George Tibbits
George Tibbits (1753-1849) was born in Warwick, Rhode Island on January 14, 1763. He was the son of John Tibbits and Waite Brown and was the eldest of his ten siblings. When George Tibbits was around five years old, the Tibbits family would move to a farm near the town of Cheshire, Massachusetts, before eventually settling in Lansingburgh in 1780, when George was seventeen. It was during this time that George Tibbits undertook classical studies. In 1784, Tibbits successfully established a dry goods business, after being acquainted with a local merchant who could supply Tibbits with produce at reasonable prices. Tibbits would remain a sole trader until 1787, when he entered into a partnership with his brother Benjamin, under the name G. & B. Tibbits. In 1897, Tibbits would relocate from Lansingsburgh to Troy, what is now known as Fall River. There he would establish a corner store as part of G. & B Tibbits. After the death of Benjamin in 1802, George’s brother Elisha Tibbits, would enter into the partnership. George Tibbits would eventually retire from the business in 1804. Around this time, Tibbits also began to take a more active involvement in politics. As a member of the Federalist Party, he would serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1800 and 1820, the Federal Congress between 1803 and 1805, and in the State Senate between 1815 and 1818. In 1816, he would also run as Rufus King’s deputy on the Federalist gubernatorial ticket for Massachusetts, but the two were unsuccessful. Later, between 1830 and 1836, Tibbits would also serve as the Mayor of Troy.
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​Tibbits was a staunch advocate of the protective doctrine with his emphasis placed primarily on the home market argument. His first work, A Memoir on the Expediency and Practicability of Improving or Creating Home Markets, would appear in 1825. This was originally an address given before the New York Board of Agriculture earlier that year. Tibbits followed up the same topic in 1829 with his Essay on the Expediency and Practicability of Improving or Creating Home Markets. In 1827, Tibbits would also attend the Harrisburg Convention as the delegate for New York. Later, in 1831, he would also serve as a delegate to the Friends of Domestic Industry General Convention held in New York, where he would be selected to serve as a member of the committee. In addition to the subject of protection, Tibbits also wrote on the subject of internal improvements. In 1829, he produced Finances of the Canal Fund of the State of New York Examined. Later in 1836, Tibbits would also serve as chairman of a committee which was appointed to commission a document relating to the enlargement of the Erie Canal. At the age of eighty six, Tibbits would pass away on July 19, 1849.