The pursuit of self-interest could lead to good results if selves were good.
How, then, to promote social virtues that rationality could rely upon? The American Revolution showed that even a stable democracy could enforce slavery. The French Revolution showed that social conflict could topple into terror and imperial aggression.
The British, looking first to their former colony and then across the channel to their closest neighbor, had reason to worry. Trade and commerce had expanded, putting the wealth of nations easily within their reach. Yet the governance of nations—and of families— began to seem more difficult. Confronting these problems, some urged the benefits of tradition, a return to—or at least a more concerted defense of what remained of—the patriarchal order. Religious doctrine and inherited authority could help stabilize the market economy. The most energetic and eloquent proponent of this conservative approach was Edmund Burke. By contrast, radicals urged the need to end inherited privilege. William Godwin took this stand, as did his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, who directly challenged gender inequality. Jeremy Bentham planted the banner of liberal individualism firmly in the imaginary towers of a welfare state, arguing that individuals should subordinate themselves not to some mystical Common Good, but to the carefully calculated greater happiness of the greater number.