George Tucker (August 20, 1775April 10, 1861) was an American attorney, politician, historian, author, and educator in Virginia. His literary works include The Valley of Shenandoah (1824), the first fiction of colonial life in Virginia, and Voyage to the Moon (1827), which is among the nation's earliest science fiction novels. He also published the first comprehensive biography of Thomas Jefferson in 1837, as well as his History of the United States (1856). Tucker's authorship, and his work as a teacher, served to redeem an earlier life of unprincipled habits which had brought him some disrepute.
Tucker was a son of the first mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda, Daniel Tucker. He immigrated to Virginia at age 20, was educated at the College of William and Mary, and was admitted to the bar. His first marriage to Mary Farley ended childless with her death in 1799; he remarried and had six children with wife Maria Carter, who died at age 38 in 1823. His third wife of 30 years was Louisa Thompson, who died in 1858.
Aside from his law practice, Tucker wrote distinctive compositions for various publications. His topics ranged widely from the conceptual to the technical—from slavery, suffrage, and morality to intracoastal navigation, wages, and banking. He was elected in 1816 to the Virginia House of Delegates for one term, and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825. From his youth until early middle age, Tucker's lofty social lifestyle was often profligate, and occasionally scandalous. Nevertheless, upon completion of his congressional term, his eloquent publications led Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to offer him an appointment as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the newly founded University of Virginia; he accepted and held that post until 1845.
After retiring, Tucker relocated to Philadelphia, continuing his research, and expounding upon a variety of subjects, which included monetary policy and socio-economics, until his death in Virginia at the age of 85.
Family and early life in Bermuda
George Tucker was born August 20, 1775, on St. George's Island, Bermuda. He was the second son of Daniel and Elizabeth Tucker, who were distant cousins, and members of the Tucker family that included Henry Tucker. Daniel and his brothers established a mercantile partnership with a fleet of vessels shipping goods to British America, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. Daniel was also a founder and mayor of the port of Hamilton, Bermuda. Tucker offers a description of his physique in his Autobiography: “I was in height, and tho’ somewhat slender, well proportioned. I had great animal spirits, and unceasing mobility. My face was somewhat of a feminine cast."
Tucker was educated primarily by a tutor engaged from Great Britain and also by Josiah Meigs. His assigned reading included Tom Jones, The Vicar of Wakefield, and Arabian Nights, among the mainstays of an education on the American continent. At age fifteen he helped form a literary club, which he says he named the Calliopean Society; this may have been an imitation of the original started earlier in New York. Tucker at age 16 began to read the law under a successful and prosperous lawyer, George Bascomb. At Bascomb's death, the firm's clients urged Tucker to assume their representation, but feeling quite unqualified, he declined, and initiated plans for a career in the United States.
According to Tucker's Autobiography, at this time he encountered his first love interest, in a distant cousin, Nancy Tucker. The longer he suffered in silence with his feelings, the stronger they grew, until finally he resolved to call upon her at home and make his declaration. Upon his arrival, the two entered a parlor where he offered her his hand, which was accepted, all in silence. The tongue-tied handholding continued for 10–15 minutes until interrupted by the entrance of her mother, and the visit ended. Very soon thereafter the girl fell ill and died and left Tucker in grief, which he described as a "most serious affliction." Six years passed before he expressed an interest in another woman.