Mercantilism

Mercantilism in British and american policy

How did the principle of mercantilism guide British policy toward the American colonies?

Mercantilism stipulates that in order to build economic strength, a nation must export more than its imports. Mercantilism guided the British to view the new world

as a place filled with raw materials. To achieve this favorable balance of trade, the English passed regulatory laws exclusively benefiting the British economy. These laws created a trade system whereby American provided raw goods to Britain and Britain used the raw goods to produce manufactured goods that were sold in European markets and back to the colonies. As suppliers of raw goods only, the colonies could not compete with Britain in manufacturing. English ships and merchants were always favored, excluding other countries from sharing in the other Empire’s wealth. They expected the American colonies to serve their mother country by collecting this materials and giving/trading it with its mother country as well as its sister countries.