William Jennison

William Jennison (1757-1843) was born in Mendon, Worchester County, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1757. It appears that the young Jennison received a thorough education in his youth. Jennison’s father, also named William Jennison, enlisted a private tutor to instruct the younger Jennison. This appears to have paid off, as the young William Jennison would enter Harvard University in 1770, and would graduate 4 years later, with highest honors.

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Jennison would then relocate to Providence, Rhode Island, where he studied law for a period of six months. It was around this time, however, that the War of Independence began, and Jennison subsequently returned home to Massachusetts in the spring of 1775, where he would enlist in the Continental Army. He later joined the Continental Marines in 1776, before serving on board the Continental frigate, the Boston. In December of 1777, he would be promoted to the rank of Full Lieutenant of the Marines. Jennison was later posted to Charleston, South Carolina, during 1780, but was captured by the British in the Siege of Charleston.

Jennison was subsequently released and was able to return home to Massachusetts. After the war, Jennison became a schoolteacher and assisted in the establishment of several schools across the United States. It was in 1828, however, that Jennison published his small treatise on political economy. This was entitled An Outline of Political Economy. Jennison’s Outline of Political Economy represents a fairly standard work for the time. It endorses the American System, espouses the harmony of interests between agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce, and devotes a sizeable discussion to internal improvements. Jennison would pass away in Boston, on December 24, 1843, at the age of 86.