Mercantilism
Mercantilism – a set of policies aimed at guaranteeing prosperity by making a nation as self-sufficient as possible and by eliminating dependence on foreign suppliers, damaging foreign competitors’ commercial interests, and increasing its nation’s stock of gold and silver by selling more abroad than buying. Parliament established the first Navigation Act in 1651. By 1750 a long series of Navigation Acts were enforced, affecting the colonial economy in four major ways.