Pelatiah Webster (born 1726 in Lebanon, Connecticut, died 1795 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American merchant, clergyman, and (from the beginning of the American Revolution) author of short essays concerning the finances and government of the fledgling United States. He took a strongly-laissez-faire position economically, was a proponent of what would become the Constitution of the United States, and was for his body of work called by Lawrence W. Reed "America’s Adam Smith" and "a Forgotten Founder."https://fee.org/articles/pelatiah-webster-america-s-adam-smith-and-a-forgotten-founderhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51327482/pelatiah-websterhttps://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-0238