Name: ________________________
Date: _____________ Period: _____
Mercantilism
Objective: Students will examine the economic policy of mercantilism in order to
understand the impact on England and England’s colonies.
Vocabulary: Match the term to the correct definition. DO NOT DRAW LINES write the
letter in the space next to the term.
A. to bring in from a foreign country for use or sale
1.________ Import
B. to ship to other countries or places for sale or
2.________ Export
exchange
3.________ Raw materials
C.
material before being processed or manufactured
4.________ manufactured goods
into a final form
D. goods that have been processed by way of
machinery
Part I: Mercantilism:
A. What is Mercantilism?
B. Answer the two questions below by circling the correct answer
1. What type of products did England export?
Manufactured goods
raw materials
2. What type of products did England’s colonies export?
Manufactured goods
raw materials
C. Create a definition of mercantilism
Mercantilism is a system of ______________where
______________sold ____________ to _________________ who used
those resources to produce _______________________________ that
were sold to colonies.
D. Below is a set of characteristics that describe mercantilism between England and
its colonies. For each characteristic, place an “X” in the box to indicate whether
England or its colonies benefitted from mercantilism.
Who Benefited?
(place a check in the correct box)
Characteristics of Mercantilism
England
English Colonies
Colonists were not permitted to make most of
the finished products made in England.
Products such as tobacco and wood could only
be sold to England or its colonies.
Colonists could only use English ships to trade
their goods.
Colonial ships were protected by the English
navy.
Colonists had to buy molasses from English
colonies in the West Indies.
Colonists were assured a ready market for
their goods.
Goods traded between Europe and America
had to pass through England to be taxed.
E. Who Earns More Under Mercantilism?
F. For every $4 of timber the colonists sold to England, England manufactures
were able to make a table that sold for $24. Under mercantilism, colonist
had to buy their furniture from England because England always wanted to
maintain a favorable balance of trade.
2 £ (British Pounds) = $4
1.
2.
3.
4.
12 £ (British Pounds) = $24
Solve this Math:
The colonies sell four bundles of timber to England. They make $_______
English manufactures sell two tables to the colonies. They make $ ______
In total England makes $______
In total colonist make $ ______
Who earned more from the sale of goods, England’s colonies or England? Explain.
5. Who benefits most from mercantilism? Explain
Assessment:
How did mercantilism impact England and England’s colonies? Explain. In your
response you must include three of the words below:
Import raw materials export manufactured goods
Part II: Resources/Triangular Trade:
A. Examine the resource map below
Triangular Trade:
A. In order to learn more about the system of trade between the English
colonies, England, Africa, and the West Indies you will label a trade map
B. Read the text titled, “Triangular Trade”. Use the text and the map on page
106 in the American Journey to label the following:
1. Label: the English colonies, England, Africa, and the West Indies.
2. Draw lines with arrows to show the direction of trade between each
location.
3. Label the natural resources and/or manufactured goods traded along
each route.
The Triangular Trade
The New World offered the European countries tremendous economic opportunities.
However, in order to take advantage of these opportunities, a great deal of human labor was
needed. The plantations of the American South as well as the Spanish and Portuguese
plantations in Middle and South America required large numbers of workers. Indentured
servants were thought to be too expensive and would be able to leave after a number of
years, so the system of slavery began to take hold. Great numbers of Africans were soon
taken from their lands and brought across the Atlantic to work on the plantations.
Although direct trade routes from one region to another were frequent in colonial
commerce, the triangular trade route was characteristic of the Atlantic slave trade.
A typical slave trading arrangement followed a triangular pattern. On the first leg
of the journey, a ship called a slaver was loaded with salt, cloth, weapons, hardware, beads,
and rum. It sailed from a port in Europe to a port in Africa, usually one along the western
coast. There, the ship’s captain traded the cargo for Africans who had been enslaved by
rival tribes. On the second leg of the journey, called the “middle passage” the Africans
were loaded into the slaver’s hold and shipped across the Atlantic. This voyage typically
lasted around ten weeks. The enslaved Africans were brought to the New World and
auctioned off to plantation owners or slave traders. To conclude the triangular trade,
products from the plantations such as sugar, tobacco, rum, indigo and molasses were loaded
into the slaver’s hold and shipped to Europe to be sold.
There were two patterns of the triangular trade. The second pattern originated in
New England. Slave ships sailed to West Africa with a cargo of rum, and they exchanged
the rum for slaves. They then sailed to the slave markets of the West Indies where the
slaves were sold. The profits of the sale were used to produce cargoes of molasses and
sugar, which were brought back to New England and stilled into rum.
Although the local ports-of-call varied, a ship’s revolving cargo of slaves, rum, sugar,
molasses, tobacco, and other crops were consistent and played vital roles in the triangular
trade.