Did England Benefit From North American Colonies in The 18th Century?

The multiple wars that England became involved in brought riches. England was victorious in the French and Indian war. It started when a dispute erupted over territorial right because both countries wanted to claim as much land as possible in hopes to gain an advantage over the fur trade. The fur trade was very important to both countries because it was a very valuable asset of income. This led to conflicts which ultimately resulted in war. England claimed a lot land from France. This land could easily be converted into farmland to help produce an even larger amount of crop which will benefit the English economy. This proved to be a large piece of the economy fortunes for American colonies in the 18th century because overtime, England turned the land into ways of making profits.

            War has proved to be very important throughout history because it can help bring glory and wealth. England proved to be victorious over and over again. Unfortunately, after a war has ended there is normally a very large bill due to war expenses. The government imposed taxes on colonies to help take the burden. Taxes were imposed because someone had to pay for the cost of weapons, soldier’s pay, and supplies. This ultimately led to rebellion, conflicts, and even boycotts. All of these easily affected the economic fortunes of the colonies. These taxes took away their money and affected their economy directly. The cost of war indefinitely changed the fortunes of North American colonies because it was mainly their money that was being taken away.

The English government hoped that by placing a restriction on trading rights, it would contain all the money under England. This was known to be mercantilism. Mercantilism limited English trade so that goods from the colonies can only be traded or sold to England. The whole idea of mercantilism was to encourage more export and import less. Many colonists resented the idea because it would ban trade with other countries, but eventually they learned to live with it. Mercantilism dictated the economic fortunes because it had full control of the economy. If the colonies exported less and imported more it would dramatically change their economy because there would be a shift of money or control. Mercantilism was easily an important key to England’s booming economy because it regulated their fortunes.

Chain of events led to England’s economic fortunes. Most of this was due to the involvement of wars. Luckily, England prevailed multiple times and reaped many benefits. This included priceless land and crops. Taxes were affected the economy in the colonies because it was money taken away from the colonies’ economy. Yet, mercantilism held a small role in keeping all the fortunes to themselves. In the end, war undoubtedly dictated economic fortunes of Britain’s North American colonies.