重商主义与殖民地贸易

Mercantilism and Trade of the Colonies

重商主义与殖民地贸易
对于远离旧世界追求新生活的先驱者来说，新大陆并非他们期望中的自由乐土。作为英帝国的一个组成部分，北美殖民地所受到的重商主义管制措施种类繁多。《航海条例》作为一种纽带使英帝国各组成部分紧密地连接在一起，也是英国对殖民地进行经济剥削的有力工具。

In the long period from 1500 to 1800, western European nation-states1 were all influenced by a set of ideas known as mercantilism2. Mercantilist doctrine and institutions were important because they were held by practical businesspeople and heads of state who strongly influenced public policy and institutional change.

The primary aim of mercantilists was to achieve power and wealth for the state. To generate an inflow of gold or silver3 through trade, the value of exports should exceed the value of imports. And the state could attain great power only if political and economic unity became a fact. If all the materials necessary to foster domestic industry were not available, they could best be obtained by establishing colonies or friendly foreign trading posts4 from which such goods could be imported. And a strong merchant marine could carry foreign goods, thereby helping to secure favorable trade balances5. Mercantilists believed that these means of achieving national power could be made effective by the passage and strict enforcement of legislation regulating economic life.

Almost as soon as Virginia tobacco began to be shipped in commercial quantities to England, King James I levied a tax on it while agreeing to prohibit the growth of competing tobacco in England. Taxes, regulation, and subsidies6 were all used as mercantile policies, but the primary ones that affected the colonies were the Navigation Acts.

In 1640s, Americans had slipped into the habit of shipping their goods directly to continental ports, and the Dutch made great inroads into the carrying trade of the colonies7. After the Restoration8, England was in a position to enforce a strict commercial policy, beginning with the Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663. Desp ite the continued modifications to these acts by policy changes, it is sufficient to note three primary categories of trade restriction:
　　1. All trade of the colonies was to be carried in vessels that were English built and owned, commanded by an English captain, and manned by a crew of whom three-quarters were English.
　　2. All foreign merchants were excluded from dealing directly in the commerce of the English colonies. They could engage in colonial trade only through England and merchants resident there.
　　3. Certain commodities produced in the colonies could be exported only to England (essentially any destination within the Empire9). These "enumerated" goods included sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, ginger, and various dyewoods.

Although these restrictions were the cause of occasional protests on the part of the colonists, they caused practically no disruption of established trade patterns during the remaining decades of the seventeenth century. When, in 1696, a system of admiralty courts10 was established to enforce the Navigation Acts, their impact became somewhat more pronounced. Indeed, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, most spheres of colonial commercial activity were regulated.

The enumeration11 of certain products requiring direct shipment to England suggests their special mportance from the perspective of the mother country. Tobacco,rice, and indigo accounted for more than half the value of the top ten exports, and these were predominantly from southern soil.

Miscellaneous manufactured goods of all varieties composed the lion's share of imports from England; A Philadelphia merchant provided a contemporary12 description of his import trade from Britain: In the last of the winter or early spring we choose to import our linens and other things fit for summer, latter end of which
we should have our woolen goods of all kinds ready for fall sale to use in winter. The spring is the best time for iron mongery, cutleryware, and furniture for furnishing houses. Our imports of those articles are very large, the people being much employed in agriculture, husbandry, clearing and improving lands, but slow progress is made in the manufactories here.

Great Britain was the main overseas region to receive colonial exports and to supply 80% of colonial imports. Nevertheless, the West Indies and southern Europe were important trading partners, especially as markets for American exports.

Mercantilist measures were implemented by the Crown13 to regulate trade and generate favorable trade balances for England. In addition, because European manufactured goods were in great demand in the New World, colonists faced chronic deficits, especially in their trade with England.

How did the colonists pay for their trade deficits? As emphasized by Benjamin Franklin14 in his reply to a Parliamentary committee in 1760, colonial trade deficits to Britain could be paid by surplus earned in trades to other overseas areas as well as by earnings from shipping and other mercantile services. And the final remaining colonial deficits were normally financed on short-term credit, and American merchants usually purchased goods from England on one-year credit. This growth of short-term credit reflected the expanding Atlantic trades and represented amodest amount of increasing colonial indebtedness to Britain.

在1500年至1800年的这段漫长时期，西欧国家均受到被称为重商主义的一系列思想观念的影响。重商主义学说与制度之所以重要是因为它们被具有影响力的商人和政府首脑们信奉，而正是这些人强有力地影响着国家公共政策与制度的变革。

重商主义者的首要目的是为了富强国家。为了从贸易中获得金银流入，出口价值应超过进口价值。而只有在政治与经济达成统一的情况下国家才会强大起来。如果促进国内产业发展所需的物资难以获得，则最好是通过建立殖民地或友好的国外商栈来进口。同时，强大的商船队可以运输外国货物，同时有助于获得贸易顺差。重商主义者认为，这些增强国力的手段可以由通过并严格执行规范经济生活的法规来实现。

几乎在弗吉尼亚的烟草刚开始大批运往英国时，英王詹姆士一世便对此征税，同时同意禁止在英国竞争性地种植烟草。税收、法规以及补贴均为重商主义政策手段，但影响殖民地的主要政策措施为《航海条例》。

十七世纪四十年代，美国已习惯于直接运送货物到欧洲大陆各港口销售，荷兰也大举侵入殖民地的货物运输业。王政复辟之后，英国得以实施严格的商业性政策，首先推出的是1660和1663年的《航海条例》。虽然由于此后政策变动而对条例不断更改，但以下三个贸易限制的主要条款是关键性的：

1. 凡殖民地的贸易，其所用船只必须是英国制造和拥有，船长和至少3/4的船员也必须是英国人。

2. 所有外国商人都不得直接与殖民地进行贸易往来，而只能通过英国或定居英国的商人进行。

3. 殖民地的某些商品只能出口到英国（实质上是大英帝国势力范围内的任何地方）。这些“被列举”的商品包括糖、烟草、棉花、靛蓝、生姜及各种染料木。

虽然这些限制成为殖民地多次抗议的起因，但实际上并未造成十七世纪后几十年中固有贸易模式的改变。而当1696年海事法庭制度的建立加强了《航海条例》的效力，其影响力才开始更加明显。实际上，从十八世纪开始，殖民地商业活动的诸多方面都受到限制。

定须直接运到英国的特种产品清单说明这些商品对于母国来说特别重要。烟草、大米和靛蓝占前十大出口商品总值的一半以上，而这些商品主要产自南部。

在从英国进口的商品中，种类繁多的制成品占很大比例；一位费城商人对当时他从英国进口的商品有如此描述：“冬春交替之际，我们进口亚麻与其他夏季用品；夏末时节我们须备好秋季出售的各种过冬羊毛制品。春天是进口铁器、刀具、布置房屋所需家具的好时机。这些商品的进口量很大，因为人们大多从事农业、饲养业及开垦与改良土地的劳作，而制造业发展却很缓慢。”

英国是接纳殖民地出口的主要海外市场并向殖民地提供80%的进口货物。而西印度群岛和南欧是重要的贸易伙伴，尤其是作为美国出口商品的市场。

英国皇室推行重商主义措施以规范贸易并为英国获得贸易顺差。此外，由于欧洲制成品在新大陆的需求量很大，殖民地面临长期贸易逆差，特别是与英国的逆差。

殖民地如何支付这些贸易逆差？如本杰明·富兰克林1760年在对国会委员会的答复中所强调的，殖民地对英国贸易的逆差可由其与其他国家和地区的贸易顺差支付，也可由海运与其他商业服务赚得的收入支付。而最终剩余的殖民地的逆差通常由英国提供的短期贷款支付。美国商人通常靠一年期的贷款从英国购买货物。短期信贷的增加表明大西洋贸易的扩大及殖民地开始逐步陷入对英国的债务之中。

1. nation-state: 单一民族国家。

2. mercantilism: 重商主义；商业出口主义。16-18世纪的一个经济思想流派，认为只有金银才是一国真正的财富，只有外贸出超和顺差才能使更多的金银流入本国。十八世纪后被放任主义 (lassez faire) 代替。

3. 殖民初期北美殖民地与英国的贸易以金、银支付。

4. trading post: 贸易站，商栈。

5. favorable trade balances: 有利的贸易平衡，即trade surplus贸易顺差。

6. subsidy: 补贴，指政府机构为鼓励出口而给予本国出口部门的一种财政补助金，又称export bounty。

7. 十七世纪荷兰的商船运输很发达，有“海上马车夫”之称。

8. Restoration: 1660年查理二世的王政复辟。

9. 殖民地时期大英帝国势力范围包括北美大陆、亚洲和西印度群岛等地。

10. admiralty courts: 海事法庭。

11. enumeration: 列举商品（清单）。

12. contemporary: 同时期的，当时的。

13. the Crown: 英国王室。

14. Benjamin Franklin: 本杰明·富兰克林（1706-1790），北美第一个启蒙思想家，将科学和民主思想以谚语形式传播给大众，如“时间比金钱更重要”，“自助者天助”等。后来成为美国建国元勋，《独立宣言》的起草人之一。