Mercantilism: colonies supplying raw materials to the home country

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Mun on trade (cards A to D; summaries in our words, one quotation exact). Card A, England's trade as Thomas Mun describes it: England sells cloth, lead, tin, iron and fish abroad, worth £2,200,000 a year, and buys foreign goods worth £2,000,000 a year. The difference is brought home as treasure, meaning gold and silver. Card B, from Mun's book (most likely written between 1620 and 1630, printed in 1664; p. 7 of the 1895 reprint, original spelling): "The ordinary means therefore to encrease our wealth and treasure is by Forraign Trade, wherein wee must ever observe this rule; to sell more to strangers [foreigners] yearly than wee consume of theirs in value." Card C, about Mun: Thomas Mun was a merchant and a director of the East India Company. He wrote to defend the company's trade, and its ships carried silver out of England to pay for goods from Asia. Card D, a note on the name: Mun did not use the word mercantilism. That name was given later to the ideas and policies of states that tried to sell more than they bought.

2. 1.

   Who wrote card B, and what was the writer's position, Ari asks?

   • Thomas Mun, a merchant and company director who wrote about trade he knew well
   • A royal tax collector, who wrote about customs duties at the port of London
   • An English farmer, who wrote about the price of cloth and the wool trade
   • A modern historian, who summarized how seventeenth-century merchants thought about trade
3. 2.

   Card A gives exports of £2,200,000 and imports of £2,000,000 a year. How much more does England sell than it buys, Bo asks?

   • £20,000 a year, since £2,200,000 minus £2,000,000 is £20,000
   • £2,000,000 a year, the value of the foreign goods that England buys
   • £200,000 a year, which card A says comes home as treasure
   • £4,200,000 a year, found by adding exports and imports together
4. 3.

   A student writes, "Mun says England should not buy foreign goods." Which words in card B challenge that, Jun asks?

   • "wee must ever observe this rule", which says England must end buying from abroad
   • "increase our wealth and treasure", which says England should keep its treasure at home
   • "Forraign Trade", which shows that Mun wrote in the 1620s, when trade was growing
   • "to sell more to strangers [foreigners] yearly than wee consume of theirs", which allows some buying
5. 4.

   Card C says the company's ships carried silver out of England. How might a critic and Mun each have seen that, Kira asks?

   • Both would have agreed that silver leaving England was a loss, since silver is wealth
   • A critic would see the cloth trade as a loss, and Mun would see fish as a gain
   • A critic may see silver leaving England, while Mun says trade brings back more
   • A critic would praise the silver going out, while Mun would want it kept at home
6. 5.

   Suppose England's exports fell to £1,900,000 while imports stayed £2,000,000. What would follow under Mun's rule, Luz asks?

   • England would earn £100,000 in treasure, since exports are still large
   • England would buy £100,000 more than it sold, so treasure would flow out
   • England would earn £200,000 in treasure, the same gap as before
   • England would stop trading, since Mun says trade must end when exports fall
7. 6.

   Milo wants to know Mun's own idea. Which source is closest to it?

   • Card D, because a newer note is more accurate than an older book
   • Card A, because it lists the numbers and so must come from an official count
   • Card B, which is Mun's own sentence from his book about the trade of England
   • Card D, a modern note giving a name to the ideas of many states
8. 7.

   By what percent do England's exports (£2,200,000) exceed its imports (£2,000,000) in card A, Noah asks?

   • 9.1 percent, since £200,000 out of £2,200,000 of exports is 9.1 percent
   • 100 percent, since the gap is £200,000 and the imports are £2,000,000
   • 1 percent, since £200,000 is one hundredth of the £2,000,000 of imports
   • 10 percent, since £200,000 is one tenth of the £2,000,000 of imports
9. 8.

   Card B says Mun's book was most likely written between 1620 and 1630 and printed in 1664. How long after writing was it printed, Pia asks?

   • Between 34 and 44 years, since 1664 minus 1630 is 34 and 1664 minus 1620 is 44
   • Exactly 44 years, since the book was written in 1620 and printed in 1664
   • Between 3.4 and 4.4 years, since 1664 minus 1630 is 3.4 and so on
   • Between 24 and 34 years, since 1664 minus 1640 is 24 and 1664 minus 1630 is 34
10. 9.

    Which new source would best test whether East India Company trade brought treasure home, Ren asks?

    • A list of the men who served as directors of the company in 1620, with their dates
    • A modern essay that repeats Mun's argument in new words for students of the topic
    • A map of the routes that company ships used to reach Asia from London, drawn in the 1600s
    • The company's account books, showing silver sent out and money from goods sold
11. 10.

    Card D says the name mercantilism was given later. What does that show about how the word is used, Tala asks?

    • It is Mun's own word, which he used to describe his rule in 1664
    • It is a later label, so Mun and others did not call their ideas by that name
    • It shows that states in the 1600s already knew they were following mercantilism
    • It shows that the ideas did not exist, since the name was given later