War Against Other Colonies: Mother Country

The purpose of mercantilism was to increase power, wealth and self sufficiency for the mother countries. England, Spain and france would often compete with each other to gain colonies in regions such as North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. Raw materials such as lumber, wool, iron, cotton, tobacco, rice, and indigo were what England needed to be able to create manufactured goods. However, mercantilism in the American colonies were more dependent on the manufactured products of England. The Navigation Acts that were a series of laws were enforced by England so that they could make the American colonies more dependent on the manufactured goods of England.The American colonists were expected to buy manufactured goods like cloth, furniture,knives,

Economically, the Crown did not provide as much assistance as needed to the colonists of the New World. Trade involved mainly countries other than England, because this way profits were maximized. England, once again, created its colonies for mercantilist reasons: profits and only profits. In reaction to these trade schemes, the Navigation Acts were enforced. Smuggling then grew extremely popular mainly because of price differences and simple convenience. Agriculturally, the main crops were indigo, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and rice. Due to high demand, several workers were needed. Through the Triangular trade, raw materials went to England and the Northern Colonies, slaves came to the plantation-dominated areas of the colonies, and manufactured goods went to the West Indies. Molasses was turned into rum in New England and traded for more slaves as well.

(Devore, Lecture #3.) Even though most of the credit was issued from England, it allowed the colonists to buy more things and further strengthen and enhance the cohesiveness of the colonies. By this time the colonies had already well established external trade relationships with both the Indians and other countries. One of their major trade partners was the West Indies, where the colonists procured molasses from which they made rum. (Devore, Lecture #3.) All of these economic developments – consumerism amongst the colonies, Anglicizing of the colonies, the newfound availability and use of credit and the abundance of external trade – play a major role in the reasons that lead up to the American Revolution.

The British didn't want America trading especially with France because of a war involving France and Britain that was going on at the time. According to ManyThings.org

Since America was developing as a new nation, it was neutral. Great Britain cut off America’s trading because they thought it would interfere with their war against France. They also restricted trading because they wanted to set up an Indian population in the Midwest in order to still maintain their influence. The trade restriction was the first major cause of the War of 1812. During America’s neutral status, the British began to impress Americans, taking about 6,000 mariners and making them serve on the British ships.

Great Britain at this time had many issues with funding themselves after exhausting resources and political power, after the French and Indian War. Britain was slowly losing power trying to keep the inhabitants of the American colonies at the bay. With a victory in the hand of Britain and one of the bloodiest wars staining the hearts of the people of America in the other, Britain had to keep itself strong, so the idea of taking their colonies quickly came to mind and keeping foreign colonies in check was their first priority. There were many issues going on in the British colonies. One of many issues that happened is salutary neglect, which led to the colonies to be mad with the British Government.

A British rule of 1756 stated that if there was no trading in peaceful times, then there would be no trading in times of war. If this were to occur, the ships carrying the goods could and would be seized by the British. (Tindall and Shi, 245). American ships were seized by both England and France, which was an infringement of America’s neutral trading rights. When the ships were seized, the goods were taken and American sailors (especially in the case of the British) were impressed (taken from the ship and forced to join the crews of the ships that seized them).

Before 1806, the United States economic system flourished due to the European War. Before these decrees were issued, the United States was able to deliver goods to both Great Britain and France. This, however, changed. The conflicting degrees ordered that the Americans were to stop at Great Britain to pay fees and go over an inspection before heading to France; while on the other hand, Napoleon had ordered that neutral ships should avoid receiving inspection. Furthermore, anyone who disobeyed Britain’s orders would be stopped and seized upon. The United States really had no other option but to trade with other neutral countries until the policy changed, or the wars

This abuse of American soil angered colonists, and many demanded to impose importation restrictions upon Britain. The Articles of Confederation could not control commerce, and states could not agree on the same tariff policies. Ultimately, Britain had “restrictions on our trade to incapacitate our merchants” and that the United States should “be put… into possession of all the posts and territories within their limits” (Doc D). After the Treaty of Paris, the British should not have control over American land that the United States were promised nor American commerce. Spain had a similar relationship to America, with disputes over land as well as trade. Spain closed the Mississippi River, and in response, John Jay wanted to solve both

Ch.1: With the Treaty of Paris, the British set up military posts running from the Northern end of Lake Champlain, to Niagara, Detroit, and Michigan Peninsula. The British took the posts because the US failed to live up the treaty terms. In 1784, the Spain closed the lower Mississippi River to the American commerce, and then orders a tariff on US goods. The U.S. made negotiation for commercial treaties and did trade directly with Europe. The Britain excluded the U.S from the imperial trade and received a large quantity of cheap goods. The U.S in the time of depression and the balance of trade made some states print more money between 1785 and 1786. Other states also tried imposing taxes and restricting new issues of money.

The colonies were able to trade with Spain, France, and the Netherlands (Even when they weren’t supposed to under the Navigation Acts). Great Britain later tried to enforce those Acts so that they could gain some power back. The colonists ultimately rebelled because of Britain’s

     On the other hand, foreign relations with Britain were strained. After the Articles of Confederation were established, Britain put stricter restrictions on United States commerce. United States foodstuffs, lumber, and tobacco were all welcomed in Britain, but only if it arrived in British ships. The United States ships lost all privileges to trade their merchandise to the West Indies and were forced to pay high custom fees for landing their cargo in Britain. As a result of one-half of United States exports going to Great Britain or the West Indian Colonies, British shippers were able to increase their share of Atlantic trade at American expense. This trade loss was especially difficult causing a depression.

The conflict between Britain and the colonies was mainly economic in origin due to the acts that Great Britain imposed and their view of the role of the colonies. They believed the colonies were there to provide financial support to Britain, the mother country. After the French and Indian War, Britain enforced the policy of mercantilism. As Document D states, “The colonies are generally restricted in all of their foreign trade,” because of mercantilism as all goods were reserved for the British. This led to conflict because American colonists soon experienced many shortages.

Report on New England Colonial region in preparation for the war with France. This region will prove to be both an asset and a bit challenging during the war.

Imperialists suggested that the colonies could be used to the advantage of mother nations due to the fact that they could possibly provide raw resources that are rare or unavailable in Europe’s area of residence. Thus, they started to expand, rapidly making colonies to gain more resources and places of trade, this formed a system called a global economy. Study.com under the video of “The 19th Century World Economy: Major Changes & Their Impact”, defined a global economy as one that integrates trade goods, services, and money. This makes the world more intertwined and the imperialists used this to form their next point that colonies would take in manufactured goods and give off raw resources, benefiting the colony and the mother nation in the