Down to 1763, what did the mercantilist view hold that colonies should do?

1. Britain had formulated no consistent policy for her colonial possessions before 1763. 2. The one guiding principle was the confirmed mercantilist view of what a colony was for. 3. On that view a colony supplied the mother country with raw materials. 4. The same view held that a colony should not compete in manufacturing. 5. Policy was poorly enforced, so the colonies never thought of themselves as subservient. 6. Free trade with every European nation is the opposite of that principle and was never the rule. _Source: An Outline of American History (U.S. Information Agency, 1990, public domain), section THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE_