Mercantilism's Role In The Revolutionary War

The year is 1775. The British are at war with the colonies, and unfortunately, for the colonies, a neutral observer in such a time would have picked the British for the win hands down due to their immense military strength, the colonies’ lack of metallic wealth, and the geographic fragmentation of the colonies.

For years Britain had been known to have one of the mightiest military powers in the world. This sentiment was only furthered by their 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada and again by their defeat of the French in 1763 (in the seven years’ war). In contrast, the colonies had small militias made up of mere citizens that were, for the most part, untrained in battle or military strategy. How could anyone expect the colonies, with their lowly militias, to ever hope to bring down such a force as the renowned British military?
In putting their theory of mercantilism into practice, the British exploited the colonies in ways that could help give them the upper-hand in a war they never expected when sending off their first colonists.
The point of mercantilism is to export more than you import so as to build up the amount of gold and silver in your country’s treasury, therefore countries like Britain who had colonies had the upper hand since they could have raw materials not available on their homeland imported from their colonies. While this was great for the British, it meant the colonies had much less wealth than the mother country. As a result the British were able to hire German mercenaries known as Hessians and their military technology was more advanced than that of the colonies. Most anyone comparing the economic resources of the colonies against those of the British would have no trouble trying to guess who had more available to help them in a war against each
other.

Not only did it seem that the colonies were outmatched in both military and economy, but also geographically. Unlike Britain, the colonies did not connect to one another to make one continuous landmass. They were fragmented, with pieces here and there, making it difficult to both communicate and combine smaller militias into a bigger fighting force. While it might have been a bit of an inconvenience that the British had to transport their troops over the Atlantic, they had no qualms about destroying the place in any way that seemed helpful, since they didn’t have to worry about their homes. Psychologically, this was also better for the British in that they weren’t worried about their wives and children being caught up in the middle of the fighting, because they were across the ocean. This is just another likely reason that someone in this time would have bet on the British over the colonies.

So, obviously the British outmatched us militarily, economically, and geographically and many people would have (and I’m sure did) pick Britain for the win over the colonies. Luckily for us we had some help that brought us out on top, but what would today be like if we hadn’t garnered help from France and Spain? Things would be very different from what they are now, but in what ways. Fortunately for us we will never truly know the answer to that question because, while a neutral observer in 1775 probably would have expected Britain to win the war, they were most certainly wrong.