Mercantilism
by Barry Wright
Essay: Mercantilism
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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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.
The economic theory of mercantilism was said by many to be the base policy of the British American Colonies of
North America. Mercantilism instills that a country’s wealth is based upon the amount of gold and silver it has
amassed. It also instills that wealth is correspondent to the country’s trade value. In many Mercantilist countries
the government is pushed to encourage a greater number of exports than imports, or a positive balance of trade.
In order to keep this favorable balance of trade, several countries used taxes, tariffs, and subsidies making imports
more and more unaffordable.
Philipp Wilhelm von Hornick an Austrian Economist stated nine main points of a Mercantilist economy in his
Austria Over All, If She Only Will. This famous novel written in 1684 became a guide for Mercantilist countries all
over the world. The nine points included that all soil within a country should be used for agriculture, mining, or
manufacturing, all raw materials should be made into finished products...
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