Evaluate+the+system+of+Mercantilism+and+determine+if+the+system+is+sustainable,+or+will+colonies+eventually+revolt+under+the+system.+HM

__ Mercantilism causes a revolt __ The British were very intent on setting up a system of control. They came up with the Mercantile System. Mercantilism had many advantages and disadvantages, but in the end this system could only lead to a revolt. Advantages were many for the British. This system, known as mercantilism, allowed Britain to keep constant control over the Colonies. The British believed power was wealth and a country's wealth could be measure by amount of gold or silver they had. Also, since the British enforced the Navigation Laws the colonists could no longer trade with anyone else, therefore the British could raised prices because they had no competition. Because the British exported more than they imported they made more money which in turn to look as if they had more power. Many disadvantages came with this system as well. The Colonists work was depreciated. They would export their raw materials, but in turn the British would sell the finished products for much more than they paid for the original materials. Most often Britain would trade rather than the use of currency. Because of this there was a currency shortage in the colonies. The colonists often bought more from Britain than they sold there as well. Because of the currency shortage, colonists often resorted to using things such as butter, nails, pitch, or feathers to exchange. They began printing money, but were quickly stopped from doing that because with more money the value of it went down. A revolt was bound to happen with everything that was going against the colonists. They really had nothing that was tremendously great about this system for them. The British kept adding more acts and laws to the system that made the colonists even angrier and impossible to work around. The colonists found this unfair and it obviously didn't work during this time. This was a system that was bound to fail sooner or later and it finally did when the colonists broke away and led a revolt. They felt that the mother country was just using them for all they were worth. As Theodore Roosevelt later said, "Revolution broke out because England filed to recognize an emerging nation when it saw one." Mercantilism had many advantages and disadvantages, but in the end this system could only lead to a revolt. Among all these advantages to the British came many disadvantages for the Colonists. The Colonists became so tired of this that they broke out and led a revolt because they thought the mother country was just using them for all they were worth and didn't realize that they were an emerging nation that wanted some independence.