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# Artificer Servant Status

## Definition

The economic and social position of skilled craftsmen who must work for customers to obtain their subsistence, making them dependent servants rather than independent producers. This status contrasts with the independence of agricultural producers who derive their subsistence from their own land and family labour.

## Source Chapter

Book III, Chapter 1

## Context

Smith uses this distinction to explain why artificers in colonies prefer to become planters, demonstrating how economic independence influences occupational choices and shapes patterns of economic development in new territories.

## Economic Domain

General Theory

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