Scottish Enlightenment and Franklin and Jefferson

I came across this short piece on some connections between Adam Smith, David Hume, and the American founders.

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Hume writing to Benjamin Franklin in 1762: “I am sure America has sent us many good things; gold, silver, sugar, tobacco, indigo, etc., but you are the first philosopher, and indeed the first great man of letters for whom we are beholden to her.”

Thomas Jefferson on Adam Smith’s work: “In political economy, I think Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ the best book extant.”

Does anyone know of a systematic treatment of the intellectual connections between the Scottish Enlightenment and the American founders? There is this book by Robert Galvin. Other recommendations?

[Update: David Shellenberger sent me this link on Thomas Jefferson’s copy of Smith’s Wealth of Nations.]

3 thoughts on “Scottish Enlightenment and Franklin and Jefferson”

  1. ~Scotland and America in the Age of Enlightenment~ its a collection of essays edited by Richard Sher and Jeffery Smitten

  2. Not without interest : Einstein acknowledged Hume as his major philosophical influence.

    Go, Al, go!

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