Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: The early teaching of economics in the United States / Edwin R.A. Seligman

Collection:: Economics Books

THE EARLY TEACHING OF ECONOMICS IN THE UNITED STATES 299 Madison was professor of moral philosophy and that this term probably included political economy. This may or may not have been true of William and Mary College in 1784. But what 1s certain is that chairs of moral philosophy were found at the time in many of the American institutions. There is, accordingly, just as much or as little justification for the assertion that political economy was taught at William and Mary as would be a similar assertion in the case of any other American college. Moreover, there is no foundation for the statement that because moral philosophy included political economy, the latter subject was first taught in William and Mary College. Moral philosophy was taught in Kings College (Columbia) in 1763; so that if political economy was included in moral philosophy, it is Columbia Col- lege, and not William and Mary, to which the honor must be ascribed. As to whether moral philosophy was taught before [763 in any other American college we have unfortunately been unable to ascertain. So far, therefore, as the alleged facts of Mr. Tyler are con- cerned, there is no proof that political economy was taught at William and Mary in the eighteenth century or at a period earlier than at any other American college. In this connection it will be interesting to quote from a letter of Mr. Chandler, the president of William and Mary, who was good enough to verify the above statements and to institute a careful investigation of his own. His conclusions were embodied in a letter to the present writer. He writes as follows: “Unfor- tunately there is a gap in our faculty minute books from 1784 to 1817, the period under discussion. This volume has been lost for many years. Our faculty minutes are complete from 1729 to 1784. I have had a careful examination made of the minutes from 1775 to 1784. 1 do not find the phrase political economy used in the titles of any of the professors in that time nor do I find any reference to a course in political economy by that name.” President Chandler then goes on to discuss the statutes of 1792, where a detailed statement is made of all the topics with which a student must be acquainted in order to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In this list there are included the subjects of Natural Law, Laws of Nations, and the general Principles of Politics. President Chandler adds significantly: “You will observe that no mention is made of political economy.”

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