US History

U.S. History Study Guide

• The English Parliament would pay bounties to colonists who produced certain raw goods and raise tariffs on the same goods produced in other nations. • The colonies could not compete with English manufacturers in large scale manufacturing. The colonists initially complained about these restrictions and many colonies in New England eluded them by smuggling. In some cases, the English would punish the colonies for smuggling, yet the two sides never came to any real conflict. In fact, England developed a policy of salutary neglect toward the colonies, which meant England would turn its head away with certain laws that hurt the colonial economy. The English were sure that one day there would be a conflict between their neighbors in New France and wanted to ensure they would have total support from the colonists. Significance • Although mercantilism and the Navigation Acts were restrictive, the English practiced salutary neglect which meant they rarely enforced these standards which would make it difficult in the future, leading to the American Revolution 4.4 The Triangular Trade Trade routes linked the American Colonies, West Indies, Africa, and England ports which provided shippers with a pay and cargo. New England rum was shipped to Africa and traded for slaves. These slaves were brought to the West Indies and, in turn, traded for sugar and molasses, which went back to New England. Other raw goods were shipped from the colonies to England, where they were swapped for a cargo of manufactured goods. The triangular trade was profitable for New England, but in the Southern Colonies, the Navigation Acts lowered tobacco prices and economies suffered greatly. Significance • The triangular trade created a rise in the slave population and increased the merchant population, forming a class of wealthy elites (merchant class) that dominated trade and politics throughout the colonies. These were many of the men who would start the American Revolution. Early Colonial Events Indentured Servitude Indentured servants were adult men, mostly white, who worked on plantations for a set number of years until they earned their freedom and with it, a small plot of land. Once free indentured servants still had to struggle to survive and conflict arose between the freed servants and the increasingly powerful plantation owners. These tensions turned into Bacon’s Rebellion.

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