Great Mother of Men, by Adam Smith

The Philadelphia skyline.

The city of Philadelphia today. Adam’s Smith argued that the tremendous success of Britain’s American colonies was the result not of government policy, which tended to discourage it, but of the enterprise, character and intellectual values of individuals such as William Penn and Benjamin Franklin. Such leading figures did not slavishly implement government policy back home, but fostered individual aspiration and freedom of trade, speech and conscience in a world where such things were regarded as prejudicial to the common good.

Great Mother of Men

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When those establishments were effectuated, and had become so considerable as to attract the attention of the mother country, the first regulations which she made with regard to them had always in view to secure to herself the monopoly of their commerce; to confine their market, and to enlarge her own at their expense, and, consequently, rather to damp and discourage than to quicken and forward the course of their prosperity. In the different ways in which this monopoly has been exercised consists one of the most essential differences in the policy of the different European nations with regard to their colonies. The best of them all, that of England, is only somewhat less illiberal and oppressive than that of any of the rest.

In what way, therefore, has the policy of Europe contributed either to the first establishment, or to the present grandeur of the colonies of America? In one way, and in one way only, it has contributed a good deal. Magna virum Mater!* It bred and formed the men who were capable of achieving such great actions, and of laying the foundation of so great an empire; and there is no other quarter of the world, of which the policy is capable of forming, or has ever actually, and in fact, formed such men. The colonies owe to the policy of Europe the education and great views of their active and enterprising founders; and some of the greatest and most important of them, so far as concerns their internal government, owe to it scarce anything else.*

by Adam Smith 1723-1790

abridged

* Latin for ‘Great mother of men!’. The words seem to come from Virgil’s Georgics II.173, where the poet addresses Rome: “Hail, land of Saturn, great mother of earth’s fruits, great mother of men!”

Smith thought that London was the best (or least bad) of the imperial powers of Europe, but he still believed that our colonies’ runaway success was down to thoroughly British individuals being thoroughly British, rather than to any Government policy, and hence that small nations with free markets and no trade barriers possessed all the advantages of Empire, with none of the drawbacks. See The ‘Empire’ of Free Trade, and posts tagged Free Trade and Markets.

Précis

Although Smith did not believe that European governments could take credit for her American colonies, he believed that European peoples could. No other Continent at the time, he claimed, was so advanced in culture and noble values, and hence only Europeans could have colonised America so successfully.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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