Mathew Carey

This article uses bare URLs, which may be threatened by link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation). (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Mathew Carey
Mathew Carey by John Neagle (detail), 1825
Born	(1760-01-28)January 28, 1760 Dublin, Ireland
Died	September 16, 1839(1839-09-16) (aged 79)
Signature

Mathew Carey (January 28, 1760 – September 16, 1839) was an Irish-born American publisher and economist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the father of economist Henry Charles Carey.

Early life and education[]

Carey was born in 1760 in Dublin into a middle-class Catholic family.^[1]

He entered the bookselling and printing business in 1775 and, at the age of seventeen, published a pamphlet criticizing dueling. He followed this with a work criticizing the severity of the Irish penal code, and another criticizing Parliament. As a result, the British House of Commons threatened him with prosecution. In 1781 Carey fled to Paris as a political refugee.^[2] There he met Benjamin Franklin, the ambassador representing the American Revolutionary forces, which achieved independence that year. Franklin took Carey to work in his printing office.

Carey worked for Franklin for a year before returning to Ireland, where he edited two Irish nationalist newspapers, The Freeman's Journal and The Volunteer's Journal.^[3] To avoid imprisonment and prosecution by the British, Carey dressed as a woman and gained passage on a ship to emigrate to the newly independent United States in September 1784.^[4]

Immigration and career in America[]

Upon Carey's arrival in Philadelphia, he found that Franklin had recommended him to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who gave him $400 to establish himself. He used this money to set up a new publishing business and a book shop. he founded:

• The Pennsylvania Herald (1785)
• Columbian Magazine (1786), and
• The American Museum.

None of these ventures proved very profitable. The American Museum was the first American periodical to treat American culture as rich and original, instead of a poor imitation of Great Britain's. Carey printed the first American version of the Douay–Rheims Bible in 48 weekly installments; this Roman Catholic edition is popularly known as the Carey Bible. Subscribers could arrange to have it bound. It was the first Roman Catholic version of the Bible printed in the United States. Carey also printed numerous editions of the King James Version, fundamental to English-speaking peoples.

In 1794–1796, Carey published America's first atlases.^[5] His 1802 map of Washington, D.C., was the first to name the stretch of land west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall".^[6]

He frequently wrote articles on various social topics, including events during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, which proved a crisis for the city. Carey reported on debates in the state legislature as well as providing political commentary in his essays. He was a Catholic and a founding member of the , along with Quaker merchant , Dr. Benjamin Rush and Episcopal bishop William White.

In 1822 Carey published Essays on Political Economy; or, The Most Certain Means of Promoting the Wealth, Power, Resources, and Happiness of Nations, Applied Particularly to the United States. ^[7] This was one of the first treatises favoring Alexander Hamilton's protectionist economic policy.

During Carey's lifetime, the publishing firm evolved to M. Carey & Son (1817–1821), M. Carey & Sons (1821–1824), and then to Carey & Lea (1824).^[8] Carey retired in 1825, leaving the publishing business to his son, Henry Charles Carey and son-in-law Isaac Lea.^[9]

Lea and Henry Carey made the business economically successful and, for a time, it was one of the most prominent publishers in the country.^[9] The business published such works as: The Encyclopedia Americana, a dictionary of German lexicon, as well as American editions of the works of authors Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper.^[10]

Honors[]

In 1821, Carey was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.^[11]

Politics[]

Upon arriving in America, Carey quickly developed political connections in the developing country. One of his most important supporters was John Adams, still a leading figure of the Federalist Party at the time. Carey's passionate support for the establishment of an American Navy contributed significantly to his alliance with the Federalists.

Throughout his political career in America, Carey supported the development and maintenance of American naval strength, even after joining Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans in 1796. Carey’s political realignment occurred shortly before the American ratification of the Jay Treaty, primarily intended to ensure peace with Britain, while distancing America from France.

Carey was an advocate for tariffs.^[12]

Carey’s strong support of American naval power and his "early political activities in Ireland had developed in part, by the American navy’s decision to carry the war [the American Revolution] into the home waters of Great Britain. John Paul Jones’ victory over HMS Drake off Belfast in June 1778 unleashed a torrent of pro-American sentiment."^{[citation needed]} His publishing in America channeled his energy toward productive political objectives. His published works are credited with swaying public opinion toward the establishment of a powerful American navy.

Carey’s book Naval History of the United States, was meant to influence the public. Its conspicuous omission of naval activity during the American Quasi-War with France showed his political intentions.^{[citation needed]} It helped direct political energy against the British, with which the U.S. was at war at the time of the book’s publication on May 6, 1813.

Focus on the British, known around the world for their naval power, made an influential case for extending the reach of the American navy. Along with his publication of Naval History, Carey wrote Olive Branch, published in 1814. He tried to eliminate competition between the two American political parties to create unity during the War of 1812. To many people, these efforts, and his early relationship with Franklin, made him the logical choice as Franklin's political successor. Scholars believe that he contributed significantly by his books and publications to the establishment of the United States Whig Party.^{[citation needed]}

Marriage and family[]

Carey and his wife Bridget Flahaven Carey (1769–1839) had at least eight children, including sons Henry, Edward L. Carey (d. 1845), and Charles William Carey, (1802-); and daughters Maria, Susan, Elizabeth, Ellen and Frances Anne.^[9]

Frances Anne Carey (1799–1873) married Isaac Lea, who joined the Careys' publishing firm and became a partner. In 1833, Isaac Lea took on a new partner, William A. Blanchard. After the death of Mathew Carey and retirement of his son Henry Carey, they changed the business name to "Lea and Blanchard." Later Lea took on his own sons, and they changed the name to "Lea Brothers and Company."^[9][10]

Death and legacy[]

Carey was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.^[13] A significant portion of his business papers, as well as a very large number of original copies of works printed and/or published by him reside in the collections of the AAS.

Carey died on September 16, 1839, and was buried in St. Mary's Catholic Churchyard in Philadelphia.^[14]

In 1943, Publishers Weekly created the Carey-Thomas Award for creative publishing, naming it in honor of Mathew Carey and Isaiah Thomas.^[15]

See also[]

• History of the Irish Americans in Philadelphia

References[]

Notes

Bibliography

• Carter, Edward C. "Mathew Carey, Advocate of American Naval Power." The American Neptune, XXVI (1966).
• Clark, Thomas. Naval History of the United States. Philadelphia:Mathew Carey, 1814.
• Carter, Michael S. "Under the Benign Sun of Toleration: Mathew Carey, the Douai Bible, and Catholic Print Culture, 1789–1791," Journal of the Early Republic, Fall 2007.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mathew Carey.

• Mathew Carey, A Short Account of the Malignant Fever, Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia (1793)
• Mathew Carey, Appeal to the Wealthy of the Land, Ladies as Well as Gentlemen, on the Character, Conduct, Situation, and Prospects of Those Whose Sole Dependence for Subsistence Is on the Labour of Their Hands (1833)
• "Mathew Carey Letter, 1804 Sept. 3, Philadelphia to Charles R. and G. Webster, Albany, Ind., Collection Guide", "Biographical Sketch" (PDF). Indiana Historical Society. 2004-11-22. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
• The American museum, or Universal magazine, vols. 2-10 (1787-1791), Internet Archive
• The Autobiography of Mathew Carey, in 26 Letters to The New-England Magazine
• Mathew Carey at Find a Grave
• Carey's 1790 Douay Bible
• "A Stroll Through (Mathew Carey's) THE AMERICAN MUSEUM (1787-1792)"