SOURCE: Cady, G. J. “The Early American Reaction to the Theory of Malthus.” In Thomas Robert Malthus: Critical Assessments. Vol. 4, edited by John Cunningham Wood, pp. 18-42. London: Croom Helm, 1986.

In the following essay, originally published in October, 1931, Cady examines pre-1840 American criticism of Malthus's theories, contending that much of it is based on misreadings.

That which has passed and, in fact, still passes for Malthusianism in the mind of the man in the street, the social politician, the amateur economist, and, indeed, of the professional economist, has not infrequently been a very different thing from the theory advanced more than a century ago by the distinctly atypical “country parson.” In the body of literature under consideration, indeed, there was not found a single interpretation of it correct enough, and at the same time comprehensive enough, to provide a point of reference from which the other American comments...