Benjamin Franklin's essay “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c.” was written in 1751 and distributed privately but was not published until 1755. In the essay, Franklin explores population growth and his ideas on British American society in the colonies. The essay is presented in twenty-four points related to population and has been regarded by historians as an early example of a demographic study. Examining new British policies concerning the colonies, Franklin estimated how the population would grow in the colonies based on “the proportion of marriages to births, of deaths to births, of marriages to the numbers of inhabitants, &c.”