James Steuart's Influence On James Stuart

James Steuart was born on October 21, 1712 in Edinburgh, Scotland to James Stewart and Anne Dalrymple. Steuart followed in the footsteps of his father and practiced law at the University of Edinburgh. At the age of 24, he was admitted into the Scottish bar. Steuart later became the Baronet of Goodtrees. Steuart also married to Frances Wymess who went on to have one son, James Steuart Denham. Near the end of Steuart’s life, his uncle Sir Archibold Denham died. As a result, Steuart was forced to take the name Denham in order to inherit Sir Archibold’s estate and to become Baronet of Coltness. After this, Steuart went by Sir James Steuart Denham. Steuart later died on November 26, 1780 (“James Stuart (economist)”).
In the middle of his life, the Jacobites started a rebellion in Scotland in 1745. Steuart supported the Jacobites during this rebellion which led to his exile from Scotland until 1763 (“Sir James Steuart Denham”). During his exile, Steuart started writing some of his economic works; although his biggest accomplishment, An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy, would not be completed until after he returned from the exile. Steuart’s work was most prominent in the late-1760s. At this time, mercantilism is coming to an end, and Steuart was one of the last mercantilists.
He agreed that the government should have a prominent role in the economics of society. Steuart also believed in the idea of limiting the amount of imports into the country by increasing tariffs and increasing exports by encouraging export subsidies in order to raise the supplies of gold and silver in the country. He also agreed that colonies should be a source of raw materials and purchase the finished products (“Mercantilism”). This is because it is profitable to purchase the raw materials and manufacture and sell the finished