In the essay “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind,” this writer argued that the amount of unfarmed land in America would lead to exponential population growth. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this colonial-era American demographer whose prediction of the population doubling every 25 years was later quoted by Thomas Malthus in An Essay on the Principle of Population.
ANSWER: Benjamin Franklin
[10e] This thinker used Franklin’s demographic observations to compare the productivity of the American colonies positively to China in his book The Wealth of Nations.
ANSWER: Adam Smith
[10m] Franklin argued that immigrants speaking this language were “swarthy” and decried their influence on Anglo culture. The first U.S. House Speaker’s opposition to this language is the subject of a recurring urban legend.
ANSWER: German [or Deutsch] (Frederick Muhlenberg was the Speaker of the House who supposedly prevented German from being voted an official language of the U.S.)
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