Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T00:23:11.865Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Malthus' Essay on Population and the American Debate over Slavery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2009

Dennis Hodgson
Dennis Hodgson
Affiliation:
Sociology and Anthropology, Fairfield University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Malthus published his Essay on Population in 1798 and for the next century, as the new discipline of political economy incorporated his thought into its central tenets, population theorizing took place largely within a Malthusian framework. A stark simplicity marks his argument, especially as presented in the succinct first edition of the essay. He presents the reader with two self-evident natural laws: “that food is necessary to the existence of man,” and “that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state” (1798: 11). He then observes, “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man” (13), and contends that population, when unchecked, increases in a “geometrical ratio” while subsistence in only an “arithmetical ratio” (14). In this first edition, Malthus had the particular ideological goal of proving that “the advocates of equality and of the perfectibility of man” had an unattainable dream. Mr. Godwin could imagine a British Isle where all are equal, live in “airy” farmhouses, share “the necessary labours of agriculture” (182), and divide its fruits “according to their wants,” Malthus observed, but such a regime places no barrier to early marriage and large families. He calculated that in a hundred years the Isle's seven million people “would be one hundred and twelve millions, and the food only sufficient for thirty-five millions, leaving seventy-seven millions unprovided for” (23–24). Since “no possible form of society could prevent the almost constant action of misery upon a great part of mankind” (36), constructing a society of equals only ensures a society in which all will be poor. Any attempt to improve the conditions of the impoverished by granting them access to subsistence, such as the poor laws then in effect in England, simply works “in some measure to create the poor which they maintain” since they permit the poor man to “marry with little or no prospect of being able to support a family in independence” (83).

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 742 - 770
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Colonization Society. 1824. Seventh Annual Report of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour. Washington, D.C.: Davis and Force.Google Scholar
American Colonization Society. 1827. Tenth Annual Report of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour. Washington, D.C.: Way & Gideon.Google Scholar
Barbour, Philip. 1820 [1855]. 16th Congress, 1st Session, 9 Feb., cols. 2054–80. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Bay, Mia. 2000. The White Image in the Black Mind: African-American Ideas about White People, 1830–1925. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brugger, Robert J. 1996. Maryland, a Middle Temperament: 1634–1980. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Burke, Martin J. 1995. The Conundrum of Class: Public Discourse on the Social Order in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bushnell, Horace. 1839. A Discourse on the Slavery Question. Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Co.Google Scholar
Bushnell, Horace. 1860. The Census and Slavery. Hartford: Lucius E. Hunt.Google Scholar
Cady, George Johnson. 1931. The Early American Reaction to the Theory of Malthus. Journal of Political Economy 39, 5 (Oct.): 601–32.Google Scholar
Carey, Henry Charles. 1840. Principles of Political Economy, Part the Third. Philadelphia: Leas & Blanchard.Google Scholar
Carey, Henry Charles. 1860. Principles of Social Science. Vol. III. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.Google Scholar
Carey, Mathew. 1815. The Olive Branch: Or, Faults on Both Sides, Federal and Democratic. A Serious Appeal on the Necessity of Mutual Forgiveness and Harmony. 6th ed., enlarged. Philadelphia: M. Carey.Google Scholar
Carey, Mathew. 1828. Letter from Mathew Carey. The African Repository and Colonial Journal 4, 9 (Nov.): 270–72.Google Scholar
Carey, Mathew. 1830. Miscellaneous Essays. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart.Google Scholar
Carlander, Jay R. and Brownlee, W. Elliot. 2006. Antebellum Southern Political Economists and the Problem of Slavery. American Nineteenth Century History 7, 3 (Sept.): 389–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chickering, Jesse. 1853. The White, Free-Colored, and Slave Population of the United States. DeBow's Review 15 (Aug.): 129–43.Google Scholar
Clay, Henry. 1827. Address by Henry Clay. The African Repository and Colonial Journal 2, 11 (Jan.): 334–45.Google Scholar
Cocks, Edmond. 1967. The Malthusian Theory in Pre-Civil War America. Population Studies 20, 3: 343–63.Google ScholarPubMed
Conkin, Paul K. 1980. Prophets of Prosperity: America's First Political Economists. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, Thomas. 1835. Slavery. Southern Literary Journal 1, 3: 188–93.Google Scholar
Cornish, Samuel and Wright, Theodore. 1840. The Colonization Scheme Considered. Newark, N.J.: Aaron Guest.Google Scholar
DeBow, James Dunwoody Brownson. 1851. Population of the States, 1850—Contrast of the North and the South. DeBow's Review 10 (Mar.): 361–62.Google Scholar
Dew, Thomas Roderick. 1832. Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832. Richmond: T. W. White.Google Scholar
Dew, Thomas Roderick. 1836. An Address, on the Influence of the Federative Republican System of Government upon Literature and the Development of Character. Southern Literary Messenger 34 (Mar.): 261–82.Google Scholar
Douglass, Fredrick. 1851. The Free Colored Population. Frederick Douglass' Paper (Rochester, N.Y.), issue 27, 26 June.Google Scholar
Drescher, Seymour. 2002. The Mighty Experiment: Free Labor versus Slavery in British Emancipation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ely, Richard Theodore, Thomas Sewall Adams, Max Otto Lorenz, and Young, Allyn Abbott. 1919. Outlines of Economics. 3d ed.New York: Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Emancipator. 1839. Great Anti-Colonization Meeting in New York. 17 Jan. (issue 38): 152, column F.Google Scholar
Everett, Alexander Hill. 1823. New Ideas on Population: With Remarks on the Theories of Malthus and Godwin. Boston: Oliver Everett (press of North American Review).Google Scholar
Everett, Alexander Hill. 1827. Review of two books by J. R. M'Culloch: The Principles of Political Economy, with a Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Science (1825); and An Essay on the Circumstances which Determine the Rate of Wages and the Conditions of the Laboring Class (1826). North American Review 25 (July): 112–53.Google Scholar
Fisher, Ellwood. 1849. The North and the South, Part 1; and Part 2. DeBow's Review 7 (Aug.): 134–45; and (Oct.)” 304–16.Google Scholar
Fitzhugh, George. 1850. Slavery Justified; by a Southerner. Fredericksburg, Va.: Recorder Printing Office.Google Scholar
Fitzhugh, George. 1854. Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society. Richmond: A. Morris.Google Scholar
Fitzhugh, George. 1857. The War Upon Society—Socialism. DeBow's Review 22 (June): 633–36.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert William. 1989. Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Franklin, Benjamin. 1755. Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind. Boston: S. Kneeland.Google Scholar
Fredrickson, George M. 1988. The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism, and Social Inequality. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Frey, Donald E. 2000. The Puritan Roots of Daniel Raymond's Economics. History of Political Economy 32, 3: 607–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrison, William Lloyd. 1832. Thoughts on African Colonization, Part II: Sentiments of the People of Color. Boston: Garrison and Knapp.Google Scholar
Genovese, Eugene D. 1986. Western Civilization through Slaveholding Eyes: The Social and Historical Thought of Thomas Roderick Dew. New Orleans: Graduate School of Tulane University.Google Scholar
Genovese, Eugene D. 1992. The Slaveholders' Dilemma: Freedom and Progress in Southern Conservative Thought, 1820–1860. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Genovese, Eugene D. and Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. 1984. Slavery, Economic Development, and the Law: The Dilemma of the Southern Political Economists, 1800–1860. Washington and Lee Law Review 41, 1: 1–29.Google Scholar
Gibson, James R. Jr. 1989. Americans versus Malthus: The Population Debate in the Early Republic, 1790–1840. New York: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Grayson, William J. 1860. The Dual Form of Labor. DeBow's Review 28, 1 (July): 48–66.Google Scholar
Grimke, Frederick. 1848. The Nature and Tendency of Free Institutions. Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co.Google Scholar
Haller, Mark H. 1963. Eugenics: Hereditarian Attitudes in American Social Thought. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Helper, Hinton Rowan. 1857. The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It. New York: Burdick Brothers.Google Scholar
Hemphill, Joseph. 1820 [1855]. 16th Congress, 1st Session, Feb., cols. 1132–33. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Higham, John. 1963. Strangers in the Land. New York: Atheneum.Google Scholar
Hodgson, Dennis. 1991. Benjamin Franklin on Population: From Policy to Theory. Population and Development Review 17, 4 (Dec.): 639–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, Dennis. 1992. Ideological Currents and the Interpretation of Demographic Trends: The Case of Francis Amasa Walker. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 28, 1 (Jan.): 28–44.Google Scholar
Holmes, George Frederick. 1855. Ancient Slavery, Part 1. DeBow's Review 19, 5 (Nov.): 559–78.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Thomas. 1787 [1955]. Notes on the State of Virginia. William, Peden, ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Thomas. 1804a [1903]. Letter to Jean-Baptiste Say, 1 Feb. In Bergh, A. E., ed., Writings of Jefferson. Vol. 11. Washington, D.C.: Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Thomas. 1804b [1903]. Letter to Joseph Priestley, 29 Jan. InBergh, A. E., ed., Writings of Jefferson. Vol. 10. Washington, D.C.: Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903.Google Scholar
Jordan, Winthrop D. 1968. White over Black: American Attitudes toward the Negro 1550–1812. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Allen. 1982. Capitalism, Slavery, and Republican Values: Antebellum Political Economists, 1819–1848. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Joseph Camp Griffith. 1864. Population of the United States in 1860; Compiled from the Original Returns of the Eighth Census. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Kinshasa, Kwando Mbiassi. 1988. Emigration vs. Assimilation: The Debate in the African American Press, 1827–1861. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Abraham. 1894. Speech in Springfield, Illinois, 26 June 1857. In Nicolay, John G. and Hay, John, eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Lincoln Memorial University, 315–39.Google Scholar
Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population, as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other Writers. London: J. Johnson.Google Scholar
Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1803. An Essay on the Principle of Population. 2d ed.London: J. Johnson.Google Scholar
Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1806. An Essay on the Principle of Population. 3d ed. Vol. 2. London: J. Johnson.Google Scholar
Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1809. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Washington, D.C.: Roger Chew Weightman.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Michael. 1992. Conservative Thought in the Old South: A Review Article. Comparative Studies in Society and History 34, 3 (July): 566–76.Google Scholar
“Parvus Homo.” 1819. Letter to the Editor. Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) 27 May, Issue 1989: col. A.Google Scholar
“R.E.C.” 1858. The Problem of Free Society, I; II; and III. Southern Literary Messenger 26 (June): 401–18; 27 (July): 1–18; and 27 (Aug.): 81–94.Google Scholar
Raymond, Daniel. 1819. The Missouri Question. Baltimore: Schaeffer & Maund, Printers.Google Scholar
Raymond, Daniel. 1820. Thoughts on Political Economy. In Two Parts. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas, Jun'r.Google Scholar
Raymond, Daniel. 1823. Elements of Political Economy. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas, Jun'r and E. J. Coale.Google Scholar
Rush, Benjamin. 1806. Essays: Literary, Moral and Philosophical. 2d ed.Philadelphia: Thomas and William Bradford.Google Scholar
Scott, William. 1819 [1854]. 15th Congress, 2d Session, 15 Feb., cols. 1195–203. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Sergeant, John. 1820 [1855]. 16th Congress, 1st Session, 9 Feb., cols. 1172–218. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Seybert, Adam. 1818. Statistical Annals of the United States of America. Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson and Son.Google Scholar
Silliman, Benjamin. 1832. Some of the Causes of National Anxiety. The African Repository and Colonial Journal 8, 6 (Aug.): 161–86.Google Scholar
Smith, William. 1820 [1855]. 16th Congress, 1st Session, 26 Jan., cols. 259–74. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Smith, William Andrew. 1856. Lectures on the Philosophy and Practice of Slavery. Nashville: Stevenson & Evans.Google Scholar
Southern Quarterly Review [no author listed]. 1851. The Prospect Before Us. Southern Quarterly Review 3, 6: 533–41.Google Scholar
Spengler, Joseph John. 1935. Malthusianism and the Debate on Slavery. South Atlantic Quarterly 34, 2: 170–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spengler, Joseph John. 1936. Population Theory in the Antebellum South. Journal of Southern History 2, 3: 360–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturtevant, Julian Monson. 1863. The Destiny of the African Race in the United States. Continental Monthly 3, 5: 600–10.Google Scholar
Tucker, George. 1820 [1855]. 16th Congress, 1st Session, Feb., cols. 1525–37. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton.Google Scholar
Tucker, George. 1837. The Laws of Wages, Profits, and Rents, Investigated. Philadelphia: E. L. Carey & A. Hart.Google Scholar
Tucker, George. 1843. Progress of the United States in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years as Exhibited by the Decennial Census. New York: Press of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine.Google Scholar
Tucker, George. 1860. Political Economy for the People. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son.Google Scholar
Van Evne, Dr. 1853. Slavery Extension. DeBow's Review 15, 1 (July): 1–14.Google Scholar
“W” [from Westmoreland Co]. 1843. Slavery in the Southern States. Southern Literary Messenger 9, 12 (Dec.): 736–44.Google Scholar
Walker, Francis Amasa. 1891. Immigration and Degradation. Forum 11 (Aug.): 634–44.Google Scholar
Walsh, Robert (“A Philadelphian”). 1819. Free Remarks on the Spirit of the Federal Constitution, the Practice of the Federal Government, and the Obligations of the Union, Respecting the Exclusion of Slavery from the Territories and New States. Philadelphia: A. Finley.Google Scholar
Weld, Theodore Dwight. 1839. American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society.Google Scholar
Weston, George Melville. 1857. Progress of Slavery in the United States. Washington, D.C.: self-published.Google Scholar
Williamson, Joel. 1986. A Rage for Order: Black/White Relations in the American South since Emancipation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wish, Harvey. 1960. Writings of George Fitzhugh and Hinton Rowan Helper on Slavery. New York: Capricorn Books (G. P. Putnam's Sons).Google Scholar
Woodward, C. Vann. 1971. American Counterpoint: Slavery and Racism in the North-South Dialogue. Boston: Little, Brown and Sons.Google Scholar