Adam Smith’s Unmerited Censure: Revisiting a Satirical 1764 Pamphlet on Slavery

Abstract

We revisit the 1764 anonymous pamphlet An Essay In Vindication of the Continental Colonies of America, from A Censure of Mr Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. With some Reflections on Slavery in General. The title page says “By an AMERICAN.” The pamphlet pretends to rebut Adam Smith for his supposed censure of American colonists as base wretches and the refuse of the jails of Europe. But Smith was referring to slave ship crews. The pamphlet’s true intent was to honor Smith and to promote his rebuke of the slave trade and slavery in general. The misconstrual of Smith satirizes the troubled communication between the American colonies and Britain. The final 40% of the pamphlet is an all-out condemnation of slavery. The pamphlet was recognized as such by Anthony Benezet and Thomas Clarkson. Authorship has been attributed to Arthur Lee, but we doubt it.