Modern capitalism started in Britain around the 16th century and quickly spread throughout Europe and America. Later after the industrial revolution in the 19th and 20th century it started to spread throughout the world.
Adam Smith was born around 1723. He was a Scottish political economist and a moral philosopher. He was one of the first people to study historical development and commerce in Europe. He promoted, created and published ideas about free trade and capitalism. One of Adam Smith’s teachers was Francis Hutcheson. While studying under Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith developed his strong passion for liberty, free speech and reason. While Adam Smith had many supporters, rulers of countries didn’t like the idea of free trade because it ruined mercantilism. Mercantilism was when countries exported goods for gold. Since the rulers of the countries owned most of the gold they had the power of trade. The idea of free trade changed this because it gave the power of trade to the people instead of the government.
Adam Smith’s magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations was written in 1776. In this the idea of free trade is introduced. The idea of free trade was created out of the frustration of economic hardships and poverty after the American War of Independence. So, instead trading items through rulers of their countries, free trade enabled people to trade goods with each other. Free trade took the power of trade away from the leaders of countries and put it into the hands of the people actually creating and buying the goods.
Adam Smith also introduced the idea of division of labour. Division of labour is about breaking up jobs to make the work go faster. This way more products could be produced and more customers could buy. Therefore making a more systematic and productive economy.
Another idea Adam Smith introduces is the free market. The free market was a way for sellers and buyers agree on the price of their goods whereas in a controlled market the government set the price of each item. Also free markets were a way to produce the right quantity and assortment of goods. This worked because if there is was a product shortage then the price raised and it created more room for others to enter production, resulting in the price being lowered back down. Also, if there was over production then there an increase in competition between sellers occoured so the price lowers. Even today, the free market benefits people by creating low and affordable prices for many of the items they want to buy.
Many of the ideas of modern capitalism Adam Smith created are still being used today.
My topic is conservatism versus liberalism. Capitalism was a big part of conservatism because liberalists wanted a free market but the conservatives still wanted the government to have control. It is interesting because this was happening in the 1700’s and is still happening now, in a different form. The government still wants control, for example the oil market. They want the prices to stay higher because they are making more money. It all goes back to power.
ReplyDelete~Bananna
Hey my topic is socialism, and if you didn't know Capitalism is one of the main things that prompted people to start socialism. They felt like Capitalism was helping the wealth gap grow even further, so they attempted to make everything more equal using socialism. This is pretty interesting to me because a little of both Capitalism and Socialism are still present today.
ReplyDeletemy topic is britsh parliament. up until the 18th century, britain was composed of a house of parliament and the head soverign (basically the king or queen of the time period). at the begginig of the 19th century parliament elected a prime minister, to help shift the power from the king into a place where it could be equally distributed, among the people. the knew prime minister (robert walpole) did everything he could to make sure that the two houses in parliament (the house of lords and the house of commons) had a fair say in what went on in the government, even though it was ruled over by the prime minister. i geuss british parliamen was a mixture of capatalism, and liberalism!
ReplyDeletehey Yingy,
ReplyDeleteMy topic is Independent Latin America, although are topics are totally different I have found a few ways they connect. Some of the reasons why the people in Latin America decided to fight back against the Spanish government/Spain was because of the restrictions in economy, which is similar to what you studied. On your blog you wrote "Free trade took the power of trade away from the leaders of countries and put it into the hands of the people actually creating and buying the goods." My topic took place in 1810-1830 which was after your topic. What happened in Latin America was exactly opposite for the countries that were ruled by Spain, because they were forbidden to trade with foreigners. So although, trading gave them personal power the government found a way to gain it back. Your topic might have helped Latin America realize that they needed their rights. that last sentence is probably not true, but I will keep it in anyway. Well hopefully what I wrote makes sense.
bye bye,
ravenna
my web site is :
http://inlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2007/01/independent-latin-america.html
Howdy!
ReplyDeleteMy topic is Napoleon, who was born shortly after all of this went down. This effected him because had it not been introduced, King Louis VI might not have ever been overthrown, Napoleon wouldn't have gained power, and his conquers would never have happened. The group of directors that came after Louis VI based their power on equality; making everyone feel equal.
My site is fwenchtwee.blogspot.com
Enjoy!
-Zipply
Hey Ying a Ding Ding,
ReplyDeleteMy topic is The Telegraph. Our topics dont relate in any big ways both of ours have equality involved. Your topic had a lot to do with free trade and free market and both of these invlove equality. The free market has low and affordable prices which helps get people who are not rich get what they want to buy. The telegraph used equallity because it delivered messages and news equaly. Just because some one was poor didnt mean that they couldnt get news like everyone else.
-ginny