Adam Smith: Human Commodity?!

[Mike Ellis]

Ran across this the other day and dimly remembered it from past readings, but with all the free market labor foofaraw I thought it was pretty funny. Had the bounty hunters not found him, he would have been sent off in a ship like the others kidnapped by gypsies of the time, and relegated to a life of miserable slavery in the Caribbean ala "Captain Blood" - just another commodity making up the Wealth of Nations

All Americans should be very, very thankful that the gypsies weren't successful, because Smith was key to our destiny.

The Writings of Adam Smith | The Foundation for Economic Education: The Freeman, Ideas on Liberty

Early Life
Adam Smith was born in 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, the posthumous son (by a second marriage) of Adam Smith, comptroller of customs, and Margaret Douglas. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on June 5, 1723, and this date is often mistakenly taken as his birth-date. Little is known about his childhood, except that at the age of 4 he was kidnapped by a band of Gypsies, though prompt action by his uncle soon effected his rescue. “He would have made, I fear, a poor Gypsy,” commented John Rae, his main biographer. Apart from this incident, Smith’s life was singularly quiet and uneventful, and his story is essentially that of his studies and his books.