# The Wealth of Nations — Character guide

> Key figures in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

- [Adam Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/adam_smith.md): Smith spent a decade assembling his inquiry into why some nations grow rich while others stagnate, publishing it in 1776 as Britain's American troubles boiled over. He is no dry theorist: he notices that a professor paid
- [The Teacher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_teacher.md): Smith returns again and again to the teacher — sometimes a university master, sometimes a preacher — as a test case for how institutions shape behavior. When teachers live on voluntary contributions from students or hear
- [The Proprietors](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_proprietors.md): The proprietors sit at the top of Smith's agricultural order, collecting a fourth or even a third of the produce while, as he puts it, 'nature does nothing; man does all' — yet the rent flows to those who own rather than
- [The Colonies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_colonies.md): Smith treats the colonies not as a political cause but as a living laboratory: their plantations follow the seacoast and navigable rivers, their inland markets stay thin, and their whole pattern of settlement reveals how
- [Great Britain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/great_britain.md): Britain is the book's implicit protagonist: a country that has grown rich through commerce yet hobbles itself with monopolies, bounties, and a colonial system designed for merchants rather than for the public. Smith trac
- [The Employer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_employer.md): Smith introduces the employer not as a villain but as a structural fact: masters are fewer, better organized, and can hold out longer than workmen, so 'combinations' of employers are tacit and durable while workers' comb
- [A Workman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/a_workman.md): The artificer whose workshop is his only harvest: when he marches off to war, nature does nothing for him, and the public must pay his way.
- [The Dutch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_dutch.md): Holland's merchants lend at two percent, trade on thinner profits than anyone in Europe, and still hold the carrying trade of France in their hands.
- [The Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_master.md): The great shepherd whose flocks and lineage command the clan's obedience, making him judge, general, and protector all at once.
- [Columbus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/columbus.md): Explorer whose voyages are cited in colonial context.
- [Bishop Fleetwood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/fleetwood.md): Historical figure cited for wage and price data.
- [The Servants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_servants.md): The dependents who look up to the great herdsman for protection, complaint, and judgment, bound to him by subsistence rather than contract.
- [The Romans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_romans.md): Ancient Roman society used as historical comparison.
- [Servants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/servants.md): Hired hands whose subsistence ties them to a master's household, the human measure of subordination in every stage of society.
- [Mr. Meggens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/mr_meggens.md): Cited authority on trade and prices.
- [The Spaniards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_spaniards.md): Spanish people as colonial and economic example.
- [The Masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_masters.md): The employers whose birth and fortune set them above other men, and whose authority quietly becomes the state's first government.
- [Their Masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/their_masters.md): In Smith's economic drama, masters are the counterpart to workers: the ones who buy labour, own the capital, and decide whether to hire or hold back. Their bargaining advantage is structural, not personal — they can wait
- [Edward I and III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/edward_i_iii.md): English kings cited for historical economic policies.
- [Masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/masters.md): Masters appear throughout Smith's examples as the party who sets terms, advances stock, and decides when to employ. Their interests rarely align neatly with those of their workers, and Smith treats that friction as ordin
- [Charles II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/charles_ii.md): English king cited for economic legislation.
- [The Judges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_judges.md): Judicial figures in discussions of justice and economy.
- [Mr. Kalm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/mr_kalm.md): Traveler cited for observations on colonies.
- [Francis Hutcheson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/francis_hutcheson.md): Philosopher and teacher of Adam Smith.
- [Queen Elizabeth I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/elizabeth_i.md): English queen cited for economic policies.
- [Their Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/their_master.md): Where 'masters' are a class, 'their master' is the particular man a labourer answers to — the one who pays, directs, and can dismiss. Smith uses this figure to show how personal dependence and market forces intertwine in
- [William III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/william_iii.md): English king cited for financial reforms.
- [The Servants of the Company](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_servants_of_the_company.md): Employees of trading companies in colonial context.
- [Isocrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/isocrates.md): Ancient Greek orator cited for economic observations.
- [The Europeans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_europeans.md): European peoples as collective economic actors.
- [The Portuguese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_portuguese.md): Portuguese people as colonial and trade example.
- [Henry VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/henry_viii.md): English king cited for economic and religious policies.
- [Don Antoine de Ulloa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/ulloa.md): Spanish explorer and writer cited on South America.
- [Their Servants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/their_servants.md): Servants occupy a peculiar place in Smith's scheme: their work is real, often necessary, and yet unproductive in his technical sense because it fixes itself in no lasting commodity. They are maintained out of the annual 
- [Those Officers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/those_officers.md): Generic officials in administrative examples.
- [Holland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/holland.md): Dutch province as economic model.
- [David Hume](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/david_hume.md): Philosopher and friend of Smith, cited on economics.
- [Gregory King](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/gregory_king.md): Statistician cited for population and economic data.
- [His Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/his_master.md): In Smith's illustrative cases, 'his master' stands for the particular man whose interest and temper shape a worker's prospects. He is neither villain nor benefactor by default — just the party on the other side of the wa
- [Dugald Stewart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/dugald_stewart.md): Philosopher and biographer of Adam Smith.
- [Columella](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/columella.md): Roman writer on agriculture cited for economic data.
- [The Greeks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_greeks.md): Ancient Greek society as historical comparison.
- [All Servants and Labourers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/all_servants_and_labourers.md): Smith gathers servants, soldiers, lawyers, musicians, and labourers into one sweeping category to make a hard analytical point: not all work is productive in the sense of replacing and augmenting capital. Their maintenan
- [A Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/a_master.md): He never speaks, never appears, yet his decisions ripple through Smith's examples of how labor is hired, divided, and paid. The tension is structural: he wants profit, his workers want subsistence, and the bargain betwee
- [Officers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/officers.md): Generic officials in administrative contexts.
- [The French](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_french.md): French people as economic and political example.
- [Aristotle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/aristotle.md): Ancient Greek philosopher cited on economics.
- [Mr. Duprè de St. Maur](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/dupre_de_st_maur.md): French author cited on population and prices.
- [Menial Servants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/menial_servants.md): They keep the household running but leave nothing behind that can be sold or reinvested, which makes them Smith's sharpest illustration of what a nation's stock actually grows on. Their dependence on a master's purse exp
- [Those Masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/those_masters.md): They appear as a class rather than as individuals, coordinating quietly while their workers scatter and struggle to combine. Smith notes their superior staying power, their ability to hold out longer in any dispute, and 
- [Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/plato.md): Ancient Greek philosopher cited on economics.
- [Silver](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/silver.md): Precious metal personified in value discussions.
- [The Tartars](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_tartars.md): Nomadic peoples as historical economic example.
- [Sir Matthew Decker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/sir_matthew_decker.md): Merchant and writer on trade cited by Smith.
- [Common Servants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/common_servants.md): They are the baseline case, the workers whose pay reflects nothing but the going rate for unskilled hands. Their situation dramatizes the gap between what keeps a laborer alive and what lets him raise a family, a gap Smi
- [John Locke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/john_locke.md): Philosopher cited on property and value.
- [George II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/george_ii.md): British king cited for economic legislation.
- [The Chinese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/the_chinese.md): Chinese people as economic comparison.
- [Sir Josiah Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/sir_josiah_child.md): Merchant and writer on trade cited by Smith.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters