Essay Sample on Mercantilism and Colonialism

Mercantilism is a theory of countries competing to become the wealthiest. An “efficient” way of executing this theory was through colonies. Many colonists will come to North America not for their country but instead of themselves. Colonies are generally a distant away from the mother country making them more independent. The contrasting way of life for the colonies and Britain has proved to be a challenge.  This system of mercantilism was a land mine when it came to conflict involving North American British territories. In a sense that one decision can drastically affect the relationship between the colonies and Britain which can result in wars. 

Colonists came to North America for their own self-interest. “The natural desire of every individual is to improve his own condition (life)”(I). Coming to the colonies is a way to get a better life. The Quakers can the colonies to get away from their slaughter back in England. Moreover, the Pilgrims came to North America not for the growth of their Mother country but for their own benefit.  “In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, …, having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, ...”(B). This piece of the Mayflower Compact states that the Pilgrims made the decision to come to North America to further their religion, which is a form of self-interest, instead of the growth of the Mother country. Having people come that are not completely loyal will cause problems in the long run, an example would be how Boston was the one first to have conflict with Britain.

A child that is distant from its mother becomes more independent/rebellious and the same can be said with the colonies and Britain. In 1765 there was a popular song which went like this, “She snubs us like Children that scarce walk alone; She forgets we’re grown up and have Sense of our own; Which nobody can deny, deny.”(H). This song really related its time in a sense that heavier taxes were put upon the colonies and Navigation Act were applied more strictly. I believe that song was referring to how the mother country Britain was trying to have a tighter grasp on the colonies but didn't realise that colonists had been away from Britain for so long that they have become independent. Another verse of the song mentioned that when we, the child, don’t listen we will get punished and nobody can deny that truth (H). When the colonies argue with Britain, Britain becomes more strict and Britain is right for doing so. The colonies are under britain rule and as such have to follow the rules/direction Britain sets out for them. The Navigation Acts stated that ships that transported goods had to be predominantly English (F). This was Britain’s way of coming down on the colonists to stop smuggling and increase their profits. During the colonial times smuggling was basically colonists making trades with other countries. Due to this new found strictness, colonists in Boston started to rebel.

Although there was conflict in the north with Britain, colonies in the south weren’t affected. For quite a long time the colonies were on their own and were not unified, since their economy/way of life was different. Document E is a good example of their independence. The north had more trades than the south and consisted of whale oil, furs, lumber, flour, etc. as an export; their imports were manufactured goods. The south only imported slaves and exported cash crops(E). The map of colonial Transatlantic trade shows how the colonies’ work force and source of income were different. The north grew their wealth through trades while the south grew their cash crops. Document E also shows that the only import of the south are slaves, which means that the south was heavily dependent on slavery. In Document D it shows an image of 292 slaves in a ship(D). The south didn't have a lot of people and were spread out, so using/depending on slaves was the best decision. This difference in economy and way of life became a cause of war, Civil War. The same can be said with colonies and Britain. 

Mercantilism is the idea of increasing wealth and collecting all goods produced by the colonies was a great way of doing so. Document C is a great representation of that. There is a woman/master getting ready to eat food made by the maids. The women were Britain, the maids were the colonies, and the food was all the good the colonies produced. Although this is a profitable theory, its longevity is not good. The longer that theory was used the worse it got for  the country. The colonists became more independent over time and Britain more strict which caused problems.