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How Did The American Revolution Contribute To Mercantilism

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Mercantilism was the primary economic system of trade used from the 16th to 18th century. The system was based on the understanding that a nation’s wealth and power would best benefit by increasing exports and collecting metals, such as gold and silver. When Great Britain enforced the sugar and navigation Acts to increase the wealth of the nation ,it angered the American Colonists and made them dissatisfied with the British rule . The heavy taxes and restrictions , caused by the two acts , frustrated the American colonists and eventually contributed to the American Revolution . As a result of the American Revolution the colonies gained independence from Great Britain. Mercantilism contributed to the development of the colonies because it led
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It was because of the French and Indian War that the colonies were struggling economically. The Sugar Act, for the most part, affected merchants and

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The colonists that came to North America were ill-prepared in a number of ways, and they had to adapt their original expectations after they arrived. The combination of issues with labor, commerce, government, and Native Americans created a uniquely American identity. One main problem was the amount of energy needed to develop the new colonies. The development projects, such as deforestation, planting the fields, and harvesting them, required a vast amount of workers, and there simply weren’t enough workers to do the job. Different areas dealt with the shortage differently.

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The Revolutionary War between the colonists and England sparked the United States into becoming their own independent nation. The Sugar Interest, a group of British men that lived in England and had overseers in the West Indies doing work for them, said that colonists could only buy sugar from the British West Indies, which spiraled into multiple infractions between the British and the Colonists. Many facets can be put forth into the reasoning for the Revolution occurring, but some argue that the Sugar Interest could be blamed for it in its entirety. The Sugar Interest, often members of British Parliament, wanted to protect their money and would do just about anything to do so.

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All the taxation took its toll on the economic status between the colonists and Britain. Prior to the French and Indian War, the Wool, Hat, and Iron Acts forced Americans to ship materials to Britain to be built, but then later buying the products from them. However mercantilism was soon abandoned when the colonists decided to fight back. The Stamp Act enraged many of the elite colonists, and as Benjamin Franklin states, they wanted to "get it repeal'd" as soon as possible. They chose to boycott, and they chose not to import or consume the product Britain wanted them to, thus the relationship economically between the two places was significantly

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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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The American Industrial Revolution was a century-long transition from a culture dependent on agriculture to a culture with a more industrial based economy. This revolution marked a major turning point in history, and almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Many factors led up to this important period in history including mercantilism enforced by the british, which led to the Embargo Act, the greater opportunities available in industry that offered better wages and hours, and the various factory labor and entrepreneurial innovation, such as in the Slater Mill. Each of these things- war, opportunities, and innovations- individually aided in the development of the American Industrial Revolution.

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Merchants and any other citizens were able to sell what they wanted without regulations from Britain. Americans could purchase goods without extreme taxes from a distant ruler. The major taxes were a huge part of the reason for the revolution, after the war the taxes were brought down but not completely eliminated. The Economic Status of the Representatives in Six Colonial/State Legislature shows that even they weren't suffering, they representatives were not poor at all it was a zero percent. (Document 4).

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They encouraged colonists to engage in trade and commerce, resulting in the growth of a robust commercial economy. The profit-seeking pursuits of the Massachusetts Bay Company not only supported the colony's stability but also made/grew an entrepreneurial spirit that would come to define the American economy. Chapter III: The Plymouth Colony: Quest for Religious Freedom and Economic

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Barter economy: Trade and bartering were prevalent, with limited use of currency or formal markets. Changes: 1. Emergence of mercantilist: The English government implemented mercantilist policies, seeking to control colonial trade and maximize profits for the mother country. 2.

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In 1763 conflicts began to occur between the American colonists and British policy makers. The issues began as George Grenville, prime minister, believed that the colonists should have to obey more laws and pay a part of the expense for defending and administering the empire (Brinkley, 2012). This was an attempt to apply the principles of mercantilism to the colonies (Brinkley, 2012). From 1763 until the Revolutionary War began, the British kept making decisions of enforcement that caused more and more resentment from the American colonies. On his quest for more control over the colonists and to gain money from them, the Sugar Act and Currency act were passed in 1764.

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This actually benefitted the colonies because it caused the English to subsidize American assets. Although some aspects of mercantilism hurt the colonists, they found loopholes in the system so it didn’t have as bad an impact which helped improve the economy in the

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TASK # 1 MERCANTILISM Since its founding, the United States of America has been characterized by mercantilism. Due to its ability to increase commerce, production, and foreign investment, mercantilism was a key factor in the early years of the country's economic prosperity. In an effort to make colonies dependent on British goods and services, it was also one of the fundamental causes of the American Revolution.

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Mercantilism focused around profit-making, concentrating on lowering costs and increasing price as much as possible. A zero-sum game in which one person gained over the other and there was always a party that suffered a loss. Examples such as the navigation act show us that mercantilism favored government intervention where it deemed it necessary. The act implemented policies that isolated Britain’s colonies and America from conducting trade with any other states. Britain concentrated solely on the benefits gained by the state and not the harm done to colonies or the other countries through monopolizing trade.

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• The historical significance of the term colonialism to the study of American history was how the British colonized in America in an attempt to acquire raw goods. 2. Mercantilism- is a system whereby a country exports more than imports to strengthen its economically at the expense of other nations. • Example-An example of mercantilism is the economic system

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