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Difficulty: HardTransatlantic Trade and Mercantilism

"By the settlement of our plantations in America, we have a large share of the trade of the world... but if we do not keep a strict watch over them, they will run into manufacturing and supply themselves with what they now take from us. It is already observed that New England and other northern colonies have set up several manufactures, which must in time decrease their consumption of British goods. The only way to keep them dependent on the mother country is to restrict them from manufacturing their own raw materials and to ensure they remain focused on producing colonial commodities for export to Great Britain, which they must exchange for our manufactures."

— Joshua Gee, British merchant, *The Trade and Navigation of Great-Britain Considered*, 1729

Which of the following developments in the British North American colonies during the early eighteenth century best represents a continuation of the colonial behavior that Joshua Gee warned against?

  1. A
    The widespread cultivation of tobacco as a cash crop in the Chesapeake region
  2. B
    The creation of imperial policies designed to encourage free-market industrial competition in Boston
  3. The growth of smuggling and trade with French and Spanish Caribbean islandsAnswer
  4. D
    The transition from chattel slavery back to indentured servitude in northern shipyards

Answer

The growth of smuggling and trade with French and Spanish Caribbean islands
The correct answer is the growth of smuggling and trade with French and Spanish Caribbean islands. Joshua Gee's excerpt expresses concern that the colonies are becoming economically self-sufficient and manufacturing goods that compete with British industries. The growth of smuggling and illicit trade with foreign empires directly continued this trend of colonial economic independence, as colonists bypassed the Navigation Acts to maximize their own profits and obtain cheaper goods, which directly undermined the British mercantilist system.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document to identify the author's primary concern.
The author, Joshua Gee, warns that the northern colonies are developing their own manufacturing, which threatens their dependence on Great Britain and violates mercantilist principles.
Understanding the context of the source is necessary to identify what colonial behavior is being criticized.
2
Evaluate the question prompt to determine what historical development matches the behavior in question.
The question asks for a development in the early eighteenth century that continued the colonial behavior of operating outside or against mercantilist restrictions.
This establishes the criteria for the correct answer: a colonial action that resisted or bypassed imperial economic regulation.
3
Assess the options to find the one representing a continuation of independent colonial economic activity that defied British regulations.
The growth of smuggling and direct trade with foreign colonies (like the French and Spanish Caribbean) directly bypassed British mercantilist laws (such as the Navigation Acts) and continued the push toward economic autonomy.
Smuggling was a direct and widespread method by which colonists resisted imperial economic controls and maintained independent trade networks.

Key Concept

Mercantilism and Colonial Economic Autonomy
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Topics

Transatlantic Trade and Mercantilism

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