Mercantilism was the principal that

The first principal of Mercantilism was that all the money and wealth in the world were relatively static. The second principal of Mercantilism was that a country's wealth could be based on their fossil fuels, and resources. The third principal of Mercantilism was the striving belief that exports needed to be higher than imports. 

The preamble explains the reasons  why ben franklin and the other founding fathers  of the constitution made our government a republic. by doing this they also replaced the articles of confederation