Adam Smith criticized the inefficiency of slavery in The Wealth of Nations (1776) but published his strongest words against slaverytargeting its injusticesalmost twenty years earlier in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). Even in the nineteenth century it was Smiths earlier fulminations that captured the attention of abolitionists and found their way into anti-slavery pamphlets.
Adam Smiths Rebuke of the Slave Trade, 1759
By Daniel B. Klein
This
article
appeared in
the Summer 2020 issue of The Independent Review.
Civil Liberties and Human RightsCulture and SocietyEconomistsEconomyLaw and LibertyPhilosophy and ReligionRace Issues
Other Independent Review articles by Daniel B. Klein | ||
Winter 2017/18 | The Joys of Yiddish and Economics | |
Fall 2012 | Most Economists Welcome Ideological Openness | |
Fall 2012 | The Improprieties of the Pretense of Knowledge | |
[View All (17)] |