Answer:
Whatever early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in furs. In addition, the fishing industry was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small farms and self-sufficiency. Households produced their own candles and soaps, preserved food, brewed beer and, in most cases, processed their own yarn to make cloth. In the few small cities and among the larger plantations of North and South Carolina and Virginia, some necessities and virtually all luxuries were imported -- in return for tobacco, rice and indigo exports, which produced large profits in England's London, Bristol and Liverpool markets. In these areas, trade and credit were essential to economic life. Prior to the conclusion of the Seven Years War there was little, if any, reason to believe that one day the American colonies would undertake a revolution in an effort to create an independent nation-state. As apart of the empire the colonies were protected from foreign invasion by the British military. In return, the colonists paid relatively few taxes and could engage in domestic economic activity without much interference from the British government. For the most part the colonists were only asked to adhere to regulations concerning foreign trade. In a series of acts passed by Parliament during the seventeenth century the Navigation Acts required that all trade within the empire be conducted on ships which were constructed, owned and largely manned by British citizens. Certain enumerated goods whether exported or imported by the colonies had to be shipped through England regardless of the final port of destination.