Scottish philosopher Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, systematically articulating principles of free markets, division of labor, and limited government intervention. This foundational text of classical economics provided intellectual justification for industrial capitalism and challenged mercantilist doctrines dominating European policy. Smith's vision of self-regulating markets reshaped political discourse about prosperity, justice, and human motivation.

Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Blake reacted against Smith's rationalist economics, emphasizing emotional bonds and spiritual values that market logic excluded. Blake's Jerusalem explicitly critiques 'dark Satanic Mills' and utilitarian calculation as enemies of imaginative freedom. Victorian poets later engaged Smithian ideas more sympathetically, exploring tensions between individual ambition and social welfare in industrial society.