Mercantilism, the theory and system of political economy prevailing in Europe after the decline of feudalism, based on national policies of accumulating bullion, establishing colonies and a merchant marine, and developing industry and mining to attain a favorable balance of trade, as defined by The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, was supposed to be a way for Britain to make itself more powerful and prevalent, but instead benefited the colonies more than it did the Royal Crown. Britain originally created the mercantile system out of sheer greed and conceit, in order to further their wealth and use the colonies as a grandiose fashion of income. .
Part of the mercantile system involved the Navigation Laws, but these did not have a great impact on the colonists, because they were never vigorously executed. This allowed colonists to effortlessly disregard the policies, and smuggle in goods. In addition, the colonists who were in the shipbuilding industry were given granted price supports, even though this hurt and caused conflict with their English counterparts. Another factor that greatly helped the colonies was tobacco. This crop was grown with great success in America, and was the "cash-crop- of the south. What made it even more profitable was that the British government gave the colonies a monopoly over the tobacco market in Britain. To go even one-step farther, tobacco growth was outlawed in both Ireland and England.
The colonies also had a majority of their army provided by Britain, and there was not much, if any, tax imposed on them for this. This made it easier to keep money in America while taking from that of the English economy. Too, the fact that the British armed forced were highly trained and skilled provided a significant amount of protection, which minimized enemy interference with the further growth and expansion of the colonies; all virtually free of charge.
Introduction The modern capitalism that we live in today and take for granted is, historically speaking, a relatively new economic system. However, an economic model that "calls for control of the economy by individual households and privately owned businesses- is no less than the result of many c...
