George Tucker letter

George Tucker (1775-1861), lawyer, was an American political economist and author. He served in the Virginia State Legislature and was elected to Congress as a Democrat from 1819-1825. He was appointed by Thomas Jefferson to be Professor of Moral Philosphy at the University of Virginia in 1825 and remained there until he resigned in 1845. In 1827 he wrote "A Voyage to the Moon," considered by some to be the first American work of science fiction. George Tucker was a friend and contemporary of James Madison. He was a conservative and an adherent of classical French and English economic theory. He was impressed with Malthus' principle of population and used it to predict the extinction of slavery, although his opposition to slavery was never outspoken. As a professor, he insisted that economic scholarship should lead to recommendations for public policy. His more important writings were in economics. He published "The Laws of Wages, Profits and Rent Investigated" and "Life of Thomas Jefferson" in 1837, "The Theory of Money and Banks Investigated" in 1839, and "Political Economy for the People" in 1859, and other works. Sources: McLean, Robert Colin. George Tucker: Moral Philosopher and Man of Letters. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961; Snavely, Tipton Ray. George Tucker as Political Economist. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1964.