The New Student's Reference Work/Walker, Amasa

Walker (wä'kẽr), Amasa, an American political economist, was born at Woodstock, Conn., May 4, 1799, and died at Brookfield, Mass., Oct. 29, 1875. His early career was spent chiefly in commercial pursuits, but for six years (1842-8) he lectured on political economy at Oberlin College and subsequently (1859-69) at Amherst. In 1848 he was a member of the Massachusetts assembly, and in the following year member of the state senate. In 1862-3 he sat in Congress as member (Republican) for Massachusetts. He was a zealous advocate of temperance, was active in the antislavery movement, and was one of the founders of Free Soil party. He was an authority in finance, and wrote a series of articles on political economy. In 1857 he published a work on the Nature and Uses of Money, and in 1866 issued The Science of Wealth.