James Madison Papers
Documents filtered by: Period="post-Madison Presidency"
sorted by: author
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-04-02-0283

To James Madison from George Tucker, 19 February 1827

From George Tucker

University. Feb. 19. 1827

Dear Sir,

I at length return you Dr. Cooper’s new work with many thanks for your goodness in giving me so early an opportunity of seeing it, & not without some self-reproach for keeping it so long.1 A wish however to give it a close examination tempted me thus to abuse the permission you gave me. It is a good introduction to the study of political economy. The doctrines are at once liberal & sound, and the style easy, clear & forcible. It is however often careless, and the work is not free from inaccuracies of more importance. I have concluded upon the whole that Say’s pol: econ:2 would be the best text book, & I understand that it is the one they use at Harvard. You will perceive that Dr. Cooper thinks as I do of Mc.Culloch’s doctrine of absenteeism.3 The new regulations of the Visitors seem to work very well so far. The Equal distribution of the students has given the most trouble, but even that has as yet presented no serious difficulty. The number I believe is now about 110, & it will probably not reach 20 more this Session. I am with the highest respect, Sir, Your obedt. Sert.

George Tucker

RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

2Jean-Baptiste Say, Traité d’économie politique, ou simple exposition de la manière dont se ferment, se distribuent, et se consomment les richesses (2 vols.; Paris, 1803).

3“Absenteeism” was the term given to situations in which a large number of landlords were temporarily or permanently absent from their properties, as in Ireland. One economic argument against absenteeism was that it caused a drain of specie, thus negatively impacting the balance of trade. J. R. McCulloch argued before a select committee of Parliament in 1825 “that it made no difference to the Irish economy where the landlord spent his rental income” because trade would be balanced by lower prices and increased exports (Joel Mokyr, Why Ireland Starved: A Quantitative and Analytical History of the Irish Economy, 1800–1850 [London, 1983], 198). Thomas Cooper opposed McCulloch by noting that money taken from Ireland to support absentee landlords in France had a rippling effect in France: “Riches beget expenditure; expenditure begets employment; employment, wages; wages, subsistence; subsistence is the parent of future, and the support of present population” (Cooper, description begins Gayle Cooper, comp., A Checklist of American Imprints for 1830–39 (Metuchen, N.J., 1972–88). description ends Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy [Shoemaker description begins Richard H. Shoemaker, comp., A Checklist of American Imprints for 1820–1829 (11 vols.; New York, 1964–72). description ends 24218], 124).

Index Entries