This is a preview. Log in to get access Journal Information The Journal of Economic History
is devoted to the multidisciplinary study of history and economics, and is of interest not only to economic historians but to social and demographic historians, as well as economists in general. The journal has broad coverage, in terms of both methodology and geographic scope. Topics covered include money and banking, trade, manufacturing, technology, transportation, industrial organisation, labour, agriculture, servitude, demography, education, economic growth, and the role of government and
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The Journal of Economic History © 1952
Economic History Association
Request Permissions  While this is a business oriented guide, given the nature of the topic and the time period covered, it was thought that including books written by noted historians covering the history of the European empires, was essential. We have tried to choose newer items with more of a modern perspective, but a number of older items were included because they are considered seminal. All of the items were chosen to provide background on the larger forces at play during the
period covered in this guide, particularly as the topic of trade involves relations between the colony and the home country as well as between other European powers and their colonial possessions. While some of these items may not be specifically about trade, this section does include books that are more explicitly about trade with the exception of sources that are purely data and those that are focused on a particular place which can be found in other parts of this guide. When looking at
trade involving between Britain and its colonies, it may be helpful to look at material related the port of Liverpool. This city had long been a port, but once it but the enclosed commercial dock in 1715 trade grew. Beyond trade good the port was also long associated with the slave trade. This guides doesn't cover all of the laws the British government passed that affected trade, but knowing those will be important for understanding trade as well as the impact those might have had on
particular industries. This includes, but isn't limited to, these three well-known examples: - Molasses Act 1733 imposed a tax per gallon on imports of molasses from non-English colonies.
- Sugar Act 1764(also known as the American Revenue Act 1764 or the American Duties Act) was a revenue-raising act that halved the previous tax on molasses but promised stricter enforcement.
- Stamp Act of 1765 (short title: Duties
in American Colonies Act 1765) imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.
- Townshend Acts, refers to a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768. They include the New York Restraining Act 1767 , the Revenue Act 1767, the Indemnity Act 1767, the Commissioners of Customs Act 1767, and the Vice Admiralty Court Act
1768. The intent of these were to raise revenues, create more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, and establish that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.
Lastly, if you are looking for particular types of business or business in a particular town or city, utilizing advertisements in newspapers may be a good way to really understand what was going on in a very specific way. General ResourcesThere are many books and
sources on this topic but what is included here is broad in nature and it is intended to be just a starting point. For more particular discussions – about particular colonies, commodities, situations, etc., other books and articles are going to be necessary to supplement and expand on what is found below. The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are
provided when available. The Cambridge Economic History
of Europe by general editors, M.M. Postan and H.J. Habakkuk Call Number: HC240 .C312 Published/Created: 1966-<1989 > This is a multi-volume set and volume 4 is the most relevant. It is titled "The economy of expanding Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." Chapters in this volume cover topics like transport and trade; European
economic institutions and the new world and chartered companies; and Colonial settlement and its labor problems. The Capital and the Colonies by Nuala Zahedieh Call Number: HF3093 .Z35 2010 ISBN: 9780521514231 Published/Created: 2010-06-17 This covers the time between 1660 and 1700 when London was the capital and commercial hub of an Atlantic empire and played a vital coordinating role in the Atlantic system by being a
detailed picture of how that mercantile system was made to work and identifying the leading Colonial merchants. Colonial America by Oscar Theodore Barck, Jr., Hugh Talmage
Lefler.
Call Number: E188 .B26 1968 Published/Created: 1968 The author's intent was to provide more focus on the economic and cultural aspect of early American life up to the Revolution and less a focus on the Age of Exploration. There is a roughly chronological presentation to this work though it is not explicitly stated that and goes though the Constitutional years. It begins with chapters on the founding of the English colonies – Virginia,
Maryland, New England, Massachusetts Bay, etc. It does cover the Dutch and Quaker colonies and periods of unrest in the colonies and in England. There is a good chapter on 18th century colonial administration and other on the land system and agriculture; industrial life; travel, transportation, and trade; and several dealing with religion, culture and events leading up to the Revolution and several chapters devoted to the years after. This is the second edition (the original was published in
1958) and includes many new additions including maps and bibliographic sources. There are a series of maps as well as an extensive bibliography that has two parts, one for those advanced students of colonial history one with sources by chapter. Colonial merchant; sources and readings by Stuart
Bruchey.
Call Number: HF3025 .B79 Published/Created: 1966 This book is a compilation of letters and documents of American business and people engaged with trade with Great Britain and the West Indies. Part one covers English mercantilism and the Navigation Acts. Part two covers the Puritan economic ethic.
There are a large number of statistical charts for commodities like rum, tobacco, pig iron, bar iron, rice, and even slaves (in Virginia).
The Constitution and Finance of English, Scottish and Irish Joint-stock Companies to
1720 by William Robert Scott Call Number: HD2847 .S4 Published/Created: 1910-12 Available online from Hathi Trust External
Some of this titles predates colonial American history and covers situations not related to colonial America but is helpful in
understanding that aspect of history.
Volume I. The general development of the joint-stock system to 1720. This titles is chronological and beginning with chapter VIII covers the 17th century.
Volume II. Companies for foreign trade, colonization, fishing and mining with specific attention Division 2 focused on Companies for Planting (Colonizatoon) or Similar Objects
Volume III. Water supply, postal, street-lighting, manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance companies, also
statements relating to crown finances. Most of this is devoted to particular situations in the United Kingdom. The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 by C.R. Boxer Call
Number: JV2511 .B67 Published/Created: 1965 Charles Ralph Boxer was a noted historian of Dutch and Portuguese maritime and colonial history. While the title has a wide scope and includes Dutch activities outside of North America, given the time period covered falls within the scope of this guide and does help put their North American colonial activities into a larger picture. It begins with how the Eight Years War impacted Dutch society. Chapters
include: "Burgher-oligarchs and merchant-adventurers," "Sedentary workers and seafaring folk". This title is part of a series The History of Human Society that includes The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 (Boxer) and The Spanish Seaborne Empire (Parry). There is an Appendix that provides a helpful timeline, another that has some salary scales of seafaring and overseas personnel, and an extensive bibliography. Elites, Enterprise and the Making of the British Overseas Empire, 1688-1775 by
H.V. Bowen Call Number: JV1016 .B69 1996 ISBN: 0333622081 Published/Created: 1996-07-24 This book looks at the cultural, economic, and social forces that shaped the British Empire with a focus on the forces and influences of the metropolitan elites from the landowners to the merchants and bankers of the commercial sphere. The book is organized thematically with a focus more on the
underlying changes and forces in play and less on presenting a series of discrete political, military, and constitutional developments that have been the more traditional focus. Chapters include: Gentlemen and Entrepreneurs: Landowners, Merchants and Bankers; Merchants, Planters and the Gentlemanly Ideal; Enterprise and Expansion: Drawing a Line. It includes a rather extensive bibliography. The English Navigation Laws; a Seventeenth-Century Experiment in Social Engineering by
Lawrence A. Harper Call Number: HE587.G7 H3 1939a Published/Created: 1939 This title is broken up into several parts. The first part, "Origin of the Laws" covers the history of the laws with chapters devoted to a legislative history, a look at the Acts, and introduction into the "mercantile mind", and some early experiments. Parts two and three cover enforcement, specifically in England and
the Colonies. Part three which covers the colonies, goes into colonial courts, limits on colonial governors, and administration. Part four are the results – with one chapter looking at Asia, Africa, and America. There are two appendices: one is a brief summary of the laws of trade and navigation the other is an examination of port books. There is a nice bibliography and a table of statutes cited. Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic World by John J. McCusker Call Number:
HC104 .M383 1997 ISBN: 0415168414 Published/Created: 1997-11-05 Publisher description
Chapters include: Guides to primary sources for the history of early British America; The tonnage of ships engaged in British Colonial trade during the eighteenth century; Weights and measures in the Colonial sugar trade – the gallon and the pound and their
international equivalents; The rate of exchange on Amsterdam in London, 1590-1660; The Italian business press in early modern Europe; The business press in England before 1775; New York City and the Bristol Packet (postal history); Colonial civil servant and counter-revolutionary – Thomas Irving (1738/-1800) in Boston, Charleston, and London; The current value of English exports 1697-1800; sources of investment capital in the Colonial Philadelphia shipping industry; The economy of the British
West Indies, 1763-1790; etc. Title does include detailed charts, graphs, and an index. The Expansion
of Europe in the Eighteenth Century; Overseas Rivalry, Discovery, and Exploitation by Glyndwr Williams Call Number: JV165 .W5 1967 Published/Created: 1967 Glyndwr Williams is a noted historian in the areas of exploration and the history of Europe overseas. This title is broken into four sections presented by theme. Section I introduces the players –
Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and France. Section II covers the period 1700-1763 and is primarily looking at the west – in this case the Caribbean and the Americas. Specifically within that, attention is paid to mercantilism, seapower, the slave trade, and areas of tension particularly French and British friction. Section III covers the period 1740-1790 and focus outside of North America. Section IV covers the time period 1763-1815 with particular focus on the age of Revolution.
There is a nice selected bibliography. Great Britian. Board of Trade
Records Finding aid External
This is a manuscript collection that chronicles British trade decisions and actions concerning fishing, shipping, and whaling, and trade disputes with Spain. It contain correspondence, reports, orders, instructions, commissions, and other records documenting British trade in Canada, the Caribbean, and
America. Notes trade with Antigua, Bermuda, France, Jamaica, New England, Newfoundland, New Jersey, Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and History of World Trade since 1450 2 Volume Set Call Number: HF1379 .H574 2006 ISBN:
002865840X Published/Created: 2005-11-18 This title is important for those interested in knowing about the evolution of global relations. It covers the age of Discovery, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of capitalism, and the effects of imperialism on the global economy, defining and explaining terminology and profiles the major players (individuals and businesses), geographical regions, and commodities that shaped world commerce since the 15th
century. Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1870 by
E.E. Rich with a foreword by Winston Churchill. Call Number: F1060 .R5 1961 Published/Created: [1961, c1960] The Hudson's Bay Company External was established in 1670 by English royal charter as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay and controlled the area of the Hudson
Bay watershed. E.E. Rich was a professor of Naval and Imperial History and wrote/edited a number of works covering the imperial/early Colonial period. He was tasked with working on the archives of the company and this three volume title, which covers the period 1670-1763, is an outgrowth of that project. Volume one is limited to the discussion of fur trading. In volume two, "From Charter to Utrecht, 1670-1717" several chapters are devoted to various issues/situation related to France but also
includes chapters about particular people particularly Gov. John Nixon and Henry Kelsey as well as the notable ships The Eaglet and The Nonsuch. The third volume "From Utrecht to Paris, 1713," begins with the Treaty of Utrecht where France ceded to Great Britain its claims to Newfoundland and to the Hudson's Bay Company territories and ends the year the Treaty of Paris was signed when France ceded to Great Britain all of their claims in the Hudson Bay area as well as the impact those changes had
on the company's competitive position. London's
Triumph by Stephen Alford Call Number: HF3520.L65 A44 2017 ISBN: 162040821X Published/Created: 2017-12-05 This book is an investigation of how the city's ambitious merchants and workers lived and how that played a part in the establishment of the American colonies with a particular focus on the mercantile Gresham family who created the Royal
Exchange. Mercantilism by
Eli F. Heckscher Call Number: HB91 .H42 1983 ISBN: 082405363X Published/Created: 1983-01-01 Originally published in 1935 in Swedish, this is a republished version of the English translation. Part One includes an historical background as far back as Medieval Europe, as well as a specific look at countries particularly England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. New World, Inc by
John Butman; Simon Targett Call Number: in process ISBN: 9780316307888 Published/Created: 2018-03-20 This book is a look at the city of London in the 16th century and how people’s interest in trade and business as well as their willingness to take big risks, drove their interest in the colonies. This included the founding of "The Mysterie, Company, and Fellowship of Merchant
Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places Unknown," the world's first joint-stock company. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 by C. R. Boxer Call
Number: HF3694 .B68 ISBN: 0090979400 Published/Created: 1969 Charles Ralph Boxer was a noted historian of Dutch and Portuguese maritime and colonial history. This title looks at all of the Portuguese empire and because it does, there is little about the North American colonies. However, it has been included here as a way to provide a piece of the larger trade puzzle. This title is part of a series The History of Human Society that includes The
Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (Boxer) and The Spanish Seaborne Empire (Parry). There is an extensive bibliography. Principall navigations, voiages, and discoveries of the English nation. by
Richard Hakluyt’ Call Number: G240 .H144 Published/Created: 1598-1600 Full title of the seminal work is "The principal navigations, voiages, traffiqves and discoueries of the English nation, made by sea or ouer-land, to the remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth, at any time within the compasse of these 1500 yeeres, deuided into three seuerall volumes, according to the positions
of the regions, whereunto they were directed. This first volume containing the woorthy discoueries, &c. of the English toward the north and northeast by sea ... together with many notable monuments and testimonies of the ancient forren trades, and of the warrelike and other shipping of this realme of England in former ages : VVhereunto is annexed also a briefe commentarie of the true state of Island, and of the northern seas and lands situate that way. And lastly, the memorable defeate of
the Spanish huge Armada, anno 1588, and the famous victorie atchieued at the citie of Cadiz, 1596, are described." Revisions in Mercantilism by D. C. Coleman (Introduction by) Call
Number: HB91 .C628 1969b ISBN: 0389011983 Published/Created: 1969-01-01 This book sets out to review the history of ideas and discussions surrounding mercantilism and update the discussion taking into consideration changing ideas and knowledge. The various chapters were written by different authors and include specific chapters on Heckscher and mercantilism in Germany. There is a nice bibliography broken into parts – general works, works on
English, French, German and Dutch mercantilism. The Secret History
of the South Sea Bubble by Malcolm Balen Call Number: HG6008 .B35 2003 ISBN: 0007161778 Published/Created: 2003-04-29 Table of contents
The South Sea company was planned to launch 'a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to
know what it is'. It was a company that was a trading company and involved with the transportation of many goods across the Atlantic including slaves. Selling Empire by Jonathan Eacott Call
Number: DA16 .E23 2016 ISBN: 9781469622309 Published/Created: 2016-02-15 While this title gives India the focus, it does so within the context of a global British imperial system including America. Early English colonial promoters first envisioned America as a potential India
but instead Britain's circulation of Indian manufactured goods to Africa, Europe, and America then established an empire of goods and the supposed good of empire.
The Spanish Seaborne Empire by
J.H. Parry Call Number: F1410 .P3 1966a Published/Created: 1966 This is a classical assessment of the Spanish empire written by preeminent historian Joh Horace Parry. While a large part of this book covers Latin America and not North America it is helpful in understanding the entire picture of Spanish colonial history. There are five particular sections of this title. Section one covers the
beginning exploration and establishment of a presence in the "new" world. The second section describes the responsibilities – rights and duties, enforcement of the laws, etc. The third looks at the cost of empires from a demographic perspective to an economic one. Sections four and five look at the decline and disintegration of the Spanish empire. This title is part of a series – The History of Human Society – the series includes the Boxer titles "The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800" and "The
Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825." There is also a 1990 edition. The bibliographic notes section is helpful in identifying additional resources. It was republished in 1973 and 1990 Trade and Dominion by J. H. Parry Call Number:
JV165 .P35 ISBN: 1842120387 Published/Created: 2001-12-31 Publisher description
Parry was a noted historian and author of a number of books including "The Spanish Seaborne Empire," "Europe and a Wider World," and "The Spanish Theory of Empire in the Sixteenth Century." There are four sections – section I looks at the various geographical places
including the South Atlantic/West Indies and the West Indies and North America. Section II looks at several mutinies and dynastic issues, while section III focuses on the "Second age of Discovery". The last section looks at merchants and manufacturers, agents of government, and the more local governments/governance. The was originally published in 1971.
What is mercantilism Why did the British start using it?
Mercantilism was a popular economic philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries. In this system, the British colonies were moneymakers for the mother country. The British put restrictions on how their colonies spent their money so that they could control their economies.
What was the goal of British mercantilism policies?
The aim of mercantilism was to structure the financial foundation of the nation-state – the emerging postmedieval governmental mode that rapidly replaced feudal localism in northern and western Europe after the mid-fifteenth century – so that the state could survive and prosper.
How did mercantilism impact the British?
Imperial countries placed significant restrictions on commerce on their colonies in order to discourage them from trading outside of the mercantilist system. For example, Great Britain passed the Navigation Act of 1651 that forbade its colonies from trading with the colonies of other European countries.
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