america
...ping their own currency in their colonies. No banks had existed in the colonies prior to the revolution. The colonies were buying more goods from England than they were selling, so the difference had to be made up in hard cash. Every year huge amount of gold and silver money was drained out of the colonies. The merits of Mercantilism: Americans reaped some direct benefit from mercantile system. London paid liberal rewards or price supports to those colonial who produced ship’s parts and ship’s stores. London was a lucrative market for the naval accessories. Similarly, the Virginia’s tobacco planters enjoyed valuable privileges. Although, they were prohibited of shipping their tobacco to any other palaces than England, the planters were guaranteed a monopoly of the British market. More over, tobacco cultivation was prohibited in England and Ireland. American settlers also enjoyed some additional benefits. Being migrated from England they enjoyed the rights and privileges of Englishmen. They were given opportunities for self-government. They were not compelled to tax themselves to support a professional army for protection against the French, Spaniards, Dutch and Indians. They received professional training without costing a penny. In manufacturing and trade also the new world settlers had some benefits. They were denied of producing goods of imperial interests (woolen, hats), however, trade and commerce of other articles were truly profitable. Moreover, they enjoyed the common language and liberal credit arrangements which are beneficial for good business. The Menace of Mercantilism: The Americans were not given freedom to buy, sell, manufacture, or ship goods as per their wish. They discriminated the between various colonies. Briton favored southern colonies over the northern colonies; because the southern colonies produced non-English products like tobacco, sugar and rice. Even the tobacco producing colonies were not happy with British policies because they were forced sell tobacco in England and they were at the mercy of the British merchants who often exploited the producers. The British merchants fixed very low price for the tobacco to be sold in England and the planters were slipped into huge debts. At the same time they were forced to buy their necessities from England. The debt loaded colonial planters had to pledge their future corps to buy necessities from England; as a result the debt became hereditary and passed from one generation to the next. The Stamp Tax Uproar: When the 4th colonial war ended in 1763, Britain decided to redefine its relationships with North American colonies. Britain ended up with huge debt as result of war. The British officials wisely decided not ask the colonies to pay off the burden directly, at the same time developed indirect strategies to attain at least one-third of the money. The British Prime Minister George Grenville introduced several tax laws to this effect. In 1763, Briton became very strict to enforce the navigation laws that all cargo operation to and from the colonies should be done thru the British ships. In 1764, a new law called “sugar act” was introduced which increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies. In 1765, Grenville yet another, probably the most horrible law called “stamp tax”. According this act, it was compulsory that all legal documents should be written on stamped paper or stamp should be affixed on all bills of transactions. The Americans regarded these measures as robbery and introduced to deny the basic liberties of colonial people. The colonial assemblies angrily refused comply with these rules. The Americans claimed that the English men enjoyed liberty everywhere, which is a basic right and should be honored in American colonies as well. There was uproar everywhere. The colonial people argued that “there should not be any taxation without representation”. Grenville dismissed these American protests. He argued that the power of parliament was supreme and the colonies should abide by that. The colonial officials formed an action group called Stamp act congress and made the protests widespread in all colonies. The colonies were shaken and the system for collecting taxes was broken down. All the stamp agents were forced to resign, and there was no one to sell stamps. In 1766, the British parliament reluctantly abolished the stamp act, but in order to save the face, it passed another act called “declaratory act”. It proclaimed that parliament had the right “to bind” the colonies in all cases whatsoever. In fact, it was a futile effort. The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston “Massacre”: In 1767 Charles Townshend, the British legal advisor to the government, suggested to impose new taxes on tea, glass, paper and paint in American colonies. The liberty loving colonists boycotted the British goods and riots broke out in the colonies. In Boston, a violent mob attacked the British troops, and the troops retaliated with widespread firing at the colonists. Several people lost their lives and several others injured. This is popularly called as boron massacre. The Boston massacre gave the colonists a strong issue in their struggle against Britain. The incident was dramatically pictured by the colonists as proof of British heartlessness and oppression. Boston Tea party: Lord North tried to conciliate the colonist by abolishing all taxes except the one on tea. But the colonists opposed altogether. The matters came to a head when the British government forced the East India Company’s tea on the colonies. The company had a burden of 17 million pounds worth unsold tea and was facing bankruptcy. If the company collapsed, the British government also loose heavily on taxes. In 1773 when the British ships arrived at Boston with tea, some of the colonist disguised themselves as Red Indians, went into the cargo ships and threw all the tea into the water. This incident was named as “Boston Tea Party”. It was an open challenge to the British authority. The British government punished the lawless act of Boston tea party closing the port of Boston to all commerce and de...