Adam Smith and the Other Revolution of 1776

This exhibition features two items by the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith: his monumental two-volume Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) and a signed letter to his publisher, William Strahan, from that same year. Smith famously argued that economic prosperity is driven by open competition and that focusing on a single area of specialization makes workers’ labor more efficient and thus more profitable. His letter to Strahan suggests combining their resources to increase the profits from sales of the second edition of Wealth of Nations, thus enacting the book’s own principles.