This chapter further illustrates the split between American and British liberal political economy by analyzing the antebellum treatment of Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo. Important distinctions are shown between American liberals on population, and theories of rent and wages. American exceptionalism was the primary intellectual impetus behind liberal America’s apostasy from British classicism. This chapter showcases the various forms of laissez-faire ideology that circulated in the domestic discourse, with special attention paid to, among others, J. D. B. De Bow, George Tucker, Henry Vethake, Jacob Cardozo, and Thomas Dew. American exceptionalism, combined with the influence of regional social, political, economic and cultural attitudes, shaped Americans’ understanding of British liberalism.