Special interest protectionism and the antebellum woolen textile industry: a contemporary issue in a historical context

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Nov, 2006 by Grant D. Forsyth

Mathew Carey, also a delegate to the Harrisburg Convention, was an Irish-born publisher and friend of Niles; however, he was best known for his pamphlets and articles extolling the benefits of the protective tariff. (16) Prior to the Harrisburg Convention, Carey, by his own accounting in his autobiography, published over 1,700 pages on the tariff from 1819 to 1827 ([1837]1942: 125-126). Although information about his circulation is vague, it appears that most of his pamphlets were distributed in New York, Albany, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, and other major urban centers in the North. However, because his writing often initiated responses from Southern groups such as the anti-tariff Agricultural Society of Fredrickesburg, Virginia, his writings clearly extended to the slave states. Referring to individual editions of his early pamphlets, Carey claimed that 1,000 to 1,500 copies of each were printed and distributed. Regarding their impact, he noted without modesty: "They produced a very powerful effect as far as their circulation extended; which, I repeat, was very extensive. Entire sections of the country, where there had scarcely been a person in favor of protecting manufactures, were converted, and the inhabitants from enemies became zealous partisans of the system." (Carey [1837]1942 Letter XXVI: 105). According to Carey, the vehicles for his writings were also extensive--"As a matter of curiosity, I annex a list of such of my publications on the protecting system as where issued in pamphlet form. These are independent of from 30 to 40 newspaper essays--8 to 10 memorials to Congress--and 12 or 15 circulars to leading manufactures" (Carey [1837]1942 Letter XXX: 125-126). Like Niles, there is no evidence that Carey would have substantially profited from higher tariffs. On this subject, Carey claimed, "in the modification of the Tariff, I had no personal interest whatever, to the amount of a dollar" ([1837]1942 Letter XXV: 101).

Like NWR, Carey had his followers in Congress by the mid-1820s. Dorfman noted: "In Congress [Henry] Clay acknowledged his indebtedness to Carey, who merits 'the public gratitude, for the disinterested diligence with which he has collected a large mass of highly useful facts for the clear and convincing reasoning with which he generally illustrates them'" (1946 vol. 1: 390). Concerning other members of Congress, Carey (1837) lists the following correspondence between himself and Representative Charles Rich of Vermont and Mallary in 1824. From Rich:

   By the side of Mr. Garnet[t]'s, you will find the speech of my
   colleague, Mr. [Rollin] C. Mallary, which I think you will
   pronounce orthodox; and you will probably feel some surprise, when
   I tell you, that two years ago, he was as violently opposed to
   legislative protection for Manufactures, as the gentlemen from the
   south. (Carey 1837 Letter XXXI: 129)

"Mr. Garnett" probably refers to Representative Robert Garnett of Virginia, who served in the 15th through 19th (1817-1827) Congresses and was the brother of James Garnett, president of the previously mentioned Fredricksburg Agricultural Society from 1817 to 1837. From Mallary a few days later: