Commerce and its Discontents in Eighteenth-Century French Political Thought [Paperback]

This book uncovers the ambivalence towards commerce in eighteenth-century France, questioning the assumption that commerce was widely celebrated in the era of Adam Smith.The roots of modern commerce and the origins of economics are usually traced to Adam Smith and his alleged celebration of free trade. Questioning this conventional story, Anoush Fraser Terjanian uncovers ambivalence towards commerce in eighteenth-century France. Through careful analysis of the Enlightenment's best-selling history of comparative empires, the History of the Two Indies (1780), her study offers a new perspective on the connections between political economy, imperialism, and the Enlightenment.The roots of modern commerce and the origins of economics are usually traced to Adam Smith and his alleged celebration of free trade. Questioning this conventional story, Anoush Fraser Terjanian uncovers ambivalence towards commerce in eighteenth-century France. Through careful analysis of the Enlightenment's best-selling history of comparative empires, the History of the Two Indies (1780), her study offers a new perspective on the connections between political economy, imperialism, and the Enlightenment.Histories of economics tend to portray attitudes towards commerce in the era of Adam Smith as celebrating what is termed doux commerce , that is, sweet or gentle commerce. Commerce and Its Discontents in Eighteenth-Century French Political Thought proposes that reliance on this doux commerce thesis has obscured our comprehension of the theory and experience of commerce in Enlightenment Europe. Instead, it uncovers ambivalence towards commerce in eighteenth-century France, distinguished by an awareness of its limits  slavery, piracy, and monopoly. Through a careful analysis of the Histoire des deux Indes (1780), the Enlightenments bestselling history of comparative empires, Anoush Fraser Terjanian offers a new perspective on the connections between political economy, imperialism, andl1