Why do you think merchants did not want to appear richer than the king?

Likely, they would become a much bigger target for the likes of thieves and others that are looking for some sort of personal gain. They would also like to apease the king, staying on his good side in order to secure a better life for themselves and or their buisness

Explanation:

I don't know if this was a MC question, but this is one of the only logical answers I could come up with.

union blockade

explanation:

the union blockade in the american civil war was a naval strategy by the united states to prevent the confederacy from trading.

the blockade was proclaimed by president abraham lincoln in april 1861, and required the monitoring of 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of atlantic and gulf coastline, including 12 major ports, notably new orleans and mobile. those blockade runners fast enough to evade the union navy could only carry a small fraction of the supplies needed. they were operated largely by british citizens, making use of neutral ports such as havana, nassau and bermuda. the union commissioned around 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war.