Ways and Means for the Inhabitants of Delaware to Become Rich: Wherein the Several Growths and Products of These Countries are Demonstrated to be a Sufficient Fund for a Flourishing Trade
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Francis Rawle was a Quaker and colonist in Philadelphia, where he served in administrative positions and was a member of the assembly.
Background
Francis Rawle was the son of Francis Rawle of the parish of St. Juliot in Cornwall and Jane Rawle, who is believed to have been a native of Devonshire. He was born about 1662 probably at Plymouth, where his father was living in 1660. The elder Rawle, who was a devout Quaker, was frequently imprisoned for conscience's sake and in 1683 he and his son were both sent to gaol at Exeter. To escape persecution, they emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1686, bringing with them a deed from William Penn for a tract of 2500 acres of land, which was subsequently located in Plymouth township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County.
Career
The younger Rawle settled in Philadelphia and became a prosperous merchant. He was made a justice of the peace and judge of the county court in January 1689, an alderman of the city of Philadelphia in 1691, and deputy register of wills in 1692. He was also a member of the assembly from 1704 to 1709 and again from 1719 until 1727.
As a leader of the anti-proprietary party he came into frequent conflict with James Logan, which fact may account for his refusal to accept an appointment on the provincial council offered to him in 1724. He died in Philadelphia.
A pamphlet entitled Some Remedies Proposed for the Restoring the Sunk Credit of the Province of Pennsylvania was published anonymously in Philadelphia in 1721. The chief remedy proposed was the issue of a moderate amount of legal tender paper currency based on landed security. Rawle was probably the author of this pamphlet and he was certainly the most active member of the committee that drafted the Paper Money Act of 1723. He also wrote Ways and Means for the Inhabitants of Delaware to Become Rich (1725).
Logan published a facetious attack upon this pamphlet in the form of a dialogue, to which Rawle replied in A Just Rebuke to a Dialogue betwixt Simon and Timothy (1726). His arguments are based on the mercantile theory. Exports were to be stimulated by bounties and imports discouraged by high tariffs. Foreign liquors in particular were to be excluded in order to protect the farmers who produced the raw materials for beer and cider. Molasses was to be on the free list so that rum could be manufactured locally for those who demanded strong drink.
Achievements
Rawle is said to have been the first person in America to write on political economy and its application to local conditions.
