“Colonial governments successfully overcame the economic challenges that they experienced.” Discuss.

Candidates will offer a considered and balanced review of the extent to which colonial governments were successful in overcoming economic challenges. Candidates may choose to address each of the challenges individually and gauge the extent to which each was overcome, or they may choose to focus on the challenges that were overcome and those that were not in discrete groups. They may choose to discuss different colonial governments separately or discuss them collectively. Candidates may discuss mercantilism and the control of trade. They may discuss that the “salutary neglect” of the British colonies allowed their colonial governments to address the economic challenges, while Spanish and French decisions were made by the crown. Taxation, smuggling, piracy, sanctioned trade monopolies, lack of economic diversification, and a shortage of labour were common economic challenges throughout the Americas and some or all of these may be mentioned.