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Briefly explain the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonies in the century and a half before the Revolution
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A brief essay on mercantilism
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Mercantilism during the 16th through 18th century played a major part in the relationship between Britain and the colonists of America. Mercantilism was one of many factors that caused the separation of America and Great Britain. You must first know how mercantilism benefitted both parties in order to understand why the separation took place. Mercantilism is an unfair practice. The main objective of mercantilism was to increase a nation’s wealth by commanding government regulations concerning its commercial interest. Nations that practiced and enforced mercantilism among other countries believed that their strength could be maximized by limiting imports through tariffs and maximizing exports. Concerning the relationship between America and Great Britain, the British were fortunate to be on the beneficiary end of mercantilism. Since they had control over American colonies’ imports and exports, they could increase tariffs if it satisfied them. As a result, they received all the financial benefits including a boost in there economic system. In return, Britain elevated their tariffs on...
Prior to the World War 1, United States of America was just a developed country, which was lagged behind other countries, such as, Britain, France, and Germany, with a large land and ample natural resources. However, as the World War 1 was caused, USA was required to produce war materials by France and Britain and exported to those countries. Hence, USA gained a huge amount of money and technical skills, and so the country has grown into one of the world’s economic powers. As a result, USA could invest in Canada in order to get raw materials for its secondary industries. However, USA’s investments in 1920s brought more benefits to USA itself than to Canada. There are three major reasons for the statement. First, since branch plants were established, Canadian own businesses lost their opportunities. In addition, the ultimate purpose of USA’s investments in primary industries was to enhance USA’s secondary industries. Lastly, the skyrocketing growth of Canadian economy by the middle of 1920s resultantly benefited USA than Canada.
Encomiendas: An encomienda was a grant of Native American labor given to prominent European men in the Americas by the Spanish king. This grant allowed European men to extract tribute from natives in the form of labor and goods. The value of the grants was dramatically increased with the discovery of gold and silver in the Americas. The significance of this term is that although this system was eventually repartitioned, it initiated the tradition of prominent men controlling vast resources and monopolizing native labor.
Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of a society quite different from that in England. Changes in religion, economics, politics, and social structure illustrate this Americanization of the transplanted Europeans.
British imperial regulations with the American colonies were closely tied in with the system of mercantilism. Mercantilism controls the relations between the leading power and the colonies under its empire. A nation would want to export more than it imports gaining more money to obtain economic stability. The colonies exist for the profit of the mother country.
Increased inexpensive imports led to business failures, bank closures, and unemployment in cities. Britain ended The War of 1812 with America and trade increases. Britain’s industrial capacity exceeded Americas’.5 Britain then exported its surplus of manufactured goods to America. U.S. factories could not compete with Europe’s low labor costs and low price of goods. American imports rose from $12.9 million in 1814 to $151 million in 1816. Businesses were forced to close.
“When on December 22, 1775, the British Parliament prohibited trade with the colonies, Congress responded in April of 1776 by opening colonial ports—this was a major step towards severing ties with Britain.” (history.state.gov) The colonies no longer depend solely on British goods, but had set up strong trading agreements with numerous countries. These agreements sustained the colonies. By setting up trade agreements with other countries, the colonies had, in a way, become “independent’ from the necessity for British goods. These British goods had become obsolete to the goods of rival
Mercantilism and capitalism both have to do with money accumulation. Capitalism are businesses controlled by private owners. Since they own the business and the government doesn’t all the profit from the work they’ve done and the trades they’ve made goes to them. Mercantilism are countries that are exporting more goods than their importing. In 17th and 18th century this system was used by British government to restrict how the colonies spent their money. Capitalism is the making of the money in a country, and mercantilism is making money from other
Self-interest can be seen in many of the writings throughout American history. The mercantile system, as exhibited by the British on the colonies, was an extremely hedonistic approach to gaining wealth for themselves. Mercantilism, as set forth by the Navigation Acts, imposed strict and extremely descriptive laws that would limit and exploit trade in the colonies, allowing Britain to control the wealth and profit of materials and goods in America. These acts were used to keep America from trading with any other countries. As stated in the Navigation Act of 1660, "no goods or commodities whatsoever shall be imported into or exported out of any lands" to his Majesty belonging"in any other ship or ships...as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland" (Restoration 98). Britain knew that by controlling the colonies in this manner they could take the raw materials out and sell the finished products back, and by doing so they would profit greatly. This mercantile system exemplifies the arrogant minds of the British while America was developing. This system would soon become a failure due to the people's demands to have representation along with taxation, and their desire to separate from England as a free and independent state. Likewise, it was due to self-interest of the greedy planters and the self righteous farmers in the south that slavery was highly used. At that time they needed all the labor they could get, and the cheapest way to obtain it was through the purchase of slaves. Some of the slavery was downplayed by calling it indentured servitude, where servants were essentially slaves for a limited number of years.
The British were motivated to explore North America so they could evangelize and share the glory of God, obtain wealth, and trump rival European nations. With the flow of British colonists into North America increasing, colonies started to flourish. Economies started to boom and there was a growing reliance on forced labor. The English became increasingly aware that coercible labor would be the primary method of maintaining a successful economy. From 1600 to 1763, interactions between Europe and the British American colonies shaped the labor systems of the colonies. A major change was the shift in the source of the workforce, but the reliance on forced labor stayed the same.
The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...
The colonies became a go-to market for the England’s manufacture goods and a steady supplier of raw materials. England applied mercantilism to its colonies by passing strict laws, such as the Navigation Acts, to limit trade with foreign countries and to tax all goods. The West Indies mainly relied on exporting sugar for profit, and more often than not, the English trade restrictions prevented the colonists of the West Indies from maximizing profit. Thus, they frequently snuck around to trade with the French and Spanish. The Navigation Acts had a significant impact on the self sufficiency of the colonies. The colonists began to build their own ships and also made iron, silk, and lumber for themselves. This somewhat economic autonomy would become crucial as the colonists later defy English restrictions and would be a key in sustaining the early United
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies out grew their mercantile relationship with England and developed their own expanding capitalist system. The idea of a set amount of wealth in the world and that if one were to become wealthy, he or she had to take from someone who is already wealthy, is basically what mercantilism means.
Trade was important to the Maritimes. Up to 1846 Britain had provided the British North American colonies with a market for their goods, but then began a policy of free trade. Because there were no tariffs placed on any country the colonies lost a sure market for their goods. Many colonists were concerned that some might consider union with the United States and the British North American colonies was brisk with large amounts of lumber and grain being imported by the U.S. When the Americans ended the Reciprocity Treaty in 1865, many Maritimers became uneasy about the economic future. It became apparent that in order to develop thriving trade; new economic links would have to be developed. 3
One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...
Economic concerns of the British caused the colonization of British North America. Such economic concerns included the opportunity to acquire gold, silver, a North American waterway that would lead directly to China and the Indies, and the prospect of countering Spain's dominance in North America (Boorstin et al. 34). In addition to these economic reasons for colonization, the English were also seeking to obtain the essential "raw materials" in America that they had been previously buying from other European countries for exorbitant amounts of money and gold (Boorstin et al. 34). Great Britain also sought to solve other economic problems through American colonization. For example, England needed to replenish some of its diminishing materials and assets, generate another "market" to export its cargo and merchandise, maintain its powerful navy and "merchant marine" through business with new American colonies, and to provide a new place for the unemployed to settle rather than escalating populace/crime and the economic burden in its own cities (Boorstin et al. 34).