Chasing after Spanish gold, Great Britain and France poured resources into their settlements in North America hoping to use their colonies to gain a competitive advantage over the other. Colonization of North America did not offer any obvious benefits, yet England and France still settled — in fear of missing out on opportunities of wealth, and the chance to tip the competitive balance of power system in their favor. Imperialist expansion was driven by the mercantilism mindset — a world with a fixed amount of wealth — so nations tried to get more land and trade than their rivals. England and France’s competition for wealth accelerated their imperialist drive of North America — which became the theater of their conflicts — leading to the powers’ Seven Years’ War.

The French and English colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century and continued in the following centuries to establish a colonial empire (Roberts 44). In the 17th century, many civilizations had established in North America, though there was no conflict between fighting for land, because there was more than enough land to expand to. Even so, Great Britain dominated the competition in the Americas because of their technique of colonization, discovery of tobacco, and trade (Roberts 44). Discovery of tobacco led to England’s monopolization of the item, because of the Navigation Acts of 1660: “laws [that were] designed to support English shipbuilding and restrict trade competition from England’s commercial adversaries” (Gelvin 31). Act XVIII stated that products of America could only ship to English lands, which gave England a huge economic advantage over France.

From the 17th to 18th century, competition between the powers escalated as France attempted to take over Europe (Kissinger 70). Howbeit, Great Britain used raison d’etat to ally with smaller powers against French domination, as the concept states that the ends justify the means, solong as a nation completes their interest. Constant competition between France and Britain maintained the equilibrium so that no individual state received the upper hand. The chance and prospect of gaining wealth in North America led to the brutal competition of expansion. After all, the popular economic ideology at the time was mercantilism, where wealth was a zero-sum game with each country either winning or losing, and no country wanted to miss out on the potential gains of North America. Thus, European powers settled in North America, though by the standards of classical colonialism, settlement in North America was a poor choice; there were no precious metals discovered yet, no thickly forested lands, and the only visible benefit was furs (Roberts 44). Nevertheless, North America still threatened the European balance of powers, so nation-states spent a plethora of time, money, and resources to populate the New Land.

France and England had colonized and expanded into the Americas well until one minor incident led to the Seven Years’ War, a culmination of building tension between the two major powers. When the French expanded into the Ohio River Valley, surveyor Geroge Washington and his troops attacked the French for their unwelcome expansion into British territory: “The French protested, calling the incident an unprovoked attack on a diplomatic party. After the French captured the surveyor — George Washington — he signed a statement in which he called the killing of the leader of the French party “l’assassinat,” an assassination”, which led to the global war of 1756 (Gelvin 31). Driven by the mercantilism mindset to vanquish their enemies, the European powers spent a plethora of money investing in their win for the Seven Years’ War. As Europe saw potential power with the control of the Americas, both sides suffered and sacrificed immensely for the purpose of imperialist domination and winning an edge over rival powers.

In 1763, England won the global war and took control over the Americas. However both sides suffered from war debt, as profit from colonization did not compensate for any of the money spent to acquire the land. Great Britain tried to tax the New Land, which led to the 1756–1783 American Revolution and America’s independence from England — so that won absolutely nothing from the Seven Years’ War. In the American Revolution, George Washington, “as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army”, acted in concert with the French — eager to get back at England, “to eliminate much of the British empire in North America — an empire built in the wake of his youthful impetuousness” (Gelvin 31) The youthful impetuousness refers to their impulsive colonization of North America — which was driven by the mercantilism mindset; European powers settled in the New Land for no other reason than just to compete and win in potential bouts of power. France’s attempt to tax its citizens led to the 1789–1799 bloody French Revolution. Both sides lost everything and more from their expansion into the New World, which was fueled by mercantilism logic.

France and Great Britain’s settlement in North America accelerated because of their competitive mercantilism mindset. Expansion in North America built up more tension between the powers, until snapped and unleashed the Seven Years’ War. France and Britain both spent an immense amount of money to battle, but only ended up in extreme war debt — which led to the government’s taxation of citizens. However, because citizens were too poor, taxation only led to revolutions: the American Revolution of 1765, and the French Revolution of 1789, which put each country in an even worse economic state than before colonization. France and Britain’s loss of power and money is the cost that came with mercantilism-driven-imperialism: the colonization of the Americas for the sole reason of winning a competition.