Four Letters on Important National Subjects, Addressed to the Right Honourable The Earl of Shelburne, His Majesty's First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.

TUCKER, Josiah.

Published by Gloucester: Printed by R. Raikes. For T. Cadell, London, 1783

About this Item

First edition of the author's tract advocating that Britain should allow the American colonies to secede on economic grounds. Josiah Tucker (1713-1799), economist, political writer, and Dean of Gloucester, furthers his contention that growing American self-interest would make any further participation in the British Empire impossible, and that, moreover, both parties stood to gain more as independent trading partners than as members of the same union. As H. T. Dickinson notes, Adam Smith himself was reluctantly forced to accept Tucker's analysis in the Wealth of Nations (Dickinson, p. 9). Tucker, who had criticised the long-term consequences of Britain's control of the American colonies as early as 1754, is now "increasingly recognized as an important and original eighteenth-century theorist" (ODNB). Adams 82-92a; Sabin 97343. H. T. Dickinson, "The Failure of Conciliation: Britain and the American Colonies 1763-1783," The Kyoto Economic Review, vol. 79, no. 2, Dec. 2010. Octavo (194 x 123 mm). Bound with half-title. Modern brown quarter calf, smooth spine ruled and with red morocco label in gilt, marbled paper sides. Very light rubbing and foxing: a very good copy.

Seller Inventory # 170090

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Four Letters on Important National Subjects, Addressed to the Right Honourable The Earl of Shelburne, His Majesty's First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.
• Publisher: Gloucester: Printed by R. Raikes. For T. Cadell, London, 1783
• Edition: 1st Edition