The French political economist, public administrator, and reformer Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) expounded the economic doctrines of the physiocrats.

Born in Paris on Sept. 14, 1739, Pierre Samuel du Pont was the son of Samuel du Pont, a master watchmaker, and Anne Alexandrine de Montchanin, member of a derogated noble family. After becoming a watchmaker and dabbling in medicine, he turned to letters as a means of attaining recognition. In 1763 he was introduced to François Quesnay, whose physiocratic thought greatly influenced him.

In Du Pont's early works--Of the Exportation and Importation of Grains (1763), Physiocracy (1767), and Of the Origin and the Progress of a New Science (1767)--he stated the core ideas of his thinking. He believed in a presocial natural order in which man had rights and duties based on the physical necessities of life. Man had propertorial rights over his life and possessions; his...