The Recurrent Evil of Price Controls

John Witherspoon’s 1778 Letter to George Washington

By Erik W. Matson

This article appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of The Independent Review.

John Witherspoon played important roles in the Scottish Enlightenment, the American Revolution, and the formation of the American republic. This essay provides a short sketch of Witherspoon’s life before introducing and reproducing the text of a remarkable but little-known letter he drafted to George Washington in 1778, during the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge, on the evils of price controls.

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Erik W. Matson
is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University, and a lecturer at the Busch School of Business, Catholic University of America.

Economic Policy Economy