Adam Smith on Liberty ‘in our present sense of the word’

The paper explores what Smith’s self-conscious reference to freedom ‘in our present sense of the word’ reveals about his understanding of modernity. Using the exact textual reference in the Wealth of Nations, a distinction is drawn between private (discretionary) and civic liberty. The latter is outmoded as manifest in its support for sumptuary legislation and its embodiment in the restrictive practices of corporations. The former embodies the modern meaning of freedom because unlike the latter it enables the dissemination of universal opulence which the use of civic liberty constricts.