As Europeans expanded their market reach into the colonial sphere, they devised a new economic policy to ensure the colonies’ profitability. The philosophy of mercantilism shaped European perceptions of wealth from the 1500s to the late 1700s. Mercantilism held that only a limited amount of wealth, as measured in gold and silver bullion, existed in the world. In order to gain power, nations had to amass wealth by mining these precious raw materials from their colonial possessions. Mercantilists did not believe in free trade, arguing instead that the nation should control trade to create wealth and to enhance state power. In this view, colonies existed to strengthen the colonizing nation.
Colonial mercantilism, a set of protectionist policies designed to benefit the colonizing nation, relied on several factors:
Colonies rich in raw materials
Cheap labor
Colonial loyalty to the home government
Control of the shipping trade
Under this system, the colonies sent their raw materials—harvested by enslaved people or native workers—to Europe. European industry then produced and sent finished materials—like textiles, tools, manufactured goods, and clothing—back to the colonies. Colonists were forbidden from trading with other countries.
Commodification quickly affected production in the New World. American silver, tobacco, and other items—which were used by native peoples for ritual purposes—became European commodities with monetary value. Before the arrival of the Spanish, for example, the Inca people of the Andes consumed chicha, a corn beer, for ritual purposes only. When the Spanish discovered chicha, they bought and traded for it, detracting from its spiritual significance for market gain. This process disrupted native economies and spurred early commercial capitalism.
The Trail of Tears is the name of the forced Indian migration from areas east of the Mississippi River to areas in Oklahoma. This was part of Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Policy.
The appropriate response is "The Crime Control Period"
The Crime Control Period is the below:
- media and government officials underscore the peril of wrongdoing, including adolescent wrongdoing, prompting open requests for a crackdown
- harsher disciplines for adolescents who perpetrate violations
- waivers: juvi court postpones its ward, exchanging an adolescent case to the grown-up criminal court
- Schall v. Martin 1984 - adolescents can be held in preventive confinement if there is worry that they may carry out extra violations while anticipating court activity
persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a country's economy.
