Activities

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to prompt a discussion of how likely it is that any country will ever have completely free trade.

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to explore the effects of the division of labor on innovation.

A comic strip to spark discussion of Adam Smith's "the butcher, the brewer, and the baker", and of how our care for each other is affected by money.

Use this quotation from The Theory of Moral Sentiments to discuss the special treatment that people feel they owe to political rulers.

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments to discuss whether we can be forced to be generous and kind.

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments to discuss the nature of justice with your class. 

Use Adam Smith's discussion of men "whose public spirit is prompted altogether by humanity and benevolence" as a starting point to discuss civil government and how to approach difficult public policy problems.

Contrast the famous "man of system" passage, in which Smith criticizes a certain type of public thinker, with the "spontaneous order" of markets to spark discussion about the organization of different types of economies.

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments to discuss the rule of law and different paths to power. 

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to explore the effects of trade restrictions.