MERCANTILISM Mr. Sandford AP American History

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Definition of Salutary Neglect The Meaning and Definition Salutary Neglect: Salutary Neglect was a long-standing British Policy in the 13 colonies which allowed the colonists to flout, or violate, the laws associated with trade. There were no effective enforcement agencies and it was expensive to send British troops to America. The British policy of Salutary Neglect was not documented. The policy and era of Salutary Neglect lasted from the 1690's to the 1760's and benefited the colonists boosting their profits from trade.

Mercantilism 4 Main Goals 1)Encourage growth of native merchant ships, this included the colonial ships. 2)Protect English manufacturers from foreign competition. 3)Protect English Agriculture, especially grain farmers. 4)Accumulate as much hard money as possible. (Colonial money was worthless in England, merchants wanted Gold!)

Mercantilism The colonists supplied raw materials to England and they could buy the finished products back from GB. GB wanted to be self-sufficient, and new that the colonies played a large role. For this to be successful, GB needed laws and regulations to protect wealthy British merchants and industrialists at the expense of the colonists. A mercantilist economy is a managed economy, managed by the larger and stronger power.

Regulations To Support Mercantilism NAVIGATION ACT OF 1651 –All imports or exports had to be carried on GB ships. –Targeted the Dutch control of world wide shipping. –All crews must be at least 1/2 British or Colonists. –NE economy - “carrying trade” - increased.

Regulations to Support Mercantilism Act of 1660 –Required all exports from the colonies to go to GB. –GB merchants would then sell or trade the materials around the world. – Tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton, molasses – ENUMERATED PRODUCTS –It also required all Colonial imports to go through GB. –Each product was taxed before being sent. –All products imported or exported assists the GB economy.

Regulations to Support Mercantilism The third type of law dealt with GB subsidizing certain products produced in GB which allowed their goods to be cheaper and bought more by the colonists. The fourth type of law prohibited colonists from manufacturing certain products on a large scale that may compete with GB manufacturers

How GB Saw It Mercantilism was explained by its proponents, as a "a philosophy of nation building, a series of economic controls intended to strengthen a country... against other … empires. A major tenant of this view was self-sufficiency: sources of supply--raw materials, agriculture, and industry--should be developed domestically, or in colonies, to prevent interruptions by hostile foreigners”

Did it Help the Colonies? Protection from foreign competition helped New England's ship building industry. Individual colonies benefited by specializing. Various colonial exporters benefited when they exported to Britain because competing goods from foreign nations were subject to tariffs theirs were not. The colonies were easily made into “international traders” because of the British Empire.

But, On the other hand, colonists paid more than they otherwise would have for imports from foreign countries (Tariffs) Southern planters, particularly rice and tobacco planters, bore much of the burden, because most Southern exports went there, while smaller shares of the other two regions' exports went there. New Englanders often evaded this cost through trading with foreign countries illegally.

Economic Belief Jose del Campillo y Cossio “New System of Economic Government of America” 1743 factories and industries “must absolutely be forbidden in America”