# Great Britain — The Wealth of Nations character guide

> Great Britain in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** its, Its, herself, it

**First appearance:** 0001-introduction-and-plan-of-the-work

## Snapshot

The nation-state as Smith's central patient, a commercial power whose laws, taxes, and colonial ambitions he diagnoses with clinical precision.

## Who they are

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 traces how authority and subordination first arose among shepherds, then follows that thread into the modern state, where the sovereign's third duty — public works too unprofitable for any individual — becomes the test of good government. The tension is between Britain's actual prosperity and its self-inflicted wounds, and Smith's argument for free trade is, at bottom, an argument about what Britain could become.

## In the story

### [IX: Of the Profits of Stock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ix-of-the-profits-of-stock)

Mentioned regarding capital stock not being diminished by the late war.

### [V: Of the Different Employment of Capitals](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/v-of-the-different-employment-of-capitals)

Mentioned as the home of merchants who finance American trade and as a country with insufficient capital to fully develop all its lands and manufactures.

### [I: Of the Natural Progress of Opulence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-natural-progress-of-opulence)

Mentioned implicitly as part of the European states where the natural order has been inverted.

### [Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, After the Fall of the Roman Empire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iii-of-the-rise-and-progress-of-cities-and-towns-after-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire)

Referenced as an example where sovereign authority was never destroyed, limiting city independence.

### [II: Of Restraints Upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced at Home](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-of-restraints-upon-the-importation-from-foreign-countries-of-such-goods-as-can-be-produced-at-home)

The nation whose commercial regulations, such as the Navigation Acts, are discussed as examples of trade policy.

### [Chapter III: Of the Extraordinary Restraints Upon the Importation of Goods of Almost All Kinds, from Those Countries with Which the Balance Is Supposed to Be Disadvantageous](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iii-of-the-extraordinary-restraints-upon-the-importation-of-goods-of-almost-all-kinds-from-those-countries-with-which-the-balance-is-supposed-to-be-disadvantageous)

Discussed as a trading partner with France and the American colonies, subject to mercantile restraints.

### [I: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Restraints Even Upon the Principles of the Commercial System](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-unreasonableness-of-those-restraints-even-upon-the-principles-of-the-commercial-system)

Subject of trade restraints and exchange analysis with France and Holland.

### [II: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Extraordinary Restraints Upon Other Principles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-of-the-unreasonableness-of-those-extraordinary-restraints-upon-other-principles)

Discussed as a nation whose trade with France would be highly advantageous if not for mercantile jealousy and restraints.

### [Of Drawbacks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iv-of-drawbacks)

The nation whose customs and drawback policies are analyzed.

### [Digression Concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/digression-concerning-the-corn-trade-and-corn-laws)

Mentioned as having frequently resorted to temporary laws prohibiting export and reducing import duties, showing the impropriety of its general system.

### [VI: Of Treaties of Commerce](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/vi-of-treaties-of-commerce)

The favoring country in the Methuen Treaty, bound to admit Portuguese wines at reduced duties, and subject to Smith's analysis of trade disadvantages.

### [Of Colonies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/vii-of-colonies)

Discussed as a nation whose colony trade, despite monopoly, has benefited from general liberty of trade and impartial justice.

### [Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-motives-for-establishing-new-colonies)

Great Britain is referenced through its early English settlers in North America, who offered a fifth of gold and silver to the crown and sought a northwest passage, but were disappointed.

### [II: Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-causes-of-the-prosperity-of-new-colonies)

Mentioned as the mother country that defends its colonies at its own expense, allowing them low taxes and self-governance.

### [III: Of the Advantages Which Europe Has Derived from the Discovery of America, and from That of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iii-of-the-advantages-which-europe-has-derived-from-the-discovery-of-america-and-from-that-of-a-passage-to-the-east-indies-by-the-cape-of-good-hope)

The mother country whose dominion over the colonies is maintained primarily to support the monopoly of trade, at great expense and with little revenue or military benefit.

### [VIII: Conclusion of the Mercantile System](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/viii-conclusion-of-the-mercantile-system)

The nation whose mercantile policies and colonial empire are critiqued.

### [I: Of the Expenses of the Sovereign or Commonwealth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-expenses-of-the-sovereign-or-commonwealth)

Implied as the sovereign power that lent money to the East India Company and attempted to regulate its affairs through parliamentary resolutions.

### [III: Of the Expense of Public Works and Public Institutions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iii-of-the-expense-of-public-works-and-public-institutions)

Mentioned in context of the justices of the peace and the six days labour for highway reparation.

### [Article I: Of the Public Works and Institutions for Facilitating the Commerce of the Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/article-i-of-the-public-works-and-institutions-for-facilitating-the-commerce-of-the-society)

Mentioned in context of trade with Africa and the management of forts and garrisons.

### [II: Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-of-the-sources-of-the-general-or-public-revenue-of-the-society)

Discussed as a potential manager of a public bank, with skepticism about its fiscal prudence.

### [I: Of the Funds or Sources of Revenue Which May Peculiarly Belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-funds-or-sources-of-revenue-which-may-peculiarly-belong-to-the-sovereign-or-commonwealth)

Mentioned as an example of a state considering public bank management and as a modern monarchy with large public revenue needs.

### [Taxes Upon Rent; Taxes Upon the Rent of Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-upon-rent-taxes-upon-the-rent-of-land)

Example of a country with a fixed land-tax valuation system.

### [Taxes Which Are Proportioned, Not to the Rent, but to the Produce of Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-which-are-proportioned-not-to-the-rent-but-to-the-produce-of-land)

Referenced in context of the English land-tax and the statute regarding madder cultivation.

### [Taxes Upon the Rent of Houses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-upon-the-rent-of-houses)

Discussed in the context of the annual land-tax and historical house taxes like hearth-money and window taxes.

### [Article II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/article-ii)

Mentioned in context of the land-tax system and recent tax on men servants.

### [Taxes Upon the Profit of Particular Employments](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-upon-the-profit-of-particular-employments)

Mentioned as the country imposing taxes on hawkers, pedlars, hackney coaches, chairs, and alehouse licenses, and later a tax on men servants.

### [Appendix to Articles I and II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/appendix-to-articles-i-and-ii)

Discussed in context of stamp duties and registration fees.

### [Article IV: Taxes Which, It Is Intended, Should Fall Indifferently Upon Every Different Species of Revenue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/article-iv-taxes-which-it-is-intended-should-fall-indifferently-upon-every-different-species-of-revenue)

Mentioned as the country where taxes on necessaries like salt, leather, soap, and candles are imposed, and where manufacturing is concentrated in coal regions due to fuel costs.

### [Taxes Upon Consumable Commodities](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-upon-consumable-commodities)

Discussed in the context of its customs and excise duties, including the administrative costs and revenue from these taxes.

### [Of Public Debts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/iii-of-public-debts)

Discussed as a commercial state that supports a large debt and has used coin debasement to disguise bankruptcy.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/great_britain
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters