free and independent. They believed that they were able to control themselves and be their own country. They wanted England to let go of their control and to view them as independent and their own country.

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The British government was not looking for the best of the people. They were only thinking about what they wanted; the government was not interested in what the people wanted so they decided to make decisions on their own, which resulted in changes that form the United States today. Because of this, they were justified in rebelling and declaring independence. One reason why the colonists decided to rebel and declare independence was because of taxation.

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The British North American colonies developed marvelously in self government, religious, economic and social ways of life from 1607 to 1763, and in doing so they laid the foundations for our world today. They weren’t always correct in their actions. As Sumner Redstone said ‘Success is not built on success. It 's built on failure. It 's built on frustration.

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