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Pelatiah Webster, 1726-1795.
American clergyman, Philadelphia merchant and early economist and political theorist
Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Pelataiah Webster studied theology at
Yale, graduating in 1746 and was
ordained a Congregationalist minister in 1749. After a period as a
preacher in Greenwich, Massachusetts, Webster moved to Philadelphia in
1755, to take up the career as merchant ("as a matter of necessity
rather than inclination"). He amassed a small fortune, while also
teaching at an academy in nearby Germantown.
Pelatiah Webster was a keen supporter of the American Revolution of
1776. Webster was arrested and imprisoned twice by the British
authorities - in 1777 and again in 1778.
Webster one of the earliest commentators on the fiscal conduct and
economic consequences of the American revolution. In October 1776, the
middle-aged Webster wrote his first economics tract, an article in the
Philadelphia newspaper, warning of the dangers of the
unbacked paper currency issued by the Continental Congress. To fend off the
prospects of inflation. Webster urged the introduction of a national tax
to siphon off excess Continental notes. He continued writing as the war
progressed. Starting in July 1779, Webster published seven pamphlets
under the generic title of Free Trade and Finance. Webster urged
the Continental Congress to rely on taxation, rather than foreign loans
or printing notes, to fund the war. The continental notes were
discontinued in the Spring of 1781.
Seeing the disparate Confederation as politically inadequate for fiscal
purposes, Webster urged greater union, and became an early advocate of
the federalist cause. In February 1783, Webster published his political
Dissertation calling for the establishment of a new federal
constitution, outlining a bicameral legislature and an independent
federal judiciary. As a result, some historians have taken to
calling Pelatiah Webster the "Architect of the Constitution".
Although there is no good evidence that the Constitutional congress of
1787 took his model as a blueprint, his Dissertation was
reportedly influential on James Madison. Webster agitated in favor
the 1787 Constitution against critics in Pennsylvania.
Pelatiah Webster was active during the bank debate of 1785-86. West Pennsylvania farmers, in a bid to obtain easier credit, got the Pennsylvania assembly to vote for the issue of paper money in March 1785. They followed this up with a repeal the charter of the Bank of North America (f.1781) in September 1785, blaming the bank for the scarcity of money and fuming against its de facto monopoly. The Philadelphia merchant community cried foul, and Webster joined Robert Morris, Thomas Paine and others in denouncing paper money, defending the bank and agitating for a revival of the bank charter, arguing point-for-point against the bank's critics. The effort eventually succeeded, and the Bank of NA's charter was revived in March, 1787, just before the constitutional convention.
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