A Treatise on Political Economy.

New York: published for the Proprietor, by G. P. Putnam,, 1851. American political economy First edition, an attempt to make a distinctly American system of economic theory, arguing for paper money, free trade, and the end of slavery. George Opdyke (1805-1880) was the son of a farmer and had only a rudimentary education. He became a clothing manufacturer, textile importer and leading figure in the Chamber of Commerce, and by 1853 was a millionaire. He closely studied the works of Jefferson, Bentham, Comte, and John Stuart Mill. The latter's 1848 Principles of Political Economy, setting forth the economic principles of the classic period in England, especially enthused him, but Opdyke deemed the principles inapplicable to the American experience. "Mill's book, he said, like other scientific works on economics, is the product of a mind reared and educated under political institutions different from those of America. Opdyke aimed to supply a work suitable for America's republican institutions" (Dorfman, p. 755). His financial proposals were remarkably novel. "Commercial crises, he held, would be avoided if the bank notes were suppressed and government instead issued an inconvertible non-interest-bearing currency amounting at all times to ten times the population. Taxes would be less, but the primary objective was stability of price" (ibid., p. 757). Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, publisher's device in blind to covers. Slight staining at foot of rear cover, minor soiling to cloth, some wear at extremities, light finger-soiling and foxing to contents. A good copy. Joseph Dorfman, The Economic Mind in American Civilization, vol. II, 1946.