The document discusses Britain's mercantilist policies toward the American colonies from the 17th century. It explains that the main purpose of the colonial system was to enrich Britain by establishing strict control over colonial trade. The colonies were required to export raw goods to Britain and import finished British manufactures. The Navigation Acts regulated colonial trade by restricting it to British and colonial ships. While beneficial to Britain, these policies led to resentment in the colonies and unrest grew as colonial prosperity increased Britain's control.

2.  Many colonist benefited from the trade relationship
with the home country.
 Main purpose of the colonial system was to enrich
Britain

3.  1650
 Policy/Theory
 Economic theory that states a nation becomes stronger by
keeping strict CONTROL over its trade.
 A nation should have more EXPORTS than imports
 Colonies existed for one purpose only: to enrich the MOTHER
LAND!

4.  Trade system
 Americans provide raw goods to Britain
 Britain used the raw goods to produce
manufactured goods
 Sold in European markets and back to the
colonies
• NO SHARING: only English ships and merchants
were used for manufacturing and shipping goods
to the colonies

5. &
 Exports: Goods SENT markets outside of a county
or colony.
• Imports: Goods BROUGHT into a country or
colony

6.  Theory of Mercantilism, why do you want to
have more exports than imports?
 Answer: If you EARN (exports) more than you
SPEND (imports), then you will be left with a profit
in the end.

7.  As the colonies became more successful and
profitable, England began to increase control over
the colonies
 The first major Act which was placed over the
colonist was the Navigation Acts.
 Between 1651 and 1673
 Detailed series of laws that restricted colonial trade

8. -No country can trade with the colonies unless the
goods were shipped in either colonial or English
ships
-All vessels must be operated by crews that were
at least ¾ English or colonial
-Colonies can export certain products ONLY to
England
-Almost all goods traded between the colonies and
Europe had to pass through an English port

10.  The Navigation Acts were beneficial to some colonists, and
VERY beneficial to England.
 However, not all are satisfied
 Resentment
 Many continue to smuggle
 Trade goods illegally
 King Charles II punishes the colonist the HE believes are the
most unruly: Massachusetts’ merchants and leaders.
 Why Massachusetts???

11.  England has too much on their plate
 As long as raw materials continued to flow through England
and as long as the colonists continued to buy English
produced goods, then the colonies did not need to be
supervised.
….This is the start of the colonies developing a taste for self-government.

13. 
 British mercantilism
manifested itself in the
form of the triangular
trade. Trade routes
linked the colonies,
West Indies, England,
and Africa

14.  New England rum was
shipped to Africa and
traded for slaves
 Slaves are brought to the
West Indies and traded for
sugar and molasses.
-
 Raw goods were shipped
from the colonies to
England, where they were
swapped for a cargo of
manufactured goods

16.  When the slave trade became
illegal, vessels often discharged
their human cargos rather than
be caught by the Royal Navy.
 Slave Laws
 White colonists adopted
laws to ensure that African
Americans would be…
1. Held in bondage for life
2. Slave status would be
inherited.
3. 1661 Virginia enacted
legislation stating that
children automatically
inherited their mothers
enslaved status for life

17.  By 1750, ½ of Virginia’s and
2/3 of South Carolina’s
population were enslaved.
 The demand for slavery became
increasingly important in the
southern colonies.
 Reduced migration: England
reduced the supply of
immigrants to the colonies.
 Dependable Workforce: They
thought slavery would provide a
stable labor force under their
control.
 Cheap labor: As tobacco prices
fell, rice and indigo became the
most profitable crop. To grow
these crops required a large
piece of land, and many
inexpensive, unskilled field
hands.