Introduction: Reconstructing political economy

1. Smith's politics reconsidered. The problem of Smith's politics

Reading Adam Smith

Philosophy, politics, and the genesis of Smith's political economy

Smith's constitutionalism

The spirit of system

Natural justice and politics

The horizon of progress

Conclusion. 2. The political economy of progress. Political economy and statesmanship in the Wealth of Nations

The very important science of political economy

The natural progress of opulence

Political economy, considered as a branch of the science of a legislator

The Smithian legislator and North America. 3. Hamilton and the foundation of the commercial republic. Hamilton and the "new school" of political economy

The political economy of a large republic

Finance

Trade and industry

Hamilton's commercial republicanism. Conclusion: political economy and statesmanship.