A First Person Narration of the Early Life and Political Career of Adam Smith

Hello. For those of you who do not know me, I am Adam Smith, the economist, and philosopher. I would like to start by saying how much this means to me to be here in (name of your school) speaking to you all. Although my time is limited, I will try to cover the most important parts of my existence. I suppose I will tell you about my life, my famous books, and my contribution to philosophy.

I was born in 1723, in a town called Kirkaldy, Fife, Scotland. I can not tell you the exact date of my birth because I was too young to remember. I do know, however, that my priest baptized me on June 5, 1723. Most of my childhood was a bore. I spent my days going to school and working on pointless reports. When I was finally finished with school, I was ready to move on to big things. ("Adam Smith" Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

In 1752, I was chosen to be Professor of Logic at Glasgow University where I then "[transferred] to the chair of moral philosophy" (Lucid). I worked as a professor for about twenty-five years. During this time I published my first book, Theory of Moral Sentiments, a book about" [the] standards of ethical conduct that hold society together" (Lucid).

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I moved to London in 1776 where I wrote The Wealth of Nations. Nothing spectacular happened right after I published the book. Two years later I was appointed commissioner of customs in Edinburgh, Scotland. During this time, I devoted much of my income to numerous, but secret, acts of charity. (Honderich, Ted)

During my life, as I mentioned before, I wrote two books, Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The wealth of Nations. Not many people read them, well, not while I am alive anyway. Some say that my books "occasionally glint with wry wit."(New Criterion) but for the most part are very dull and boring. Then again now that I think about it, I "[seem] to have been a singularly unamusing man"(New Criterion).

Anyway, in The Wealth of Nations, the people down at Cyberpoint Limited say I: Laid the intellectual framework that explained the free market and still holds true today. [The book] most often recognized for the expression "the invisible hand," which [I] used to demonstrate how self-interest guides the most efficient use of resources in a nation's economy, with public welfare coming as a by-product. To underscore [my] laissez-faire convictions, [1] argued that state and personal efforts, to promote social good, are ineffectual compared to unbridled market forces. They are correct, but my original concern was the British government, not the United States.

I wrote my other book, Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759. In this book, I give an analysis of various feelings and psychological dispositions relating to morality, an account that I invite readers to test against their own experience of these feelings. In another way, the book is also about ethics, since I regard the moral sentiments as the best base of moral judgement. ("Adam Smith" Cyberpoint Limited) My main contribution resides in economics. The base of my views is that "individualism leads to order and progress" ("Adam Smith" World Book). If people want the economy to grow, people need to make money. "In order for people to make money, people have to produce things people want to buy" ("Adam Smith" World Book). I believe that labor equals both the source and the final measure of value. All of this would happen without any conscious control or direction, "as if by an invisible hand" ("Adam Smith" World Book) were conducting.

My philosophy had a big influence on the British Government. The government should allow free trade and self-regulation. If it did, the economy would result in social progress. Tariffs limit individual freedom in trade. The only things the government needs to do are as follows

•  Preserve law and order,
•  Enforce justice,
•  Defend the nation if necessary,
•  Provide for some social needs that are unable to be met through market.

These ideas of mine formed the basic ideas of economic liberalism. This is also called a hands off government. ("Adam Smith" World Book)

Today, the economy in America seems to be on many people's minds. Some say that the economy is good, others believe the opposite. I do not think there are any problems with the American economy. The vast majority of the people in the U.S. are not poor. They may not have all the luxuries of Bill Gates; however, not many people live in the dumps. I have heard that some people are pro-welfare and I do not believe they fully understand it.

Look at it this way. Bill Gates is a very successful man. He makes a lot of money, and in turn, his employees make a lot of money. Everyone makes money down to the janitor who cleans the facilities for making the parts that make a computer. If all of Gates' money was taken by the state and distributed to the poor, his company would collapse and millions of people would be affected. Every vendor, consumer, and employee could lose major business, if not their jobs. The stores where the employees shopped would lose business, in turn making all of their suppliers lose business. The list could go on and on forever down to the families of the truck construction workers who build his warehouses and factories. The point is, to interfere with a large company's success, could in turn, start a domino effect that could result in a huge negative impact on the economy. ("Adam Smith" World Book, "Adam Smith" Cyberpoint Limited, Lucid)

I would like to leave you with one more thought. As you grow older, you will be influenced by many people. I encourage you to read as much as possible. Only then will you be able to make informed choices and decisions on topics that can someday affect not just your life but the country as well. As you can see, economics is an extremely complex issue. There is no easy answer to the problems facing your country. However, I would caution you not to fall into the trap of blaming just the rich or powerful people for the problems. I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my life, my book, and my career, however I must return to the past, goodbye to you all.

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