George Tucker

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George Tucker (August 20, 1775 - April 10, 1861), was born in Bermuda, and educated at College of William & Mary, where he studied law under St. George Tucker. After practicing law in Richmond, Virginia he moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825, representing Virginia in the 16th, 17th, and 18th United States Congresses.

Tucker was appointed by Thomas Jefferson to be Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia. In 1845 he resigned from the University and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He wrote a Life of Jefferson, Political History of the United States, Essays Moral and Philosophical, The Valley of the Shenandoah, a novel, A Voyage to the Moon (satire), and various works on economics.

In 1827 he wrote the novel A Voyage to the Moon using the pseudonym "Joseph Atterley." Though a satire, it is considered by some to be the first American work of science fiction.

According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, he died from injuries sustained when a large bale of cotton being loaded on a ship in Mobile Bay fell on his head. After his injury he was removed to Albemarle County, Virginia, where he died on April 10, 1861. He is buried at the University of Virginia Cemetery.

[edit] Works

• Tucker, George (1859), Political economy for the people., Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Son, LCCN 05-21928, <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AFP5532.0001.001> 

• Tucker, George (1856), The history of the United States, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., LCCN 02-2948, <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABJ1516.0001.001> 

• Tucker, George (1824), The valley of Shenandoah; or, Memoirs of the Graysons. With an introd. by Donald R. Noble, Jr. (1970 Reprint of the 1824 ed. ed.), Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, LCCN 70-123106, ISBN 0807840556 

• Tucker, George (1855), Progress of the United States in population & wealth in fifty years. With an appendix, containing an abstract of the census of 1850, New York: Press of Hunt’s Merchant’s magazine., <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABJ1516.0001.001> 

• Tucker, George (1827), A voyage to the moon: with some account of the manners and customs, science and philosophy, of the people of Morosofia, and other lunarians., New York: E. Bliss, LCCN 03-2392 

• Tucker, George (1977), A century hence : or, A romance of 1941; edited with an introd. by Donald R. Noble., Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, LCCN 76-041223 

[edit] External links

• Works by George Tucker at Project Gutenberg, specifically:
  • The Text of A Voyage to the Moon(1827), with a contemporaneous review.
• George Tucker at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Excerpts from "The Life and Philosophy of George Tucker"
• Chronology of his major Writings from Answers.com
• Interesting material relating to the American philosopher George Tucker (1775-1861)

This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.