Webster, Pelatiah

Webster, Pelatiah, 1726–95, American writer, b. Lebanon, Conn., grad. Yale, 1746. A Philadelphia businessman, he is remembered for his advocacy in his Dissertation of the Political Union and Constitution of the Thirteen United States of North America (1783) of a revision of the Articles of Confederation by creating a new constitution. He was a Federalist in the fight for ratification of the Constitution, and his able arguments, based on historical and economic principles, were of great weight. He also wrote many books on economics.