; Fueled by a mercantilist system, this strategy of control contributed to the colonies’ wealth and population growth. Because Britain was dealing with its own affairs in Europe, it rarely involved itself in the daily operations of the colonies. As the colonies practiced autonomous rule, they were inadvertently separating from Britain. Eventually, the expansion of British commerce that had opened the way to the era of salutary neglect brought it to a close (Henretta, 96). The purpose of the mercantilist system was to indirectly exploit the colonies by stripping them of their raw materials and then producing the end products in Great Britain, a more profitable provision. This economical system was destined to fail. According to Adam Smith, mercantilist regulations subsidized inefficient producers and inhibited personal enterprise (Henretta, 217). Though its purpose was to enrich the mother country through the colonies, mercantilism, at first, benefited the colonists more than the British. But, as America’s economy prospered, it also threatened many British interests. Pressure mounted in England to assert greater authority over colonial commerce, therefore taxes were imposed. This assertion of control forced the colonists to work directly for their parent state, thereby constraining free enterprise and limiting profit potential. The life, liberty, and property of the colonists were jeopardized. The inhibition of colonists’ natural rights, which ended the period of salutary neglect, was the road to the revolution. Tension between the colonies and Great Britain rose. Their relationship with one another deteriorated, and the willingness for compromise had faded. Taxes, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Act of 1767, were billed as unfair, and the Americans felt there should be no taxation without equal representation in the British Parliament. The colonists, feeling as though they were being trea...
