Chapter 16
Transatlantic Economy,
Trade Wars, & Rebellion
Guided Reading Notes
Periods of European Overseas Empires
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European contacts with the world have 4 stagesDiscovery, exploration, conquest, settlement
Colonial trade rivalry among Spain, France & Britain
European imperialism in Africa & Asia
Decolonization of people previously under European
rule
The Europeans were able to exert influence and
domination for so long over much of the world due to
a technological supremacy related to naval power and
gun power.
Mercantile Empires
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Navies and merchant shipping were the keystones of
the mercantile empires.
The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) established the boundaries of
empires. Spain controlled most of South America, also
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida, Mexico, California, and the
Southwest. Britain consisted of Nova Scotia,
Newfoundland, Jamaica, Barbados and along the east
cost of North America. French controlled Saint
Lawrence River valley, Ohio and Mississippi river
valleys, West Indian islands, Guadeloupe, and
Martinique. Dutch controlled Surinam, Guiana,
Indonesia, Ceylon, and Bengal.
Mercantilist Goals
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European Empires used the theory of mercantilism. Colonies
were to provide markets and natural resources for the industries
of the mother country. The Imperialist country provided military
security and the instruments of government. The Imperialist
country protected its investments from competitors by keeping a
tight monopoly on trade with its colonies.
Mercantilism- This economic theory emphasized a favorable
balance of trade and dictated that colonies existed for the benefit
of the mother nation. Mercantilist ideas however worked far
better in theory than in practice. Colonist of different countries
often found it more profitable to trade with each other than with
the home country, a situation which made the eighteenth century
the golden age of smugglers. Traders from one nation
continually tried to break the monopoly of the other. Britain and
France in particular preyed upon Spanish markets which resulted
in distrust and Spanish retaliation
French – British Rivalry
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British and French colonies in North America
fought against each other constantly. The West
Indies and India were fought over because of
their production of coffee, spices, cotton, and
indigo
The Spanish Colonial System
The primary purpose of the Spanish Empire was to supply Spain
with precious metals from the Americas.
Colonial Government
 Queen Isabella of Castile assigned the governing of the Americas
to the Council of Indies, which then nominated the viceroys as
the chief executives who carried out the laws created by the
Council of Indies in the New World.
Trade Regulation
 Casa de Contratacion (House of Trade) in Seville regulated all
trade with the New World. The Consulado was the merchant
guild. Set locations and ports were to be used to control trading
and to collect money.
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Colonial Reform Under the Spanish
Bourbon Monarchs
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The Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht
replaced the Spanish Habsburgs with the Bourbons
Philip V (Louis son).
The Spanish under French rule tried to reassert their
power over the New World, which will lead to a war
with England in 1739.
Charles III 1759-1788 creates more reforms with the
New World. He abolishes monopolies, established
direct trading with the Americas, created a 4th
viceroyalty, increased the efficiency of tax collection
and ended bureaucratic corruption
Black African Slavery, the Plantation
System, and the Atlantic Economy
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Before the 18th Century no moral or religious stigma was attached to slavery.
Slave labor became a fundamental social and economic factor in Europe, Africa
and the Americas.
The African Presence in the Americas
 The Spanish and Portuguese faced a server shortage in labor and
turned to slave labor, because the indigenous populations
decreased dramatically do to diseases. The major source for
slaves were slave markets in Central West Africa in Senegambia,
Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast Benin and Biafra
 The West Indies, Brazil, and Sugar- The demand for these
products led to a large import of slaves to Central and South
America. Slaves had to be constantly imported do to the low
fertility rate of earlier slaves and a high death rate from diseases,
over work and malnutrition.
Slavery and the Transatlantic Economy
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The order of who controlled the slave
trade
 Portuguese / Spanish
 Dutch
 English
The TRIANGLE- European goods such
as guns were taken to Africa for trade,
their they exchange for slaves, who were
taken the West Indies and exchanged for
sugar and other products that were then
taken to Europe to repeat the process.
The Experience of Slavery
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Slave traders forcibly transported about 9
million slaves to the New World. The conditions
of slave’s passage across the Atlantic were
wretched. Quarters were cramped, food was
bad, diseases were rampant and many died in the
crossing. New slaves were subjected to
seasoning such given new names, jobs and to
learn they were no longer free.
The African Slave Trade
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Slavery is one of the oldest of human institutions and virtually
every pre-modern state in history depended on it to some extent.
The African slave trade must be seen as part of the large
commercial system of Atlantic trade between Europe, and
African and European colonies in North and South America and
the Caribbean. The system was directed to exploitation of the
New World and thus colonial economic needs.
The major sources for slaves were the Kong-Angola region and
the Guinea coast. Well over 12 million persons were lost to
Africa through the Atlantic trade. Taken as a whole the slave
trade varied in extent quite sharply from period to period with its
peak in the 18 century and its demise in the 19th.
The effects of the slave trade on Africa are not easy to assess.
Slavery was a result not a cause of regional instability and change;
increase warfare meant the slave trade produced Africa’s major
economy which was also one of the major migrations off global
history. From an American perspective it was an important
element in the formation of our modern society
Mid-Eighteenth-Century Wars
Statesmen generally assumed warfare could be used to further
national interests. Wars were not associated with domestic political
or social upheaval and peace was not associated with the
achievements of international stability. Their were two areas of
great rivalry, the overseas empires and central and eastern Europe.
The War of Jenkins’s Ear
 West Indies had become a hotbed of trade rivalry. Spain wanted to
protect its interest and patrolled the area for smugglers. The
Spanish boarded a English ship and cut the ear off of Robert
Jenkins. Robert returned to Britain and merchants became outraged
and pressured the British government to war against Spain.
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)
 Frederick II of Prussia seized the Austrian province of Silesia
upsetting the balance of power in Germany.
 Maria Theresa Preserves the Habsburg Empire- She gave her
nobles more power which in turn made them more loyal to her and
were able to stop the advancement of Prussia and other potential
invaders.
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Mid-Eighteenth-Century Wars
The Diplomatic Revolution
 January 1756 Prussia and Great Britain signed the Convention of
Westminster, a defensive alliance aimed at preventing the entry of foreign
troops into the Germanies. Frederick feared invasions from Russia and
France. In May 1756 France and Austria sign their own defense alliance pact.
Seven Years’ War 1756-1763
 France and Britain struggle unofficially on their colonial front. The clashes
were from the settlers in the Ohio River Valley and in Upper New England. It
will become known as the French and Indian War.
 Frederick the Great Opens Hostilities- 1756 Frederick invades Saxony
starting the 7 year war because he wanted to destroy Austria before they
invade him. Russia, France, Sweden, Austria and other German states join
forces against Prussia, and were unsuccessful. The Treaty of Hubertusburg in
1763 ended the continental conflict.
 William Pitt’s Strategy for Winning North America- Pitt wanted all of North
America east of the Mississippi for Great Britain. He sent 40,000 troops to
the French Canada.
 The Treaty of Paris of 1763- Britain received all of Canada, the Ohio Valley
and the eastern Mississippi river valley in return France received Pondicherry
and Chandernagore in India and the West Indian sugar islands of Guadeloupe
and Martinique.
The American Revolution and Europe
Resistance to the Imperial Search for Revenue
 After the Treaty of Paris of 1763 Britain had two
problems. 1. The cost of their empire was
expensive, the national debt was increasing and
taxation was increasing 2. The vast amount of
land Britain gained in the Americas. The
solution was to gain revenue from the Americas
because they benefited from the French and
Indian war.
The American Revolution and Europe
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These conflicts required great sums of money and Britain was
victorious however in debt. The British government believed
that the colonist should bear part of the cost of their protection
and administration. Britain levied new taxes on America.
The Sugar and Stamp Acts of 1776-1783. The Sugar Act lowered
the duties imposed by the much-evaded Molasses Act of 1733,
but sought to insure that the new tariffs would be diligently
collected.
The Stamp Act required them to buy and place revenue stamps
on all official legal documents, deeds, newspapers, pamphlets,
dice, and playing cards. Colonists strongly opposed the Stamp
Act. In part, the colonists were alarmed by the economic costs
imposed on them by the reforms. Ordinary people had always
been lightly taxed in America and did not want their money to be
used to support British officials.
Intolerable Acts popular name given to a series of laws passed by
the British Parliament in March 1774 as punitive measures
against the colony of Massachusetts; also called Coercive Acts.
The American Revolution and Europe
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The Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston to trade; the
Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony's charter and
forbade town meetings;
Quartering Act required the colonists to provide billets for British
soldiers; and the Impartial Administration of Justice Act
removed British officials from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts
courts.
Québec Act, which many colonists associated with the Intolerable
Acts because it expanded the territory of Québec and did not
allow for representative government in that colony. Considering
these acts “intolerable,” the other American colonies united in
sympathy with Massachusetts.
The American Revolution and Europe
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The colonist showed how to establish revolutionary but orderly
political bodies that would function outside the existing political
framework. European writers sensed that a new era was
dawning one of constituent assemblies constitutions and
declarations of rights.
The American Revolution- Had its roots in Europe. The
Declaration of Independence derived largely from John Locke’s
idea of political contract. But if American revolutionaries had
been influenced by Europe, they in turn provided a model to
Europeans. Britons as well as Americans believed that they were
improperly represented in Parliament. In the late 1770’s the
extralegal Association Movement began to call for reforming the
corrupt system of parliamentary elections; it failed however
because its leaders did not appeal for broad popular support as
the American example dictated.
The American Revolution and Europe
America Political Ideas
 The American colonist looked to the English Revolution of 1688
as having established many political liberties. The colonist
demanded no taxation without representation
Broader Impact of the American Revolution
 America demonstrated a government without kings and nobility.
America embraced republican political ideals. The America
adopted a Bill of Rights to specifically protecting series of civil
liberties. They would reject social status based on birth and
inheritance. However they did not release their slaves which will
lead to a civil war.