On the Question: Has Temporal Death Promoted the Temporal Happiness of Mankind Since the Fall of Adam? Delivered Before the East Haddam Friendly Debating Society Thursday Evening, February 1st 1821

A short manuscript paper by an anonymous author on the question "Has temporal Death Promoted the Temporal happiness of mankind since the fall of Adam?" given before the Friendly Debating Society of East Haddam, CT.

It seems that the affirmative was the only side to present, and the group voted "in the affirmative by 6 against 5." Addressing himself to the society's president, the speaker begins with a counter-argument citing the grief inspired by the death of loved ones but eagerly refutes that line of thinking with a series of escalating points. First citing God's will and the relief brought to society by the death of criminals, the bulk of his argument rests on practical-minded calculations about the Earth's size in relation to the population it would need to support if nobody ever died. If all those who had passed away "were now employed in assisting to consume the portion of provisions which their country affords, & which is already too scanty for the present inhabitants...What temporal happiness could such a nation in such a situation as this enjoy?" Indeed, he strengthens his point by appealing to our desire to mitigate suffering by stating that "those who have felt the painful effects of hunger & approaching starvation-and those who know the many miserable diseases produced by starvation, & bad air, will be best able to give a correct answer to this question."

CONDITION: Very good.