The Economics of the Colonies: Mercantilism and Slavery

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The Economics of the Colonies Mercantilismand
Slavery

• Colonial America

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Mercantilism

• This is the economic philosophy England followed
  during the 17th and 18th centuries.
• In general, mercantilism means that a country has
  more gold coming into a country than is leaving.
  You sell (exports) more than you buy (imports).

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Trade

• England encouraged settlement in the American
  colonies to provide England more markets to sell
  their goods in.
• England placed strict trade laws on the colonies
  to ensure that the mother country, not the colony
  itself, would always be the beneficiary therefore
  keeping the balance of trade favorable.
• Generally, the colonies had to buy all
  manufactured goods from England and sell England
  all their raw materials.
• Salutary Neglect- It will not be until 1763 that
  England will try to enforce these laws. The
  colonies benefited from this neglect.

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Triangular Trade

• The colonists evaded many of the navigation laws
  and partook in the triangular trade.
• The triangular trade is how the colonists
  purchased their slaves.
• The trade involved the colonies, Africa, and the
  West Indies sugar islands

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Slavery Origins in America

• The first Africans arrived to Virginia in 1619 as
  indentured servants.
• It was not until 1700 that slaves became the
  majority of the southern labor force.

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The Middle Passage

• This was the leg from Africa to the West Indies.
• Millions died due to lack of water, air, and
  sickness.

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Slave Laws

• It was not until the slave population grew large
  that colonies, especially the southern colonies,
  began to develop harsh slave codes/laws.
• By the eighteenth-century in America, it was
  clear that slavery was racial slaveblack.

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North vs. South

• North
• Labor in the North was relatively easier as far
  as physical exertion
• Mostly domestic, not agricultural labor
• Slaves had little access to their African culture

• South
• Labor was physical and arduous
• Often lived in large kin groups were they could
  maintain much of their African culture and
  develop families

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Slave Resistance

• Slaves did resist, but not overtly, except on a
  few occasions.
• Understanding violence would be met with violence
  or death, they dragged their feet, feigned
  sickness, or pretended they did not know how to
  do a task correctly.