Josiah Tucker

author

Josiah Tucker

1712–1799

A sharp, outspoken 18th-century churchman, he became known for bold arguments about trade, politics, and the future of the British Empire. His writing stands out for backing freer commerce and, unusually for his time, arguing that Britain should let the American colonies go.

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 in 1712, Josiah Tucker was educated at St John's College, Oxford, and built his career in the Church of England. He served in Bristol before becoming Dean of Gloucester in 1758, a post he held for decades.

Tucker is remembered less for sermons than for his energetic pamphlets on economics and politics. He wrote in favor of freer trade, took an interest in questions such as the status of Jews in Britain, and became one of the best-known public voices arguing that the American colonies should separate from Britain rather than remain tied to it by force.

Because he wrote clearly and argued fiercely, Tucker became part of the wider conversation that shaped early modern economic thought. Readers often meet him as a lively precursor to later free-trade thinkers and as a vivid example of how religion, politics, and economics could mix in the 18th century.