1. This document shows MERCANTILISM

2. This document (indirectly) shows SALUTARY NEGLECT & patterns of SELF GOVERNMENT

3. Government in the British Colonies
“To pay little attention to”
The British colonies were governed with a policy called Salutary Neglect
British Parliament & the king controlled the colonies, but did not enforce its policies as long as Britain profited from the colonies
This loose control allowed the colonists to create their own colonial assemblies in America
“Beneficial” or “favorable”

4. Economic Characteristics of the British Colonies

5. Trans-Atlantic Trade
America became an important part of the trans-Atlantic trade network
The colonies produced profitable raw materials, such as tobacco, wheat, fish, indigo, & whale oil
Britain sold manufactured goods back to the colonists, such as clothing, tea, guns, & tableware
African slaves were brought to America via the Middle Passage

6. Trans-Atlantic Trade Patterns (Before 1660)
Colonial raw materials helped drive British manufacturing & the colonies presented a new market for the British to sell their finished goods

7. What were the top 3 colonial exports?
South
South
Middle
South
New England
New England

8. Trans-Atlantic Trade Patterns (Before 1660)
The increased demand for colonial raw materials, increased the demand for African slaves

10. This pattern of trade between Europe, the colonies, and Africa became known as the Triangular Trade

11. Trans-Atlantic Trade Patterns (Before 1660)
When the British colonies were first founded, there were few restrictions on who the colonists could trade with

12. Mercantilism
By the 1650s, the British gov’t began to embrace the economic policy of mercantilism:
The colonies exist to generate wealth for the mother country
Promoted a balance of trade (more exports than imports)
Meant that colonial trade must be regulated & controlled 17

13. Mercantilism

14. The Navigation Acts
However, colonists soon realized that these restrictions gave them a monopoly on British trade & led to steady profits
Initially, the colonists protested the loss of Dutch, French, & Spanish trade partners
Starting in 1660, the British gov’t imposed a series of Navigation Acts designed to restrict colonial trade & increase British wealth