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Op-Ed
Mercantilism
Prosperity for All
Our mercantile system provides the colonies with wealth and security that no other system, including their own independent government, could ever compete with. In many ways, the system exists for their benefit and not for ours as the mother country. Americans enjoy a standard of living that is much higher than that of England. Also, the taxes that they pay and the restrictions that they live under are extremely lenient, especially when compared to the taxes and laws in England.
For tobacco farmers, mercantilism is especially generous. Not only do they maintain a monopoly over our tobacco market, but tobacco growing was even outlawed here and in Ireland to further enhance their monopoly. Also, the shipbuilders in the colonies were paid very generously for their work and when English shipbuilders complained, their complaints were ignored in order to further the industries in the colonies. For protection the colonies were provided with an army that was strong enough to protect them from their enemies both outside and within their borders. Americans were never forced to tax themselves for additional support and in general were given more liberties than any people in the world could boast of. The mercantile system may have initially been designed to benefit the mother country, but because of the generosity of the crown we no longer benefit more than the colonists from this extremely efficient and just system of government.
The Hoax of the British System
Despite the relative prosperity of the Southern colonies under the mercantile system, the Northern colonies have suffered and the entire nation has been stifled by the British. As a mother would nurture her child, the British should have nurtured the economic and overall growth of the colonies instead of strangling them with restrictions and taxes. The crown used us to further the British economy and had no qualms about completely depleting our natural resources and destroying our economy in the process.
Even the Southern colonies that "flourished" under the mercantile system suffered under the rule of the British. They were forced to sell their crops only to the British and to grow rops that the British could not obtain through other means. When tobacco prices dropped dramatically, they were forced to take loans to pay their debts to the British, leaving states like Virginia in serious economic chaos. The freedom of the colonists was dramatically restricted, their economic progress was hindered, and their futures were mortgaged to provide immediate results for the British and its mercantile system.