Mercantilism Essay - 1456 Words

The several colonies under British control in America were all ruled and governed by the same political and economic policy. Mercantilism is a policy where wealth is equivalent to power. It is the economic theory that a country’s wealth was measured in the amount of bullion it accumulated. Even though this policy was official by the British crown and Parliament, often a different policy advanced into society. Salutary neglect, a concept first written by Edmund Burke and first used by Prime Minister Robert Walpole helped as well as hurt Britain throughout history. Although undocumented, the British policy of salutary neglect strongly influenced the development of Colonial America; its effects were evident in both politics and the economy.†¦show more content†¦The Mercantilist system as proven in von Hornick’s novel is based upon a favorable balance of trade. Salutary neglect unlike mercantilism had both, economic and political conditions so to say. On the econom ic side sometimes the policy allowed the colonies to thrive, well at other times it left space for deterioration. Meanwhile politically it helped the colonies, but in the end hurt Great Britain. Salutary neglect was most of the time accidentally set into place when the motherland became occupied with domestic issues at home. This included religious conflict as well as political conflicts such as the Seven Years War. Economically salutary neglect allowed the colonies to trade with whomever they desired. The advantage of this was longer standing for the colonies than for Britain. More lenient trade policies allocated the colonies to thrive onShow MoreRelatedMercantilism And The Development Of Mercantilism Essay999 Words   |  4 PagesMercantilism Mercantilism was a theory in economics, which was very popular between the 16th and 18th centuries, whose aim was to build a strong rich state through the regulation of the economy by the state (Wallerstein, 2014). 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Read More Mercantilism Essay1879 Words   |  8 Pages Mercantilism is an economic theory where a nations strength comes from building up gold supplies and expanding its trade. Britain formed the American colonies so that they could increase their gold stores. They wanted raw supplies to make into products to sell and make money. They wanted America to pay taxes so that Britain could make money. America used the theory in that they thought they ought to, in order to be strong expand their trade beyond Britain. Countries like Belgium, and France wanted