Topic of Discussion Colonial Economics

Transcription

1 I Introduction A. What does Economics mean and where did it come from? B. Economic issues have concerned human beings for millennia, ever since the early primitive hunters considered how to distribute the meat from the day's kill among the members of the tribe. C. Although trade and markets existed in ancient societies, the concept of an economy did not emerge until the Middle Ages. D. As a field of study, however, economics began as a branch of philosophy, emerging as an independent discipline in the 18th century. E. Economics is the social science that analyzes the production distribution and consumption of goods and services II It is also important to keep everything (historically) in perspective. A Reformation B European Wars of Religion Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

2 C England Catholic Church split D s Class system intensifies E The Enlightment begins F G The English Bill or Rights III Class system War going on between the landowners and the elite The middle seventeenth-century hostilities and doubts which weakened landowners as a ruling order sprang from a variety of political, religious, and economic influences: the civil wars and leveling threats of the 1640s and 1650s; the deeply-felt doctrinal differences which set owner against owner and split families in two; and the problems which beset the country's economy, most notably the fall in agricultural prices and rents. Added to these were the more slowly developing causes of concern: a demographic crisis which appeared to put the very survival of the élite at risk from a failure of male heirs; and social changes which threatened to undermine stability which led to the agricultural depression of the 1730s and 1740s. Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

3 IV Glorious Revolution of 1688, ended the reign of James II and ushered in the reign of William III and Mary II. The 1688 Revolution came at the end of a reign when James II had made it all too clear that he wanted Roman Catholicism reinstalled as the country s religion. The chronic dislocation of the English Civil War was remembered by many people as was the relative stability of the reign of Charles II. No one was willing to tolerate more years of uncertainty or the possibility of the country being pushed once more into military conflict. In 1689 V A Bill of Rights declared grant the people basic human rights for freedom of speech, right to bear arms for defense and be granted the right to a democratic process which would limit the Monarch rule. B. England realizes that America is a source of raw products, and money C. The English colonies were created to make money for the mother country. England was also motivated to export Protestant Christianity to the New World. D. The movement known as began to emerge from a moral philosophy. Mercantilists sought to increase England s wealth through the use of government policies to export goods and restrict imports. Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

4 E. Follow the money! VI in England Beginning around 1650, the British government pursued a policy of mercantilism in international trade. stipulates that in order to build economic strength, a nation must export more than it imports. To achieve this favorable balance of trade, the English passed regulatory laws exclusively benefiting the British economy. These laws created a trade system whereby Americans 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 British Empire s wealth. The idea of mercantilism, therefore focuses on the prosperity of a nation based on its supply of capital goods. in England was the country's main economic policy, particularly between the 16th and the 18th century. Generally speaking, this concept relies on the trading and exporting of goods as the main stimulus for the economy, and importing was usually discouraged. The theory of mercantilism in England generally stated that tangible goods like gold and silver were the actual measure of the entire nation's wealth as a whole, even if many citizens did not possess it. This whole concept was created while the country of England was in the middle of an economic transition. Many believed that the lower class, homeless, Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

5 and jobless were an actual harm to the overall society, and were considered of almost no value to those who had power and monetary goods. This created a large amount of criticism of mercantilism in England III A. British mercantilism manifested itself in the form of the triangular trade. Trade routes linked the American Colonies, West Indies, Africa, and England. Each port provided shippers with a payoff and a new cargo. New England rum was shipped to Africa and traded for slaves, which were brought to the West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses, which went back to New England. Other raw goods were shipped from the colonies to England, where they were swapped for a cargo of manufactured goods. B. and the triangular trade proved quite profitable for New England tradesmen and ship builders. But in the Southern Colonies, where the vastly lowered tobacco prices, economies suffered. The triangular trade also spurred a rise in the slave population and increased the merchant population, forming a class of wealthy elites that dominated trade and politics throughout the colonies. C. New Englanders traded extensively, exporting many commodities such as fish, whale oil, furs, and rum. How- Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

6 ever, one distinct route that formed was the triangular trade. This pattern occurred as follows: D. New Englanders manufactured and shipped rum to the west coast of Africa in exchange for slaves. E. The slaves were taken on the to the West Indies where they were sold for molasses and money. F. The molasses would be sent to New England to make rum and start the entire system of trade all over again. G. It is important to note that the triangle trade was not an official or rigid system of trade, but instead a name that has been given to this triangular route of trade that existed between these three places across the Atlantic. Further, other triangle-shaped trade routes existed at this time. However, when individuals speak of the triangle trade, they are typically referring to this system. Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

7 IV Between 1651 and 1673, the English Parliament passed four meant to ensure the proper mercantilist trade balance. The acts declared the following: A. Only English or English colonial ships could carry cargo between imperial ports. B. Certain goods, including tobacco, rice, and furs, could not be shipped to foreign nations except through England or Scotland. C. The English Parliament would pay bounties to Americans who produced certain raw goods, while raising protectionist tariffs on the same goods produced in other nations. D. Americans could not compete with English manufacturers in large-scale manufacturing. E. The severely restricted colonial trade, to the benefit of England. The colonists initially complained about these strictures on trade. In New England in particular, many colonists evaded the restrictions of the by smuggling. But although relations between England and the colonies were often full of friction (as in 1684, when Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony s charter as punishment for smuggling), the two sides never came to any real conflict. Instead, England developed a policy of salutary neglect toward the colonies, which meant that the trade laws that most hurt the colonial economy were not enforced. Threatened by the presence of the Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

8 French in North America, British officials knew that at some point they would have to clash with the French over the domination of the continent, and they needed the colonists to support them when that time came. The British did not want to alienate their much-needed allies through aggressive trade restrictions. With the prospect of war against the French looming, the British employed salutary neglect to maintain the colonists loyalty. Before 1763 the English civil war and the Glorious Revolution were taking place in Europe. During this time the British had to deal with the wars in Europe and really didn't enforce the, due to their preoccupation with the war. Colonist then stopped following the laws, and smuggling and bribery became a common sight throughout the colonies. The colonists began trading with non-british colonies in the Caribbean, this trading contributed to many colonial merchants and farmers prospering. Britain once again tried to enforce these laws after the French and Indian War, but the colonists sternly objected. These acts aroused great hostility in the American colonies. The were finally revoked in 1849 The were intended to make the colonies a supplier of raw materials and a consumer of manufactured goods of the mother country, in accordance with mercantilist doctrine. They also encouraged development of the British merchant marine. The acts probably aided the growth of the British Empire for a time, but they were increasingly resented by American colonists in the 18th century, and are usually considered one of the causes of the American Revolution. During the early 19th century many of the acts were modified, and they were repealed in the 1840's. Colonial : An Economy Based on Human Misery

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