Cadwallader Colden THE PAPERS OF Benjamin Franklin core VOLUME 4 July 2, 1750, through June 30, 1753 LEONARD W. LABAREE, dior WHITFIELD J. BELL, JR., Associate Editor Helen C. Boasfeld and Helene H. Fineman, Assistant Editors New Haven YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1961Deborah Franklin to Margaret Strahan? as: Yale University Library Madam Desember 24 1751 Tam ordored by my master to write for sum books for Salley Franklin, I am in hopes shee will be abel to write her selfe by the Spring." 8 Sets ofthe Preceptor best Edit 8 Doz of Cro: ‘Tales and Fabels with prudentil Maxins 2Doz Costalios Test Cole's Dictionarys Lattin and Eng. 6 a halfe Doz 3 Doz of Clarkes Cordery. x Boyles Pliny 2 Vols 8vo. 6 Sets of Nature Displayd in 7 Volums ramo ‘one good Quorto Bibel with Cutes cuts] bound ruf Calfe 1 Puctilia. x Art of making Common Salt per Browrigg. ‘My Dafter Gives her Duty to Mr. Strayhon and his Lady and her Compleyments to Master Billey and all his Brothers and Sisters, ‘My Son is Gon to Boston on a Visit to his friends, I supose Mr. m Stralan married, July 20, 1738, Margaret Penelope, daughter - Willa Elphinston of Edinburgh and sister of James Eiphinston. 1. The following books have been identifed: Robert Dodsley, The Pre ceptor (a vols London, 1748); Samuel Croxall, Fables of desop and others fts)5 Thomas Ken, Manual of Prayers for inchesier Callege (27th edt, Lond, ¥ Ainsworth, Thesaurus linguce Latinas compendicrins (sd edit. and improvements," Lord: %. of th cand Latin-English Colloguiorum centuria London, 173 selecra (12th edit, London, Lercers of Pliny the Younger ‘Spectacle de la Natures or, ‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 Franklin will write him Selfe, Mr. and Mis Hall air verey well. ‘Thay have lost thair other Child.* Shee lays in this winter. My Compleyments to Mr. Strayhon and all your Dear lttel Famely. Tam Dear Madam your Humbel Sarvant Drsonait FRANKLIN Enclos’d? is a Bill on Mr. Richard Manley for {030 Barbadoes Currency. On the Change you will easily learn its Sterling Value. If Mr. Manley refuses to pay it, give fis Lewer to Ma David Barclay, Merchant in London, who has a Power from Mrs, Middleton, and will compel him.* Addressed: To. Mr Wm Strahati Printer London Free to New York ‘Mr Nichols is desired to put this con board the first Ship. ea “ Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind late), Observations On he te and preset Conduct gard to their Ener i ren of Mans peo tone Prine and Sold by & Kec! fr ‘tivty Liban) ‘The “immediate occasion” for writing this essay, acconding to Van Doten,¢vas the British Iron Act of 1750, which prohibited the erection ‘ofadditional slitting and rolling mills, plating forges, and stel furnaces 2 David and Mary Hall’s daughter Mary, born Feb, Sept. x7505 their second child Susannah was bora May Mrs, Hall was expecting was William, born Jan. 2, ¥ X¥F (1892), 3643 1x (1936), 4585 Edward L. Clark, a Record of the Incrip. sions on che Tablets and Gravecstones... of Christ Church (Phila, 1864), p. $5. 3+ Postscript and address ae in ars han 4 David Barclay (1682-1769), London linen draper and merchant, son of the Quaker Apologist and father of David Barclay, Jr, who appears in nr’s correspondence hereafter. Nothing more has been learned of Manley. Mes. Middleton may have been the widow of Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, ‘who athis death, 1737 left her much ofhis property in Caroli DAB; S.C. Hist. and Gen. Mag. 1 (1900), 232, 2403 10 5. Richard Nicholls, posemaste 6, Franklin, . 216,‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 approvingly and accepted his surprisingly accurate estimate of the rate of population increase in America, and on Francis Place, who studied these and others of Franklin's ideas on population. Adam Smith is known to have had two copies of the essay in his library.© Onservations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c. bles of the Proportion of Martiages to Births, of Deaths to of Marriages to the Numbers of Inhabit bservaic ide upon the Bills of M ater in Proportion to the Ease and Con- venience of supporting a Family. When Families can be easily supported, more Persons marry, and earlier in Life. 3. In Cities, where all Trades, Occupations and Offices are fall, many delay marrying, tll they can see how to bear the Charges of a Family; which Charges are greater in Cites, as 1 Luxury is more coma 's ideas onthe growth of ny ataglah cooonc ought Ther tot e Servants to Families, Journeymen ‘Thomas Malthus, who quoted Franklin do not by natural Generation supply themselves wi ‘he British Empire before the American Revolition r iors : occupied and improved to the Hei agent of Pennsylvania in London, ‘who cannot get Land, mu: comments on the Iron Act Labourers are plenty, their Wages will be low; by elo a Family is supported with Difficulty; this Difficulty snd Strength of the Continent Later foma Far Poe ee the 1761 London elton endored by Mi 16,21, 2nd 93 in . nda as : : 22 and all of ection 24 wee sso omited. ‘sin the Bibliochque Nationale, Pars 226 27‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 is alittle more incourag’d there, and the Births exceed the Deaths. 5. Europe is generally full settled with Husbandmen, Manu- ‘now much increase in People: chiefly occupied by Indians, who subsist mostly by Hunting. But as the Hunter, of all Men, re Quantity of Land from whence to draw his Subsistence, (the Husbandman subsisting on much less, the Gardner on still less, and the Manufacturer requiring least of all), The Europeans found America as fully settled as it well could be by Hunters; yet these having large Tracks, were easily prevail’d on to part with Portions of Tertitory to the new Comers, who did not much interfere with the Natives in Hunting, and furnish’d them with many Things they wanted, 6. Land being thus plenty in America, and so cheap as that a labouring Man, that understands Husbandry, can in a short Time save Money enough to purchase a Piece of new Land sufficient for a Plantation, whereon he may subsist a Family; such are not afraid to marry; for if they even look far enough forward to con- sider how their Children when grown up are to be provided for, they see that more Land is to be had at Rates equally easy, all Circumstances considered. 7. Hence Martiages in America are more general, and more generally early, than in Europe. And if itis reckoned there, that there is but one Marriage per Annum among 100 Persons, pethaps ‘we may here reckon two; Europe they have but 4 Births to a Marsiage (many of their Marviages being late) we may here reckon 8, of which if one half grow up, and our Marriages are made, reckoning one with another at 20 Years of Age, our People ‘must at least be doubled every 20 Years. 8. But notwithstanding this Increase, so vast is the Territo of North=] jes to settle it fully; Soe Sees xno Man continues longa Labourer for others, but gets a Plantation of his own, no Man continues Tong Journeyman fo a Trade, but jes amiong those lew Seitlers, and sets up Tor himsell, &c. Hence in Pennsylvania, than it was 30 Years ‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 x tho’ so many Thousand labour ‘9. The Danger therefore of these Colonies interfering with their Mother Country in Trades that depend on Labour, Manufactures, &. is too remote to require the Attention of Great-Britain, to. But in Proportion to the Increase of the Colonies, a vast Demand is growing for British Manufactures, a glorious Market wholly in the Power of Britain, in which Foreigners cannot in- terfere, which will increase in’a short Time even beyond her Power of supplying, tho” her whole Trade should be to her Therefor tain should not too much restrain Manu- factures in her Colonies. A wise and good Mother will not do it. ‘To distress, is to weaken, and weakening the Children, weakens the whole Family.” 11, Besides if the Manufactures of Britain (by Reason of the American Demands) should rise too high in Price, Foreigners who can sell cheaper will drive her Merchants out of Foreign Markets; Foreign Manufactures will thereby be encouraged and increased, and consequently foreign Nations, perhaps her Rivals in Power, row more populous and more powerful; while her own Colonies, ept too low, are unable to assist her, or add to her Strength? 12, "Tis an ill-grounded Opinion that by the Labour of Slaves, America ‘vie in Cheapness of Manufactures People have been im- 1 paragraph is omitted from Exper. and Obser., 1769 edition. 9. In Exper. and Obser 1769 edition: “from the ‘nature of slavery” in place of “By Nature.” 229‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 3, As the Increase of People depends on the Encouragement of Marriages, the following Things must diminish a Nation, viz. 1. The being conquered; for the Conquerors will engross as many Offices, and exact as much Tribute of Profit on the Labour of the |, 2s will maintain them in their new Establishment, and the Natives discourages their Martiages, and so gradually diminishes them, while the Foreigners increase. 2. Loss of Territory. Thus the Britons being driven into Wales, and crowded together in a barren Country insufficient 10 support such great Numbers, diminished till the People bore a Proportion to the Produce, wl the Island became full of E ‘were the English no into Wales by some fo there would in a few Years be no more Englishmen than there are now People in Wales. 3. Loss of Trade. factures exported, draw Subsistence from Foreign Countries for Numbers; who are thereby enabled to marry and raise Families. If the Nation be deprived of any Branch of Trade, and no new Employment is found for the People occupy’d in that Branch, it will alo be soon deprived of so many People. 4. Loss of Food. Suppose a Nation has a Fishery, which not only employs great Numbers, but makes the Food and Subsistence of the People cheaper; If another Nation becor of the Seas, and prevents the Fishery, the People will diminish in Proportion as the Loss of Employ, and Dearness of Provision, makes it more difficult to subsist 2 Family. 5. Bad Government and insecure Property. People not only leave such a Country, and settling Abroad incorporate with other Nations, lose their native Lan- guage, and become Foreigners; but the Industry of those that remain being discourag’d, the Quantity of Subsistence in the s lessen’d, and the Support of a Family becomes more o heavy Taxes tend to diminish a People. 6. The In- 230 ‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 troduction of Slaves. The Negroes brought into the English Sugar Islands, have greatly diminish’d the Whites there; the Poor are by this Means depriv’d of Employment, while a few Families acquire vast Estates; which they spend on Foreign Luxuries, and iidren in the Habit of those Luxuries; the an en the Deaths among them are more than the Births; so that a con- ‘inual Supply is needed from Africa. The Northern Colonies hav- icreasing Employment, improving Land more_or_better providing more Food by Fisheries; securing Property, the Man that invents new Trades, Arts or Manufactures, or new Improvements in Husbandry, may be properly called Fathers of their Nation, as they are the Cause of the Generation of Multitudes, by the Encouragement they afford to Marriage. 15. As to Privileges granted to the married, (such as the Jus ‘rium Liberorum among the Romans), they may hasten the filing of a Country that has been thinned by War or Pestilence, or that has otherwise vacant Territory; but cannot increase a’ People beyond the Means provided for their Subsistence. 16. Foreign Luxuries and needless Manufactures imported and used in a Nation, do, by the same Reasoning, increase the People of the Nation that furnishes them, and diminish the People of the Nation that uses them. Laws therefore that prevent such Importations, and on the contrary promote the Exportation of ia, Papas (usually considered wit the Lx Jala 231‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 Manufactures to be consumed in Foreign Countries, may be called (with Respect to the People that make them) generative Laws, as by increasing Subsistence they encourage Marriage. Such Laws likewise strengthen a Country, doubly, by increasing its own People and diminishing its Neighbours. Merchant, is not with the Loss by this Means of People to the Ni Ie Home Luxury in the Great, increases the Nation ’dby it, who are many, and only tends to diminish the Families that indulge in it, who are few. The greater the com- mon fashionable Expence of any Rank of People, the more cautious they are of Marriage. Therefore Luxury should never be suffer'd to become common. 19, The great Increase of Offspring in particular Families, is not always owing to greater Fecundity of Nature, but sometimes +o Examples of Industry in the Heads, and industrious Education; by which the Children are enabled to provide better for them- selves, and their marrying early, is encouraged from the Prospect of good Subsistence. there be a Sect therefore, in our Nation, that regard Frugality and Industry as religious Duties, and educate their Children therein, more than others commonly do; such Sect increase more by natural Generation, than any many Inhabitants as the present Employments and Provisions for Subsistence will bear; will be in the End no Increase of People; New Comers have more Industry and Frugality than and then they will provide more Subsistence, and we Country; but they will gradually eat the Natives necessary to bring in Foreigners to fill up any oc- casional Vacancy in a Country; for such Vacancy (if the Laws are good, § 14,16) will soon be filled by natural Generation, Who e Vacancy made in Sweden, France or other ‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 Settlement of her Colonies; or in Guinea, by 100 Years Exporta- tion of Slaves, that has blacken'd half America? in Spai ng to National Pride’ and Idleness, Expulsion of the Moors, or to ements. . There is in short, no Bound to the prolific Nature of Plants or Animals, but what is made by their crowding and interfering with each others Means of Subsisténce. Was the Face of the Earth vacant of other Plants, it might be gradually sowed and overspread with one Kind only;.as, for Instance, with Fennel; and were it empty of other Inhabitants, it might in a few Ages be replenish'd from one Nation only; as, for Instance, with Eng- lishmen, Thus there are suppos'd to be now upwards of One Million English Souls in North-America, (tho’’tis thought scarce 80,000 have been brought over Sea) and yet perhaps there is not one the fewer in Britain, but rather many more, on Account of the Employment the Colonies afford to Manufacturers at Home. ‘This Million doubling, suppose but once in 25 Years, will in cession of Power to the British Empire by Sea as we as Land! What Increase of Trade and Navigation! What Num- bers of Ships and Seamen! We have been here but little more than too Years, and yet the Force of our Privateers in the late War, it in Men and Guns, than that of the jueen Elizabeth's Time How important tain, is the present Treaty for settling the Bounds between her Colonies and the French,’ and how careful should she be to secure Room enough, since on the Room depends so much the Increase of her People? 23. In fine, A Nation well regulated is like a Polypus; take away a Limb, its Place is soon supply’d; in two, and each deficient Part shall speedily grow out of the Part remaining.* ‘Thus if you have Room and Subsistence enough, as you may by - 53: 3. The Treaty of Aixla-Chapel 4 Compare this reference to Poor Richard's 233,‘THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, 1751 make ten Polypes out of one, you may of one make ten d equally populous and power Nation ten fold in Numbers and guage or Custoi vo plexion. 24. Which leads me to add one Remark: That the Number of ‘purely white People in the Word is ‘heir Numbers were increased. And while we are, as I may call it; Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of We le of ou IP But pechaps I am pa plexion of my Country, for such Kind of Pat Mankind, 24 Physical and Meteorological Observations, Conjectures, and Suppositions ap (incomplete): American Philosophical Society; draft: Library of Cony Royal Soe, Phlophizel Trauaetons Lv Experiments and Observations nthe Royal Socieiy on Deo quite likely the one Frankl =. It appears to be the red to the Royal Sociery for printing in though not the one read in the ‘used also for printing the paper ions in 1769, since ie survives among Frank lin’s own papers rather than among those of the Society. The editors have followed this manuscript as far as it goes and have taken rainder from Experiments and Observations, because this text is closet jor respects to Frankl Transactions. There are, however, no major differences among the i rinted versions listed above: The Particles them, and shortens the Sides of the Tri- therwise their mutual Repellency would force them to stances from each other, ‘Fhe cay was repsnied ever times inns ting, eg, in Pe. Chron July 6, 1767, but no editorial notice has been taken here of these versions. 235