Colonial economies and mercantilism
Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
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Cards A to C on the first Navigation Acts (the excerpt is exact, in old spelling; the summaries are in our words). Card A, "The Navigation Act of 1651". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Navigation Act of 1651 said that goods coming into England and its colonies from Asia, Africa and America had to arrive on English ships. Parliament meant to tie the colonies tighter to England and to keep rival nations, above all the Dutch, away from the trade. Card B, "Navigation Act of 1660: the clause on enumerated goods". Who made it: Parliament of England. When: 1660. For whom: merchants and ship captains in England and its colonies. Why: to steer colonial goods to England and keep the trade in English ships. Excerpt (An Act for the Encouragement of Shipping and Navigation (12 Car. II c. 18), 1660, clause XVIII): "…noe Sugars Tobaccho Cotton Wool Indicoes Ginger Fustick [a dye wood] or other dyeing wood of the Growth Production or Manufacture of any English Plantations [colonies] in America Asia or Africa shall be shiped carryed conveyed or transported from any of the said English Plantations to any Land Island Territory Dominion Port or place whatsoever other then to such English Plantations as doe belong to His Majesty His Heires and Successors or to the Kingdome of England or Ireland or Principallity of Wales or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede there to be laid on shore under the penalty of the Forfeiture of the said Goods or the full value therof…" Card C, "The Navigation Act of 1660, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, ginger and dye woods from the colonies, called enumerated goods, could be shipped only to England, Ireland, Wales or another English colony. The ships needed an English master and a crew at least three-fourths English.
Bo combines Cards A, B and C. Which question can the three cards answer?
- How many ships were seized for breaking the Act of 1660, and where were they taken to court?
- Which goods were enumerated in 1660, and what did Parliament say in 1651 it meant to do?
- Which colonies complained most loudly about the Navigation Acts in letters sent to London in the 1660s?
- How much money did colonial merchants lose each year because they could not ship sugar to other countries?
Parliament made the clause in Card B. What does the maker tell Esme about how to use it?
- It shows what England's lawmakers required of colonial trade, not what colonists or merchants thought of it
- It shows the colonists agreed to the rule, since the clause was passed by Parliament and then published widely
- It shows both sides' views, since a law reflects what the merchants and the colonists would each have wanted
- It is a poor source for the colonies, since Parliament sat in London and its laws had no effect in America
Which sentence do Cards A, B and C support for Jun?
- Parliament required English ships in 1651 and limited where enumerated goods could go in 1660, steering trade to England
- The Acts ruined colonial trade by 1660, since the colonists could no longer sell any goods to other countries
- Tobacco was left off the list in 1660, since the cards name just sugar, cotton, indigo, ginger and dye woods
- The Act of 1660 let colonists ship sugar to any port, while the Act of 1651 limited it to English ports
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Cards A and B on four economies and one law (both are in our words, not quotations). Card A, table: four colonial economies, in brief (a summary in our words; the colonies are grouped by region, and the sugar islands lie in the Caribbean). New England: sold fish, timber, ships and shipping; enslaved labor limited, with some enslaved people in port towns. Middle colonies: sold wheat, flour and other grains; enslaved labor on some large farms. Southern colonies: sold tobacco, rice and indigo; enslaved labor central to the main crops. British sugar islands: sold sugar; enslaved labor central to the sugar crop. Card B, "Virginia law of 1662 (Act XII)". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Every child born in Virginia would be held enslaved or free according to the mother's condition. A child born to an enslaved woman was enslaved for life, whoever the father was, so slavery passed from parent to child.
Luz combines Cards A and B. Which question can the two cards answer together?
- Which goods marked each region, and how did the Virginia law of 1662 decide a child's status?
- Why did Virginia's lawmakers pass the law of 1662, and what did they expect it to change?
- How many enslaved people lived in each region in the year 1700, and how many were born in America?
- How did enslaved people respond to the law of 1662 in the years right after it was passed?
Virginia's lawmakers made the law in Card B. What does that maker tell Milo about the card?
- It shows the law applied across the colonies, since Virginia's laws were passed for the British colonies as a group
- It shows how enslaved families felt, since a law about children describes the families it affected in the colony
- It shows the law Virginia adopted in 1662, which is enough to understand how slavery worked in the colonies
- It shows what the colony's law required, not what enslaved people or their families experienced
Which sentence do Cards A and B support for Noah?
- Slavery existed in the Southern colonies and nowhere else in the colonies, since the table lists no other place
- Enslaved labor was central to Southern and sugar-island crops, and Virginia's 1662 law passed slavery from mother to child
- New England had no enslaved people, since its main goods were fish, timber and ships rather than crops
- Virginia's law of 1662 made a child's status follow the father's condition, so a free father's child was free
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Cards A to C on the mercantilist idea (all three are in our words; the numbers in card B are made up for practice). Card A, "The mercantilist idea". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: In the mercantilist idea, the colony supplies what England needs, such as raw materials like tobacco, timber and indigo, and England sells manufactured goods such as cloth, tools and nails back to the colony. The home country wants to sell more than it buys. Card B, "An example with made-up numbers" (written for this sheet, in our words, not a quotation): A colony sends England raw materials worth 2 units and receives manufactured goods worth 3 units. Card C, "Three terms". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: A raw material is a natural product used to make other goods. A cash crop is a crop grown to sell, not to eat. A manufactured good is a good made in a workshop or a factory.
Card B uses made-up numbers: raw materials worth 2 units out, goods worth 3 units back. Which statement about the example is accurate for Pia?
- It shows how much each side gained, since the example gives both values and so the profit of each side
- It shows how the idea is meant to work, but not how much real trade there was
- It shows that England sold goods worth 3 units to each colony, since the example shows the sale that England wanted
- It shows which raw materials the colony sent, since the value of 2 units stands for tobacco, timber and indigo
Ren combines Cards A, B and C. Which question can the three cards answer?
- What was each side meant to supply under the mercantilist idea, and which side wanted to sell more than it bought?
- How did colonists feel about buying English cloth, tools and nails instead of making their own?
- Which colony grew the most tobacco, and how much of its crop went to England each year?
- How large was England's trade surplus with Virginia in the year 1700, measured in pounds sterling?
Cards A and C were written today to explain an idea. What does that mean for Tala using them?
- They give the colonists' view, since they explain what colonies supplied and what the colonies bought back
- They are first-hand sources, since they describe trade between England and its colonies during the 1600s
- They show the idea as historians describe it today, not what a colonist or a merchant said at the time
- They give the idea clearly, which is enough to know how a colonist or a merchant understood the system then
Zee applies card A to the example in card B. Which sentence is supported?
- Real colonies bought 3 units of goods for each 2 units they sold, since the example shows the usual pattern
- The colony sells more than it buys, since it sends out raw materials worth 2 units and takes back goods worth 3
- England sells and buys 5 units in total, so England's sales and purchases are the same size in the example
- England sells goods worth 3 units and buys raw materials worth 2, so England sells more than it buys, as the idea wants