Adam Smith's Case Against the British Empire

The paper articulates Adam Smith's case that the British Empire is inimical to Great Britain's interest. It is argued, contrary to Smith, that under the structure of global trade that prevailed prior to the Industrial Revolution, the mercantilist restrictions on trade and capital movement that characterised the British Empire increased Britain's national income. But it is also argued, in agreement with Smith, that the military costs of enforcing these restrictions outweighed any benefit. Smith's 'cost of enforcement case' against the Empire rightly resonated among liberal critiques of Empire in the century after Smith. His proposals for political union to succeed the Empire were distorted by Imperial Federationists in the early 20th c.