We may properly leave
to American history the details of the process by which, as the
colonies became more acutely conscious of the inherent conflict between
their economic interests and the colonial and commercial policy of
Great Britain, they grew at the same time into a self-confident and
defiant independence. Nevertheless, as an epochal event in the history
of British imperialism, the American War of Independence deserves a
prominent place in European history.
[Sidenote: Mercantilism and the British Colonies]
The germs of disease were imbedded in the very policy to which many
statesmen of the eighteenth century ascribed England's great career,--
the mercantilist theories, whose acquaintance we made in an earlier
chapter. [Footnote: See above, pp. 63 ff, and likewise pp. 239 f.] The
mercantilist statesman, anxious to build up the power, and therefore
the wealth, of his country, logically conceived three main ideas about
colonies: (1) they should furnish the mother country with commodities
which could not be produced at home; (2) they should not injure the
mother country by competing with her industries or by enriching her
commercial rivals; and (3) they should help bear the burdens of the
government, army, and navy.
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