Causes of the Revolutionary War

By La Toya Townsend

June 20, 2006

Mercantilism

• Mercantilism is when a powerful mother country sets up colonies, and those colonies only exist to benefit the mother country.

United Streaming Video would play here on Mercantilism

Mother Country

• A powerful country that makes settlements in other lands. In 1600, Britain was a powerful European country that made

• colonies in North America.

Colony

• A settlement that is made by a mother country in a foreign land.

Virginia

Massachusetts Bay Plymouth

New Hampshire New York

Rhode Island Connecticut

Pennsylvania Delaware

Carolinas Maryland

Georgia

How the colonies benefited the mother country

• America benefited Britain by producing products like tobacco, rice, sugar, etc. Britain did not have to pay high prices from foreign countries for these items.

What did the colonies gain in having Britain as the mother country?

Fun Facts

• Mercantilism created a way for England to control trade.

• England concentrated on importing from and exporting to its colonies, although they still traded with foreign nations.

• Parliament passed the Navigation Acts to regulate trade with the colonies and to increase England’s profits.

Comprehension Check

• Explain the economic system called mercantilism.

• Describe the difference between a mother country and a colony.

• Why did the mother country set up colonies?

• How did the colonies benefit from the mother country?

Work Cited

• United Streaming: Mercantilism video

• Microsoft Office Clip Art

• www.pbs.org