Adam Smith on America

The article makes an incursion into Smith’s perception of America, according to his many approaches to the new continent in The Wealth of Nations and in Lectures on Jurisprudence. Smith’s perceptions about the population – immigrants, indigenous population, slaves – are under review. Smith’s treatment of ‘colonies’, as well as his commitment to combating the ‘mercantile system’ determine his approach to America. Contrasts between slave labor and free labor colonization are also under review, as well as the contrasts among the European nations in their American colonial adventures. Given the many recent studies on the diffusion of the Wealth of Nations in American colonies and countries, especially at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the article tries to invert the focus, showing that ‘Smith on America’, instead of the reception of the Wealth of Nations in America (‘Smith in America’), may add to our understanding of nuclear points of Smith’s approach to historical realities.