Mercantilism Research Paper

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Jacob Eshet
September 21, 2015
11 AM
Research Paper 1 (#3)
Describe the series of taxes and regulations that the English government imposed on the American colonies during the 1700s. What specific economic policies were incorporated by the English government during and after the 1760s? What global war and post-war circumstances prompted the English government to impose these policies? Provide examples of American protests and aggravations against the English. Also explain the steps American statesmen took that eventually led to independent declaration from England.

In the 1700s, the British government imposed a series of taxes and regulations on their American colonies. Influenced by the theory of mercantilism, these policies …show more content…

While Americans were supportive of monarchism and embraced their British roots, they began to believe their overseas government was looking to strip them of liberty. The first American colonies were established at a time where mercantilism was a popular theory. With mercantilism, colonies only existed to support the mother country. This occurred through monopolies, import/export bans, taxes, and limited wages. The colonies were also expected to export their natural resources and purchase finished products back from the mother country. Mercantilism also focused on exporting more than importing. The result of mercantilism was severely limited economic liberty in colonial America, which eventually led to the American Revolution as colonists no longer believed they could remain in the British Empire and have their rights protected (Keene, Cornell and O 'Donnell). Before the war, North American colonists were barely paying any taxes compared to other British territories. .After the war, a new prime minister, George Grenville, was hired and ordered to investigate colonial revenues (Dockswell). After discovering that they were making much less than they should, he initiated a new program of taxation and its enforcement; Americans and Britain’s view of taxation, and the “morality and legality of Britain’s new policies put the two on a collision course” ( (Keene, Cornell and O 'Donnell). The first tax was the Revenue Act, also known as the Sugar Act. While lowering the tax on molasses, it increased the tax on sugar and other popular goods, along with increased penalties for smuggling. Another part of the act imposed compliance with juryless British courts, something Americans viewed as an attack on their basic rights. Following resistance to the Sugar Act, they imposed a massively unpopular tax called the Stamp Act, which affected a

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