Amasa Walker (May 4, 1799 – October 29, 1875) was an American economist and

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. He was the father of

Francis Amasa Walker Francis Amasa Walker (July 2, 1840 – January 5, 1897) was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and an officer in the Union Army. Walker was born into a prominent Boston family, the son of the econo ...

Biography

He moved with his parents to

North Brookfield, Massachusetts North Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,735 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place North Brookfield, please see the article North ...

, and attended the district school. In 1814 he entered commercial life, and in 1820 formed a partnership with Allen Newell in North Brookfield, but three years later withdrew to become the agent of the Methuen Manufacturing Company. In 1825 he formed the firm of Carleton and Walker, of Boston, with Charles G. Carleton, but in 1827 he went into business independently. He was a delegate to the 1836 Democratic National Convention. In 1839, he became president of the Boston Temperance Society, the first total abstinence association in that city, and in 1839 he advocated a continuous railway between Boston and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. In 1840 he retired from commercial life and went into academia. In 1842–1848, he lectured on

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

at Oberlin College. In 1853–1860, he was an examiner on political economy at Harvard, and in 1859–1869 lecturer on political economy at Amherst College. The degree of

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

was conferred on him by Amherst in 1867. He was a frequent contributor to periodical literature, especially on financial subjects. His principal work, ''Science of Wealth, a Manual of Political Economy'', was published in 1866. Other works were ''Nature and Uses of Money and Mixed Currency'' (Boston, 1857) and, with William B. Calhoun and Charles L. Flint, ''Transactions of the Agricultural Societies of Massachusetts'' (7 vols., 1848–1854). In 1857, he began the publication of a series of articles on political economy in ''Hunt's Merchant's Magazine''. He was active in the anti-slavery movement, and in 1848 he was one of the founders of the

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...

. Walker served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

in 1849 and 1860, in the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

in 1850, as

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...

1851–1853, and in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

1862–1863, where he was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Goldsmith Bailey. In 1853, he was chosen as a member of the convention for revising the state constitution, becoming the chairman of the committee on suffrage. In 1860, he was chosen as a member of the electoral college of Massachusetts and cast his ballot for

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. Walker was a delegate to the first

International Peace Congress International Peace Congress, or International Congress of the Friends of Peace, was the name of a series of international meetings of representatives from peace societies from throughout the world held in various places in Europe from 1843 to 185 ...

in London of 1843, and he served at the Paris Congress in 1849.

Death

Walker died in North Brookfield on October 29, 1875. His interment was in Maple Street Cemetery.

Books

*''The Science of Wealth: A Manual of Political Economy. Embracing the Laws of Trade, Currency, and Finance'', Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown & Co. (1866).

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Amasa Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts Jacksonians Massachusetts Libertyites Massachusetts Free Soilers Harvard University staff Oberlin College faculty American economics writers American male non-fiction writers People from Woodstock, Connecticut People from North Brookfield, Massachusetts 1799 births 1875 deaths Massachusetts Democrats Abolitionists from Boston American temperance activists Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts