George, Henry (1839–1897)

Political economist Henry George will best be remembered as the author of Progress and Poverty of 1879, an anti-monopolist tract and international bestseller, and as the originator of the single-tax idea that proposed replacing all other forms of taxation with a tax on land valuation. George's ideas influenced the Progressive Era in the United States and were popular in Great Britain, Scandinavia, and Australia. George was not a Marxist or socialist and spent much time publicly battling them and their ideas.

Born in Philadelphia to a religious middle-class family, George set out for himself early in life. Most of his first 40 years were filled with professional instability. At various times, he was a cabin boy, a merchant marine sailor, a typesetter, a newspaper reporter, an editor, and a miner, without achieving any measure of success or steady employment. He immigrated to California where he gravitated to the Democratic Party and became active in politics. He strongly identified with the Jeffersonian anti-monopolist and free trade positions. Control of the press wire by Western Union and the Associated Press and state politics by the California railroads and land barons reinforced George's views. He lectured widely on these topics and wrote several pamphlets, including “Our Land and Land Policy” in 1871.

While on the lecture circuit, George labored on Progress and Poverty, which he finished in 1879. Sales moved slowly until 1880, when he authored a controversial pamphlet on British land policies in Ireland. In October 1881, the Irish World newspaper sent George to Ireland and England to investigate conditions firsthand. In the process he became an international celebrity and a fixture on the global lecture circuit. In the next decade he made several trips to England and Europe and one to Australia.

In 1886 at the behest of workers' organizations, George entered the mayoral race in New York City. He finished in second place and failed to spark a general movement. He ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in New York in 1887. In 1897 he sought the mayor's office again, but died less than a week before the election. If George failed at electoral politics, his leadership of “single-tax clubs” worldwide proved more successful in organizing grassroots support of his ideas.

In addition to Progress and Poverty, George also authored Social Problems in 1883, in which he advocated for some state-run monopolies; Protection or Free Trade? in 1886, in which he made the case for such monopolies; The Condition of Labor in 1891, a commentary on Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical on Labor; and A Perplexed Philosopher in 1892, a critique of Herbert Spencer. Toward the end of his life, George worked on a general textbook of political economy. Although not completed, it was published posthumously as Science of Political Economy.