ABSTRACT
Free trade was rooted in the then new school of classical liberalism of England and France. Nationalist thought drew on the ancient practices of mercantilism enlivened by insights from contemporary American and German thinkers, though all nations had adherents of both doctrines. Trade on a world scale had been conducted for several centuries by the time the liberals came on the scene. It was a new world order that the liberals desired. Free trade was merely a means to that end. In the short-run, Spain could consume but it could not produce which, in the long-run, proved fatal to its standing as a great power and as an advanced society. To the classical liberals, the rise and fall of nations and the profound impact of such changes on the lives of ordinary people are of little interest. Every great nation has engaged in trade; but those that have benefitted have used trade to enhance the strength of their own economy.
