# Commercial Order and Government Introduction ## Definition The gradual process by which commerce and manufactures introduce regular government, individual liberty and security to rural areas that previously experienced continual war with neighbours and servile dependency on superiors, representing the most important but least observed effect of commercial development. ## Source Chapter Book III, Chapter 4 ## Context Smith's third mechanism for rural improvement, arguing that commercial society fundamentally transforms social relations by giving landowners something to exchange their surplus produce for, breaking their dependence on retainers and allowing the establishment of regular government and individual rights. ## Economic Domain Regulation ---