Smith was born in Kirkaldy, Scotland on June 5, 1723.
He was the only child of the marriage of his biological
mother and father. Adam Smith's father died a few months
before Adam Smith's birth.
1737 until 1740, he attended the university of
Glasgow. Thereafter, he went
to Baliol college, Oxford, as
an exhibitioner on Snell’s foundation.
he returned to Kirkaldy, and lived
with his mother for two years.
1751, he was elected Professor of Logic in the University
of Glasgow. The following year, he was removed to the
Professorship of Moral Philosophy in the
same University. That remained his position for thirteen
1763 he withdrew from his posts at the University of
Glasgow to take on the highly lucrative role of private
tutor to Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, whom he
was to accompany on an eighteen month "Grand Tour" on
the continent of Europe.
thereafter returned to, and remained for a time, in London.
He there met Edmund Burke, Samuel Johnson and others.
He was also made a member of the Royal Society.
subsequently returned to his mother in Kirkcaldy, where
he continued to study and write. In 1776, his "Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"
was named lord rector of the University of Edinburgh
in 1777, and was appointed commissioner of customs in
Scotland one year later.
died at Edinburgh on July 17, 1790, and was buried in
the Canongate churchyard.
The Wealth of Nations was published, the importance of
free trade and competition to innovation
was not well understood. Government-imposed monopolies
and guilds, combined with restrictive laws, effected
protectionism and stifled improvements in the quality
of life. The use of some labour-saving machinery was
actually outlawed to protect the jobs made obsolete by
on examples from around the world, Adam Smith's book
demonstrated that free markets and competition actually
reduce poverty and generally improve the standard of
living. The Wealth of Nations provided the intellectual
underpinnings for the following century of free trade
and economic expansion.
hailed as a monumental intellectual achievement, The
Wealth of Nations continues to provide economic firepower
to the advocates of capitalism and free trade. Indeed,
the Fraser Institute, in Canada, thanks its guest speakers
by presenting them with an Adam Smith tie. Read the Wealth
of Nations, and find out why.