MERCANTILISM, Explained [AP Euro Review—Unit 3 Topic 4] — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00so we've been talking about the shift
2. 0:01towards absolutism in Europe during the
3. 0:03period 1648 to 1815 and if a king or
4. 0:06queen is going to be the big stinky
5. 0:07cheese of their state then they're going
6. 0:09to have to rake up some scratch to make
7. 0:10it happen so in this video we're going
8. 0:12to talk about the economics of
9. 0:13absolutism namely mercantilism so if
10. 0:16you're ready to get them brain cows
11. 0:17milked favorable balance of trade style
12. 0:19then let's get to it so first let's
13. 0:21start by defining mercantilism by the
14. 0:23way if you want follow along notes for
15. 0:24this video then check the link in the
16. 0:25description so mercantilism is a
17. 0:27state-driven economic system which
18. 0:28emphasizes the buildup of mineral wealth
19. 0:31by means of a favorable balance of trade
20. 0:33now there are three parts to that
21. 0:34definition that we need to unpack first
22. 0:36mercantilism is a state-driven economic
23. 0:38system if you've ever taken an economics
24. 0:39class you know there's a difference
25. 0:40between what's called a command economy
26. 0:42and a market economy a classic example
27. 0:44of a command economy that you'll learn
28. 0:46about in that class is Soviet Russia's
29. 0:47communist state in Soviet Russia the
30. 0:49state set all the prices the state said
31. 0:51all the work hours the state set all the
32. 0:53work days the state decided what should
33. 0:55be manufactured and how much and on and
34. 0:57off therefore in a command economy the
35. 0:59state makes all the the economic
36. 1:00decisions or at least most of them a
37. 1:02market economy on the other hand is one
38. 1:04characterized by private economic
39. 1:05decisions like the state isn't guiding
40. 1:07the economics but rather individuals and
41. 1:09private entities in the classic example
42. 1:11here is the United States now the point
43. 1:13is when we talk about mercantilism it is
44. 1:14likely an economic system that you have
45. 1:16never heard of before and so it can be
46. 1:18helpful to compare it to a system that
47. 1:19you have heard in that way a
48. 1:21mercantilist state is a lot like Soviet
49. 1:23Russia economically the state makes all
50. 1:25the decisions okay now the second part
51. 1:27of that definition we need to consider
52. 1:28is the emphasis on the buildup of
53. 1:30Mineral Wells when I say mineral wealth
54. 1:32I mean gold and silver like the motto of
55. 1:34the Mercantile estate is he who dies
56. 1:36with the most gold wins and here's where
57. 1:38we need to talk about pot think about it
58. 1:40for a minute if wealth is measured in
59. 1:42terms of gold and silver then there's
60. 1:43only a finite amount of wealth in the
61. 1:46world there's only so much gold and
62. 1:47silver that you can dig out of the
63. 1:49mountains and so under the mercantilist
64. 1:51worldview wealth was kind of like a pie
65. 1:53and the pie only has so many slices and
66. 1:55that means if a Mercantile estate wants
67. 1:57more mineral wealth in another state and
68. 1:59you know that was the goal then that
69. 2:01means that somebody has to get less pot
70. 2:03and that's why not surprisingly
71. 2:05mercantilism led to intense rivalries
72. 2:07among European States because hey who
73. 2:09doesn't want more pot all right now the
74. 2:11third part of that definition we need to
75. 2:12consider is the means by which a
76. 2:13mercantil estate is going to get more of
77. 2:15that pie namely by maintaining a
78. 2:17favorable balance of trade and they
79. 2:19maintained a favorable balance of trade
80. 2:20by having more exports than Imports and
81. 2:22it's not hard to understand why if the
82. 2:24goal is to accumulate mineral wealth and
83. 2:26exporting Goods is good because that
84. 2:28means gold and silver are coming into
85. 2:30the state but if a state Imports lots of
86. 2:32goods and that means their gold and
87. 2:34silver are leaving and going to other
88. 2:35states now whatever you might think
89. 2:36about mercantilism as a system it did
90. 2:38have the effect of giving Europe an
91. 2:40increasingly dominant position in the
92. 2:42world economy and one of the main
93. 2:43drivers of that system during this
94. 2:44period was the expansion of Empire and
95. 2:46the robust trade that occurred because
96. 2:48of it establishing colonies was a major
97. 2:50goal of mercantilist states for two
98. 2:52reasons first colonies were able to
99. 2:53provide raw materials in abundance for
100. 2:56the manufacturing of goods for example
101. 2:57the Abundant forests in British North
102. 2:59America provided timber for shipbuilding
103. 3:01and the French colonies in the Caribbean
104. 3:02provided sugar and coffee in abundance
105. 3:04the second reason mercantil Estates were
106. 3:06driven to establish colonies is that
107. 3:07they provided new markets for their
108. 3:09manufactured goods so raw materials were
109. 3:11extracted from the colonies then shipped
110. 3:13back to the parent country and then made
111. 3:15into manufactured goods and then sold
112. 3:16right back to their colonial population
113. 3:18if Colonial people are buying a state's
114. 3:20Goods that maintains a favorable balance
115. 3:22of trade because gold and silver are
116. 3:24remaining within the possession of the
117. 3:25Imperial State now probably one of the
118. 3:27clearest examples of this was the
119. 3:28British Navigation Acts which were first
120. 3:30established by Oliver Crum this series
121. 3:32of laws mandated that Goods shipped from
122. 3:34Europe to Britain were required to be
123. 3:35transported on British ships with
124. 3:37British crew furthermore that meant the
125. 3:39colonial peoples were required to trade
126. 3:40only with Britain and this is straight
127. 3:43mercantilist like get as much of the
128. 3:44gold as you can by any kind of behavior
129. 3:46and that was going to cause tension
130. 3:47because it was not in the colony's best
131. 3:49interest to trade only with Britain and
132. 3:51that's going to be one part of what
133. 3:52eventually leads to the American
134. 3:54Revolution all right now let's consider
135. 3:55the effects of this kind of economic
136. 3:57system in terms of worldwide trade first
137. 3:59there was an increased man for New World
138. 4:00products like sugar and rice and because
139. 4:03new products and new foods were being
140. 4:04introduced to Europe from the Americas
141. 4:06and because the rise of the middle class
142. 4:08who could afford such products a new
143. 4:09consumer culture was on the rise second
144. 4:11with this increasing demand for goods
145. 4:13came in increasing demand for labor and
146. 4:15that largely came from enslaved Africans
147. 4:17as indigenous labors quickly died off
148. 4:18because of European diseases European
149. 4:20plantation owners increasingly turned to
150. 4:23African and slave laborers to work their
151. 4:25land and the increased Demand on the
152. 4:26African slave trade was one part of the
153. 4:28larger economic pattern known as the
154. 4:30Triangular Trade which described a
155. 4:32three-part transmission of goods across
156. 4:34the Atlantic and here's how it went
157. 4:35finished European Goods like guns and
158. 4:37textiles would be shipped to Africa and
159. 4:38exchange for enslaved labor then they
160. 4:40would head across the Atlantic through
161. 4:42the brutal Middle Passage where the
162. 4:43Africans suffered malnourishment and
163. 4:45disease only to be traded in the
164. 4:47colonies for raw materials like cotton
165. 4:49and tobacco and sugar which would then
166. 4:50be shipped back to Europe and that's it
167. 4:52for this topic and right here are the
168. 4:53rest of the topic videos for unit 3. you
169. 4:55can also click right here to grab my AP
170. 4:56Euro review pack which is great for
171. 4:58helping you study for your exam M so you
172. 5:00can get an A in your class and a 5 on
173. 5:02your exam in May I'll catch you on the
174. 5:03flip flop I'm out