Book details
Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise
How the Founding Fathers Turned to a Great Economist's Writings and Created the American Economy
Author: Roy C. Smith
Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise
$19.99
About This Book
Book Details
Adam Smith was a Scottish professor of moral philosophy. He published his classic The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the year the American Revolution began. Smith became widely known for his ideas of free markets, laissez-faire commerce, and the "invisible hand." Yet English politicians, landed gentry, and the nobility paid little attention and enacted none of Smith's suggested reforms.
The American colonies, however, began their existence as an independent nation in 1781 with no money, no industry, no banks, and deep in debt. The Founding Fathers--particularly Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin--turned to the ideas of Adam Smith to create and jump-start an economic system for America with both immediate and long-sustained results.
This little-known but vital part of U.S. history is now revealed in Roy C. Smith's highly readable new book.
Imprint Publisher
St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN
9780312325763
In The News
"Roy C. Smith shows, clearly and informatively, how Smithian economics and American politics and entrepreneurship intertwined to produce that wonder called the American economy. - John Steele Gordon, author, The Great Game and The Business of America: Tales from the Marketplace
"This is the most readable, informative, and genuinely exciting adventure in economic history that I have recently encountered." - James M. Hester, former president of New York University