Josiah Tucker

author

Josiah Tucker

1712–1799

A Welsh clergyman with a sharp eye for politics and trade, he became one of the eighteenth century’s most outspoken defenders of free trade and a surprising early supporter of American independence.

1 Audiobook

An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal to Those Respectable Personages in Great-Britain and Ireland, Who, by Their Great and Permanent Interest in Landed Property, Their Liberal Education, Elevated Rank, and Enlarged Views, Are the Ablest to Judge, and the Fittest to Decide, Whether a Connection with, Or a Separation from the Continental Colonies of America, Be Most for the National Advantage, and the Lasting Benefit of These Kingdoms

An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal to Those Respectable Personages in Great-Britain and Ireland, Who, by Their Great and Permanent Interest in Landed Property, Their Liberal Education, Elevated Rank, and Enlarged Views, Are the Ablest to Judge, and the Fittest to Decide, Whether a Connection with, Or a Separation from the Continental Colonies of America, Be Most for the National Advantage, and the Lasting Benefit of These Kingdoms

by Josiah Tucker

About the author

Born in Wales and educated at St John's College, Oxford, Josiah Tucker built his career in the Church of England, serving in Bristol before becoming Dean of Gloucester. Life in a busy port city helped draw his attention to commerce, public policy, and the way trade shaped everyday life.

He is remembered as both a churchman and a political economist. His writings argued for freer trade, and he also spoke in favor of Jewish naturalization and, unusually for a British writer of his time, accepted that the American colonies were likely better off independent than tied to Britain.

Tucker wrote energetically and often controversially, aiming his work at practical questions rather than abstract theory. That mix of religion, politics, and economics made him a distinctive voice in eighteenth-century Britain and an interesting forerunner to later liberal economic thinkers.