8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - The Causes of the War of Independence, The Economic Issues of the War Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/4

THE

CAUSES

OF THE

.

W R

FOR

INDEPENDENCE

IIJ

The Economic Issues (cont.)

Mercantilism was one

important factor that brought on

the War for

Independence.

Apart from this mistaken theory

there would likely never have

been a

war

at all. The early

Americans were British by birth

and ancestry. They loved Britain

and

wovld never

have

considered

war

but

for

the fact

that

they were being treated as

second-class citizens.

They

existed to be exploited and it

was

this unjust treatment that

became one of the sparks that

ignited the fires of

independence.

Mercantilism

always

produces

evil effects:

It invariably

promotes

H

cen

tr1)lism

H

(the concentration

of power in one man or entity).

Vnder th

is

system,

the

government is assumed to have

the right (and responsibility) to

control

and

direct the economic

decisions of men. Mercantilism

supported

the idea

that

everything and everyone in a

country must be brought under

. the power.of the government,

and usually . of one. person.

(Carson, A Basic History of the

United States,

vol.

/I, p. 106)

This of course encouraged

enlightened despotism orroyal

absolutism. The King (or, in

Britain's case, Parliament) was

given nearly absolute authority

over every aspect of society. The

people could not be trusted with

freedom.

When

men lose faith

in the sovereign rule of Qod,

they

make

their rulers

' sovereigns and insist that the

State impose order over men by

regulating and legislating every

area of life.

Thomas

Hobbes (1588-

1679) gave a most thorough (and

frightening) exposition of the

doctrine of centralism in his book

The Leviathan. Hobbes said

the only way for society to exist

14

THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon

July,

1995

with order and prosperity was

to erect a 'common ppwer and

the only way to erect such a

power isclo confer

all

their [the

people's] power and strength

upon one man, or one assembly

of men, that may reduce all their

wills,

by

plurality of voices, unto

one will:

The

result was

described by Hobbes in these

chilling words: .

This is the generation of that

great

LEVIATHAN,

or rather,

to

speak more reverently, of that

mortal god, towhich

we

owe

under .the

immortal Qod,

our

peace and defense. For by this

. authority, given him by every

particular

man

i n the

commonwealth, he

hath

the use

of so much power and strength

conferred

on

him, that by terror

thereof, he is enabled to perfonn

. the wills

of

them all to peace at

home, and mutual aid against

their enemies abroad And

he that carrieth this . [power]

is

called sovereign, and s\lid to

have

sovereign

power; .and

every one besides, his

subject:

(quoted

in

Carson,

op.

cit., pp

106,107)

The British

Parliament

became Ood walking on earth.

Mercantilism always leads

to

centralization of power because

of what must be assumed to put

it into place.

Secondly, mercantilism

often leads to war. When

trade

is

free

of

active govemment

involvement, competition is

peacefuL But

mercantilism

makes competition into a contest

between governments.

When

governments contest for

advantage actively and

vigorously, they are

headed

toward their ultimate recourse-.

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - The Causes of the War of Independence, The Economic Issues of the War Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

2/4

war. (Carson,

op.

cit., pp.

112,113)

The dominance ofthistheory

in the

17th

and 18th centuries

explains, in large measure, why

the history of these centuries is

one long series of wars. The

extensive effects of these wars

may be illustrated by France.

France and England fought wars

for

over

a

century

(King

William's

War,

1689, Queen

Anne's War, 1702-1713, The

War

of

Austrian

Succession,

1740-1748, and beginning in

1754, the French and Indian

War).

The wars of the

18th century

resulted in France losing its

colonial empire to Cireat Britain

(Canada in North America and

India, a highly populated and

thus, extremely valuable

market). This

was

a tremendous

blow

to France, one from which

it never fully recovered. This

twofold loss resulted in the

destruction of France's domestic

economy (which would

eventually become one of the

factors leading to the French

Revolution). Furthermore, it

created great bitterness against

Britain. This would later make

France both a willing and earnest

partner of the colonies in the

War of Independence -- not so

much out of a love for America

as for hatred of Britain.

France's economy

was

doomed unless Britain could be

overthrown and it could regain

its lost colonies (Louisiana was

not developing rapidly enough

to be a viable market). So in

hopes of

destroying

Britain,

France became an important ally

of America -- theirnavy, militia,

and money were crucial in the

American victory.

The

victory,

however,

came too late for

France to be saved.

(Dr. Rushdoony has noted

another important consequence

of France's wars:

When

Napoleon came to power, he

sought to reestablish the French

empire by recapturing India. At

a crucial point in this war, when

it appeared he was about to lose,

he sold Louisiana

to

this country.

Again, his primary motive was

to keep it out of the hands of the

British. Had this not been done,

America may well

have

remained a small seaboard

country of little consequence in

the world.)

Of course, the huge

war

debts

incurred by Britain in its wars

with

France would provoke the

Parliament to tax the colonies

more and more adding to the

anger and frustration here. The

Americans were not pleased to

be

required to

pay

for the

animosity between Britain and

France.

There was one further effect

of the mercantile poliCies of

Britain in this country that would

have fearful repercussions in Ihe

19th century. Clarence Carson

notes:

There is good reason to

believe Ihal the Southern

agricultural and plantation

system was largely a product of

Brilish mercantile policies. The

faslening of chattel slavery on

the colonies generally and on

the South in particular was aided

and abetted by British policy. In

the first

place,

the

British

conveniently overlooked the fact

that there was no such status in

British law. The laws

establishing slavery could have

been

nullified in England

because they

were

contrary to

British law, but they were not.

In the second place, the British

engaged aggressively in the slave

trade. Third,

the British

encouraged the growth of such

crops as rice and indigo, which

could

only

be

produced in

quantity

by

the use of slaves.

Fourth, British policy opposed

the emancipation of slaves,

mainly because

they were

used

as collateral for loans.

The tendency of British

mercantile policies

would

have

been to press all the colonies

toward an exclusive reliance on

agricultural and

raw

material

production. t happened,

however, that only the Southern

colonies could produce many

such products that

did

not

compete

with

those of England,

which

is

what

was wanted.

Thus, the Southern colonies,

encouraged by British merchants

and colonial

governments,

produced tobacco, rice, indigo,

naval

stores, and

some

raw

materials

for export. The

northern colonies, denied

a

market

in

Britain for their

agricultural produce,

sought

other means

of prospering:

shipbuilding, the fur trade,

shipping, selling food to the

British

West

Indies,

and

serving

as wholesalers and merchants

for all the colonies. There

might

have been much more extensive

manufacturing throughout the

colonies,

but

British policies

discouraged

it

when it

was

not

prohibited: (Carson, op. cit., p.

117)

Though

Mercantilism

has

long been offiCially rejected as

an economic policy, the rejection

July, 1995 IRE COUNSEL of Chalcedon

t 15

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - The Causes of the War of Independence, The Economic Issues of the War Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

3/4

has

been

in word only.

Mercantile policies continue

to

be folloWed by most countries

today

in the form of

"neotolonialism." For example:

business -- the problem is that it

is business subsidized by the

citizens

of

the nation. This

competition between the

superpowers to create their

own

little" colonies" around the world

produces an environment

conducive

to

war.

The

Coinage

of

Money

The second economic issue

that led to the War was that of

the coinage of money. The

colonies were

in effect,

independent countries and, as

these laws as well. Finally, as a

form of economic retaliation, the

. colonies started legaliZing paper

money. Paper money could be

put into circulation quickly and

was legal tenderuntilthe King's

veto arrived from England. 50

when British merchants arrived,

they were forced

to

accept paper

instead of gold

or

silver. When

the merchants arrived back in

England and complained to the

King, he vetoed the legal tender

law. But, by the time they

returned, another had

been passed in

the

Tariffs

designed

to protect

dom'esti : industries

are

forms

of nM-mercantilism. The logic

behind tariffs is based on the

same underlying principle of

mercantilism: to discourage the

purchase of foreign goods (even

if they are cheaper and of higher

quality). In reality, tariffs only

protect

inefficient

industries

by

reducing

competition. (For this

II

wicked

people will ignore

the

best of constitutions.

Without

biblical

integrity

reason, the

steel

industry in this country

has not had

to

modernize

its

production techniques

place of the last. This

continued until

the

King

outlawed all

forms

of

paper money.

Though

this

in over one hundred

years,

and

has fallen

well behind the more

efficient steel factories

( doing justice loving

mercy

and walking

humbly

with

our God, Miccah 6:8 no

constitution will protect

practice worked as a

form of economic

warfare, it produced

an evil appetite for

paper money. This

was io cause

tremendous problems

of

other

countries).

TarIffs

may

sou.nd

patriotic, but the effect

~ u s from

the tyranny

is to

hurt

both the

producer and the consumer. The

consumer is forced

to

pay higher

prices for goods. The producer

is

allowed

to operate

inefficiently and the consequent

waste of resources is allowed

to

continue, raising prices higher.

. Vltimately, domestic businesses

are hutto If we refuse

to

buy

from foreign countries, they are

unable to buy from us. Thus,

we end up losing some

of

our

best ustomers.

Neocolonialism continues

through the practice of foreign

aid. We give money to smaller,

undeveloped countries upon

condition that

they buy

Ametica.ngoods from American

cOIPorati?l1.s: .Foreign aid is big

of

the lawless

such, had the right

to

coin their

own

money. This was opposed

by Britain to prevent the colonies

from

accumulating capital and

developing economically. Thus,

each time a

law

was passed for

the coining

of

money, the King

vetoed it. qold and silver came

into this country only when new

colonists arrived from England

or

when

raw materials were

sold. But, this money had

to

be

spent on English goods and so,

the gold kept returning to

England.

The colonies began to pass

laws allowing tax breaks

to

those

who would build ships

and

establish trade with other

countries. The King vetoed

16 f

THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon

July,

1995

during the War.

Inflation became

rainpant with the circulation of

paper Continental' dollars.

The

currency would soon become

proverbial for anything

worthless. VseIess items were

said to

be

not

worth

a

Continental."

Colonial legislatures learned

a good lesson on the dangers .of

papermoney. 50 well ingrained

was this lesson that the writers

of the Constitution would later

seek

to

insure the impOssibility

of paper money ever being used

as legal tender in this country.

In Article

I

section 8,

the

framers give to Congress the

power "to coin money." The

word "coih" was chosen

specifically

to excludepapcr

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 6 - The Causes of the War of Independence, The Economic Issues of the War Part 2 - Counsel of Chalcedon

4/4

money. Further, in section 10,

the

states are prohibited from

making "anything but gold

and

silver coin a tender in payment

of debts," These provisions

virtually

prohibit

the

use of

paper money in this nation.

[They certainly

prohibit

the

issuance

of "federal reserve

notes which have nothing

behind them

butthe

"good faith

and credit of the Federal

(jovernment (talk about

oxymorons )l Few citizens,

however, even know of these

provisions in our Constitution

and

fewer still rea lize that they

have not

been changed. They

are still (supposedly) the "law

of the land."

They

are simply

ignored.

Our Founding

Fathers

understood the importance of

keeping paper currency out of

the hands of politicians and

governments. At one time they

had

thought it a good idea,

but

soon realized its true evil.

We,

conversely,

have

seen the evil

but

do not care.

Which

all goes

to show

that

our security does

not rest upon constitutions,

amendments,

or

electoral

victories,

but

upon the character

(the hearts) of the people. A

wicked people will ignore the

best of constitutions. Without

biblical integrity ("doing justice,

loving

mercy,

and

walking

humbly

with our

(jod,

Micah

6:8) no constitution

will

protect

us from

the tyranny of the

lawless.

This article,

although

a part

of

the

section

on

The Causes of

the

War

of Independence,

logically follows

the one that

appeared

in

the

February 1995

issue.

For over

100

years Americans have been subjected to historical

misinformation. We have been given lies for truth andmyths for

facts. Modern, unbelievrng historians have hidden the truth of

our

nation's history from us.

America: The First 350 Years

not

only corrects the lies, but also points out things "overlooked"by

modern historians.

t

nterprets American history from a Chris

tian

perspective so that you hear not only what happened,

by

why

t

happened-and

what it means to

us

today.

32

lectures

on

16-90 minute cassettes, 200 page notebook, 16 page study

guide, lecture outlines, index bibliography.

special rate

for Counsel

of

Chalcedon

readers

MERICA:

The First

350 Years--$64.95 x

Louisiana residents add 7 sales tax JJJ,r)

SHlPPINGAND HANDLING: Add

10% (15% UPS)

=

(Check or

Money Order)

Total Enclosed

(name)

(Street

Address or

p.o. Box)

(City) (State) (Zip)

PLEASE

ALLOW

4-6 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY

Send

self-addressed stamped envelope to receive

more information

July, 1995 l' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l' 17