1776 and the American Founding

1776 and the american founding

Equality, Wealth, and Power and the Need for Civil Government in Adam Smith, Part 1

November 4, 2025

How can political equality last in a world of economic inequality? Adam Smith's answer rests on analytical egalitarianism, where institutional design ensures competition, justice, and broad participation in governance. Jimena Hurtado explains in this two-part series.

Equality, Wealth, and Power and the Need for Civil Government in Adam Smith, Part 2

November 11, 2025

How can political equality last in a world of economic inequality? Adam Smith's answer rests on analytical egalitarianism, where institutional design ensures competition, justice, and broad participation in governance. Jimena Hurtado focuses on the American colonies in the final part of this two-part series.

Adam Smith Hopes for America, Part 2

September 17, 2025

Loughran and Klein argue that Adam Smith’s optimism is due to the dovetailing of the principles behind that contrivance with his own notions regarding good governance.

Adam Smith Hopes for America

September 10, 2025

Adam Smith sees America's potential.

Adam Smith and the Natural Law: The Impartial Spectator, Synderesis, and Moral Judgment Properly Understood

June 25, 2025

Synderesis, the "spark of conscience," provides a useful way to think about Adam Smith's impartial spectator, and supports a grounding of natural law in common law principles.

A Little Lower Than the Angels: What the Founders Learned from Adam Smith (Part 2)

June 19, 2025

Fleishacker argues that Adams, Jefferson, and Madison applied Smith's conception of virtue backed up by self-interest.

A Little Lower Than the Angels: What the Founders Learned from Adam Smith (Part 1)

June 17, 2025

Adam Smith provides us with a framework for looking at men as "a little lower than the angels" — not purely benevolent or purely self-interested, but a mixture of both.

The Invisible Power of Special Interest Groups

June 11, 2025

Adam Smith gives reasons in Wealth of Nations to think that countering ambition with ambition is not enough in a world of special interests looking to influence, rather than directly control, the government.

John Adams, Adam Smith, and the Passion for Distinction

June 4, 2025

John Adams was heavily influenced by Adam Smith, as can be seen in his Discourses on Davila regarding the effects of social rank on human sympathy.

Adam Smith, the American Founding and the Political Problem of Wealth, Part 2

July 26, 2024

How do you make sure bad people do not end up in control of necessary institutions? How do you make sure that good people can rise to positions of leadership that require virtue? The American founders struggled and arguing and learned from each other as well as from thoughtful predecessors like Adam Smith.

Adam Smith, the American Founding and the Political Problem of Wealth

July 17, 2024

... for Smith, and most of the founders, the moral psychological problem of wealth is not something that can be resolved, and so each suggest institutional solutions to the problem. Smith, in particular, focuses on political economic solutions or institutions to address the potential downfalls of a permanent wealthy class.

Adam Smith and the American Founding: The Theory of Moral Sentiments as a Field Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness

April 1, 2020

Adam Smith's Economic Case Against Imperialism

August 14, 2018

1776 and All That: Thomas Jefferson on Adam Smith

July 4, 2019

The American Revolution and Constitution

A collection of material on the Revolution and the Constitution at the Online Library of Liberty

American Founding Timeline

via the Online Library of Liberty