Lesson 9: Colonial Trade and Government Flashcards
Bill of Rights Definition
A written list of freedoms the government promises to protect
The Bill of Rights Definition
The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution
English Bill of Rights Definition
A 1689 document that guaranteed the rights of English citizens
Export Definition
A trade product sent to markets outside a country
Glorious Revolution Definition
In 1688 the movement that brought William and Mary to the throne of England and strengthened the rights of English citizens
Legislature Definition
A group of elected people who have the power to make laws
Mercantilism Definition
The theory that a nation’s economic strength came from selling more than it bought from other nations
Navigation Acts Definition
A series of English laws beginning in the 1650s that regulated trade between England and its colonies
Triangular Trade Definition
The colonial trade route between New England, Africa, and the West Indies
William Blackstone Definition
The author of Commentaries on the Laws of England. He believed in common law, which had a significant impact on ideas of self-rule in the British colonies.
What did Mercantilist believe?
Mercantilists thought that a country should export more than it imported. Exports are goods sent to markets outside a country. Imports are goods brought into a country. If England sold more goods than it bought abroad, gold would flow into the home country as payment for those exports.
What was the purpose of the Navigation Acts?
Beginning in the 1650s, the English Parliament passed a series of Navigation Acts that regulated trade between England and its colonies. The purpose of these laws was to ensure that only England benefited from trade with its colonies.
What did the Navigation Acts state?
Under the new laws, only colonial or English ships could carry goods to and from the colonies. Colonists were banned from trading directly with other European nations or their colonies. All trade had to go through England. The Navigation Acts also listed certain products, such as tobacco and cotton, that colonial merchants could ship only to England. In this way, Parliament created jobs for English workers who cut and rolled tobacco or spun cotton into cloth.
How did the Navigation Acts benefit the colonists?
The Navigation Acts helped the colonies as well as England. For example, the law encouraged colonists to build ships for their own use and for sale to England. As a result, New England became a prosperous shipbuilding center. Also, because of the acts, colonial merchants did not have to compete with foreign merchants because they were sure of having a market for their goods in England.
Why did colonial merchants hate the Navigation Acts?
Still, many colonists resented the Navigation Acts. In their view, the laws favored English merchants. Colonial merchants often ignored the Navigation Acts or found ways to get around them.
What were Yankee Traders?
The colonies produced a wide variety of goods, and merchant ships sailed up and down the Atlantic coast. Merchants from New England dominated colonial trade. They were known as Yankees, a nickname, and had a reputation for being clever and hardworking. Yankee traders earned a reputation for profiting from any deal.
How did the Triangular Trade get its name?
Colonial merchants developed many trade routes. One route was known as the triangular trade because the three legs of the route formed a triangle.
What was sent on each “leg” of the Triangular Trade?
On the first leg, ships from New England carried rum, guns, gunpowder, cloth, and tools from New England to West Africa. In Africa, Yankee merchants traded these goods for slaves. On the second leg of the journey, ships carried enslaved Africans to the West Indies. It was because enslaved Africans traveled on the second leg of a three-leg voyage that this leg was known as the Middle Passage. With the profits from selling the enslaved Africans, Yankee traders bought molasses—a dark-brown syrup made from sugar cane—and sugar. On the final leg, ships then sailed back to New England, where colonists used the molasses and sugar to make rum for sale in Africa or Europe.
What happened as New England merchants grew wealthy from the Triangular Trade?
Many New England merchants grew wealthy from the triangular trade. In doing so, they often disobeyed the Navigation Acts. Traders were supposed to buy sugar and molasses only from English colonies in the West Indies. However, the demand for molasses was so high that New Englanders smuggled in cargoes from the Dutch, French, and Spanish West Indies, too. Bribes made customs officials look the other way.
How did Rhode Island and Connecticut differ in the way of choosing a governor?
Although each colony developed its own government, the governments had much in common. A governor directed the colony’s affairs and enforced the laws. Most governors were appointed, either by the king or by the colony’s proprietor. In Rhode Island and Connecticut, however, colonists elected their own governors.
What English practice made all of the colonies gain a legislature soon after they were founded?
As you learned, the Virginia Company decided to establish an elected assembly to attract more settlers. For this reason, and inspired by the English tradition of representative government outlined in the Magna Carta, all of the colonies gained a legislature soon after they were founded.
What is a legislature? What was a Colonial legislature made up of?
A legislature is a group of people, usually elected, who have the power to make laws. In most colonies, the legislature had an upper house and a lower house. The upper house was made up of advisers appointed by the governor. The lower house was an elected assembly. It approved laws and protected the rights of citizens. Just as important, it had the right to approve or reject any taxes or budget items the governor asked for. This “power of the purse,” or right to raise or spend money, was an important check on the governor’s power. Any governor who ignored the assembly risked losing his salary.
As colonial settlers spread inland and founded new cities, how did this influence representative government?
As colonial settlers spread inland and founded new cities and towns, representative government and institutions grew. Most colonial cities and towns had their own city and town councils.
Who was the Right to Vote restricted to in the colonies?
Each colony had its own rules about who could vote. By the 1720s, however, all of the colonies had laws that restricted the right to vote to white Christian men over the age of 21. In some colonies, only Protestants or members of a particular church could vote. All colonies restricted the vote to men who owned a certain amount of property. Colonial leaders believed that only property owners knew what was best for a colony.
