Cooper, Thomas

Cooper, Thomas, 1759–1839, American scientist, educator, and political philosopher, b. London, educated at Oxford. His important works include Political Essays (1799); the appendixes to the Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley (2 vol., 1806), in which he reviews Priestley's life and works at length; Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy (1826); Treatise on the Law of Libel (1830); and (as editor) The Statutes at Large of South Carolina (5 vol., 1836–39). Cooper emigrated to the United States in 1794 and, settling near his friend Joseph Priestley in Northumberland, Pa., was his partner in scientific research. As a supporter of the Jeffersonian opposition to the Federalists, he wrote many political pamphlets, especially against the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Convicted under the acts, he was imprisoned and fined $400; after his death this fine was repaid to his heirs. He taught at Dickinson College and the Univ. of Pennsylvania and was president (1820–33) of South Carolina College (now the Univ. of South Carolina).

Bibliography

See D. Malone, The Public Life of Thomas Cooper (1926); J. N. Ireland, A Memoir of the Professional Life of Thomas Abthorpe Cooper (repr. 1970).

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Cooper, Thomas (1759–1839) social agitator, scientist, educator; born in Westminster, England. Trained as a lawyer and doctor, with a smattering of chemistry and philosophy, he espoused radical ideas that closed off advancement in England; so in 1794 he emigrated to the U.S.A. with Joseph Priestley. He practiced both law and medicine in Pennsylvania but also became a pamphleteer in support of Thomas Jefferson; attacking the Sedition Law, he was briefly imprisoned and fined $400 (1800). Between 1801–04 he served as a Luzerne County (Pa.) commissioner and then as a Pennsylvania state judge (1804–11); by then he was becoming more conservative and, disgusted with politics, he turned to teaching chemistry, first at Carlisle (now Dickinson) College (1811–15), then at the University of Pennsylvania (1815–19). Moving on to South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), he soon became its president (1820–34) while teaching the sciences and political economy; he helped open the first medical school and insane asylum in the state. His strong individualism and libertarianism led him to become a defender of states' rights and he promoted the southern view on the tariff, nullification, and even slavery; following his own logic, he was one of the first to argue for secession.