HIST 125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Mercantilism, Saint-Domingue
28 Sep 2017
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Africa is huge, and despite the mass removal on people, it did not affect everything there. In addition to new types of trade and wealth, new ideas started to spread. These ideas combined with competition between the empires. Enlightenment (the illusion of universality) human reason its nature, potential, and application to the world. Basic laws of principles progress and improvement. Adam smith begins to challenge the old mercantilism idea. Mercantilism - fixed amount of wealth in the world. Empires need to maximize trade and keep trade and wealth circulated in the state. Smith argues that free trade is a much better idea of trade. If everyone were free to trade within law, there would be more wealth to go around. Rejecting the idea that trade is a game of winning and losing. Thinks the greatest overall good can be achieved with the freedom of interest.
