What was mercantilism?How could it have been a cause of war? Of economic growth?

During 16th to 18th century Great Britain practiced an
economic philosophy called Mercantilism in international trade. Great Britain, the
mother country was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the
foremost global power. Colonizing America and pursuing a policy of mercantilism greatly
increased their power.Mercantilism is the idea that colonies existed for the benefit of
the Mother Country and it states that nation becomes stronger by keeping strict control
over its trade. Britain sought to increase its power by obtaining large amount of silver
and gold and by establishing favorable trade with its thirteen colonies. Based on these
ideas, Great Britain, the mother country made decisions that were more advantageous to
themselves than they were to the colonies. There were many regulations that were passed
to support this theory; Navigation Act of 1651, Act of 1660, and many laws as well. This
definitely angered the colonists, but this didn’t really play a role in prompting
Americans to rebel in 1776. There were far more other reasons for the Americans to rebel
in 1776. Therefore, Mercantilism plays a small role in sparking the
rebellion.

To begin with, the theory of Mercantilism
represents the colonists as Britain’s tenants providing “rent” by supplying raw
materials to England. In return, colonists had to buy the finished products back from
Great Britain. To have to export more than you import is not beneficial. But to Britain
it was more than beneficial. Britain wanted to accumulate as much hard money as
possible, since colonial money was worthless in England. Hard money was the source of
prosperity, prestige, and the strength for a
nation.

Furthermore, Mercantilist economy is a managed
economy, managed by the larger and stronger power. The mother country, Great Britain
wanted to be self-sufficient, but for this to be successful, it needed laws and
regulations to protect wealthy British merchants and industrialists at the expense of
the colonists. The regulations that supported mercantilism was the Navigation Act of
1651 which stated that all imports or exports had to be carried in Great Britain ships.
Act of 1660 required that European nations must sell products to the colonies by first
stopping at English ports where they would have to pay a custom duty, taxes, which is a
way for Britain gain more money. Exports from the colonies could only be shipped in
British or colonial ships and had to be sent to England first. After that, the products
would be taxed and was allowed to be sent to other countries in European nation.
Colonial products could not be shipped directly to any foreign nation. These laws and
regulations supported the theory of Mercantilism.

In
addition, Mercantilism doesn’t play much of a factor in prompting Americans to rebel in
1776. As suppliers of raw goods only, the colonies could not compete with Britain in
manufacturing. In fact English ships were favored. It’s being said that the relationship
between Britain and the colonies in the mid-1700s were good. The colonies joined Britain
to fight the French in the seven years’ war. During this time the British had to deal
with the wars in Europe and really didn't enforce the Navigation Acts, due to their
focus with the war. Colonists began to prosper on its own by trading with non-British
colonies in the Caribbean. Britain once again tried to enforce these laws after the
French and Indian War, but the colonists objected. Moreover, Britain had a lot of debt
from the war and thought that the colonies in America should pay much of the debt so
Britain imposed several acts such as the Stamp and Townsend act.  Because of this, their
relationship deteriorated, prompting Americans to rebel in
1776

In conclusion, Mercantilism is a theory that basically
stated that the colonists existed for the benefit of the mother country.  Many
regulations were passed to support this theory. But, once the French and Indian War
began the theory became a little loose since Britain’s main focus was the war. Britain
didn’t really get to enforce the Navigation acts. Mercantilism didn’t really play a big
role in prompting the rebellion of 1776, but the events that did play big role would be
after the seven years of war.