Question
Historians have long debated the impact of Britain’s mercantilist economic policy on the colonies. Explain the mercantilist economic theory and show how Parliament incorporated it into the “navigation system”. In what ways did the system hurt and benefit America?
Response
Trade and crop exchange were the main input and output of money during the mid seventeenth century. The colonists could export such crops as tobacco, sugar, and indigo to England and only to England after Parliament passed the Navigation Acts of 1651. The high paying Dutch could no longer be sold to, it was illegal to export crops to any ship other than the ones with English markings. This is all attributed to the fact that England was greedy to gain superiority and to state it’s dominance in the New World by placing heavy restrictions on the colonists, some that would work in favor of the colonial side, and some that would hamper their success.
More went into the Navigation Acts then just money for Englanders. Power of the New World was the driving force behind a mercantilist economy.
At the time, there was severe competition between England, Spain, and Dutch for supremacy of the New World. By passing the Navigation Acts, England promised itself dominance of trade in the Western Hemisphere. By restricting the colonists to abide by the Navigation Acts, England created what they thought was a good balance of trade, the whole premise of mercantilism. The British taxed many things, and made it impossible to trade with competition to gain supremacy.
Many places, such as Puritanical Boston, completely ignored the rules of trade. They claimed that their charter did not require them to stand for the same rules being imposed on the other colonies. To deal with this, Parliament revoked the Massachusetts charter and combined them with New Hampster Hampshire. This is just one of the first disproving signs given by the colonists. Many other things went treacherously...