An Essay Upon Projects was the very first work of literature to which Daniel Defoe publicly signed his name as author. Lacking neither ambition nor audaciousness, the essays lays out over the court of more 50,000 words a detailed and comprehensive outline for improving the state of social conditions by addressing them through evolutionary economic progressives. The foundation for the economic sustainability of his projects is the promotion of a relatively new figure of power in the movement from flawed European systems from feudalism to mercantilism. Defoe hung the future growth of British industry and trade upon the increasing influence of what he termed the projector, thus the title of his essay. In description, this “projector” would be better recognized today as the small business owner or entrepreneur.
Just as Defoe was one of the few to clearly see where the future of capitalist economics was headed—certainly, his vision is far closer to the mark than the profoundly flawed Adam Smith—he was also far ahead of his time in his solutions to the social conditions currently being held hostage to an economic system designed with efficiency. For instance, one of his chapters is devoted to a scorching critique of the state of bankruptcy which at the time which seemed to exist for the sole purpose of punishing those unable to pay off their debts by increasing the debt load. While it would hardly seem like something that needed pointing out, Defoe’s proposal that increasing the mercy of punishment and lessening the severity might actually have the potential of allowing those declaring bankruptcy to more quickly become contributing members of the economy was actually considered radical.
His most radical proposal, however, made altering bankruptcy laws look downright ultra-conservative. One of Defoe’s most memorable characters is Moll Flanders and she is quite representative of his lifelong leaning toward feminism. In An Essay Upon Projects he does not just stake the claim for going against standard conventions of prohibiting women from pursuing education at established academies, but refuses to shy away from linking this prohibition to systemic misogyny within the entire culture of the country. Even more shocking: his opening salvo on this subjects frames the debate in terms of being anathema to Christian ideals.
An Essay Upon Projects may not have been immediately instrumental in improving the social and economic systems of England, but it is noteworthy that nearly proposition made as to the betterment of the country was eventually instituted. If nothing else, however, the essay announced in no uncertain terms the arrival upon the literary world of England as it stood perched at the dawn of the 18th century of a rational voice for progress that would not intimidated by the illogic of the past.
