THE DICTIONARY OF EARLY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS Volume 1 A – L GENERAL EDITOR John R. Shook Dictionary_Voume_I.indb iii 2/25/2012 7:49:12 AM The Continuum International Publishing Group 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX www.continuumbooks.com © John R. Shook, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the permission of the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-8437-1182-7 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Printed and bound in the United States of America Dictionary_Voume_I.indb iv 2/25/2012 7:49:12 AM CAREY CAREY , Henry Charles (1793 – 1879) of the slave system, seeing it as just another form of economic slavery prevalent through- Henry Charles Carey was born in Philadelphia, out the world. He preferred to leave it to Pennsylvania on 15 December 1793. His “ nature . to remedy the existing evil ” parents were the infl uential Irish-born pro- (1836, 309). He did, however, encour- tectionist publisher Mathew CAREY and age the southern slave owner, “ if he regard Bridget Flahavan, daughter of a respectable his own interest, ” to take good care of his Philadelphia family. Henry, the “ miniature slaves (1836, 303). Most striking, though, bookseller, ” began working at his father ’ s was Carey ’ s early dedication to laissez faire bookshop at the age of eight, surrounded by economic principles: Restriction and monop- his father ’ s circle of Philadelphia protection- olies led to war and poverty, whereas “ free ists. At twelve years of age, he moved to Balti- trade, freedom of action – peace – moder- more, where he lived until 1809. For the next ate taxation – high wages, and abundance, nine years he was a traveling salesman for his are all associated ” (1835, 9). father ’ s company. In 1814 he was made part- Carey wrote The Harmony of Nature ner of the business. He married Martha Leslie in 1836. In this work, he yet remained a in 1819. He became head of the fi rm, later disciple of laissez-faire capitalism. Elabo- called Carey, Lea, and Carey, in 1825 upon rating upon his anti-Malthusian ideas, he his father ’ s retirement. After 1834, he ceased argued that there lay no confl ict between working with the publishing fi rm to focus upon populations and subsistence, or landlord the study of economics and social science. and laborer, within harmonious Nature. He In 1856, he became active in the Republican also challenged Ricardo ’ s theory of rent. Party. He was a prolifi c writer of articles, cor- Carey believed instead that the “ rise of rent respondence, and editorials on political and is always the effect of the increasing wealth economic issues. Carey died on 13 October and of the increased facility for providing 1879 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. food ” (112). Here, too, he defi ned capital as While running the family publishing com- “ everything that has exchangeable value, ” a pany, Carey avidly read the various submis- defi nition that would change little in his later sions of literature, geography, philosophy, and works (177). Carey was displeased with The political economy. Upon retirement from the Harmony ’ s disorganization and disjointed- book industry, Carey published his fi rst major ness, and withheld it from the public. work, an Essay on the Rate of Wages (1835). From 1837 to 1840, Carey published In it, he argued that “ high wages . are an his three volume The Principles of Political infallible evidence of prosperity, and of the Economy . In the fi rst volume, he outlined rapid increase of capital. ” Population increase his concept of labor and cost wherein man in turn brought “ new divisions of labour, will appropriates, alters, or transports “ the gifts insure a high degree of perfection, and a more of nature. ” The subsequently produced rapid increase of the supply of the means of goods “ have value [revenue] in his estima- support ” (247). As the United States ’ food sup- tion because of the labor that has been given ply had increased alongside its population, he in exchange for them ” (vol. 1, 337). Carey took on Malthus ’ s pessimistic theory of popu- defi ned capital as the portion of revenue that lation growth, asserting that “ where popula- the laborer saved for the future. Further- tion increases rapidly, food is abundant ” (244). more, as internal improvements increased Immigration, then, should be encouraged. the speed and quality of trade and labor, He seemed to have little disagreement “ both capitalist and laborer are, therefore, with southern slavery. He was in opposition enabled to obtain a constantly increasing to “ any attempt to change ” the “ condition ” measure of the conveniences, comforts, and 176 Dictionary_Voume_I.indb 176 2/25/2012 7:49:20 AM CAREY luxuries of life in exchange for their prod- The Past, the Present, and the Future , felt ucts ” ; this relationship of interests was thus he had to disprove Ricardo ’ s rent theory by “ in perfect harmony ” (vol. 1, 339). Capital questioning its supposed universality. Carey and population similarly shared such a rela- still tenuously held on to the tenants of free tionship so long as there were no high taxes, trade, believing that “ war is an evil, and so government interference, or war. are tariffs for protection. ” But he now also The infl ationary crisis that struck the admitted that “ both may be necessary, and United States in 1837 likely affected Carey ’ s both are sometimes necessary ” (302). Carey economic theory as he was writing the sec- thereafter increasingly saw the free-trading ond volume. Much of this volume focuses British Empire as evil, a threat to America ’ s upon credit. Yet while most Americans home industries. sought governmental restriction to stymie From around 1850 to 1857, Carey pro- further infl ation, Carey continued to call for moted his protectionist creed as an editorial unrestrained laissez faire policies. Freedom writer for the New York Tribune . In 1853, of capital guaranteed “ the safest and least he published The Slave Trade, Domestic expensive currency ” (1838, vol. 2, 258). and Foreign , wherein Carey saw southern Regulation of currency would merely lead to African slavery as merely one manifesta- hoarding by bankers. He thus advocated free tion of slavery; the southern cotton growers banking, and he gained the respect of such themselves, with no home market to speak free traders as French economist Frederic of, were slaves to the British cotton market, Bastiat for his stance. Bastiat himself after- as well. Southerners needed industries and ward admitted his indebtedness to Carey for a protective tariff. Thus, Carey argued that his original theory of value and labor. slavery and free trade were intertwined. He American tariffs were decreased between joined the Republican Party in 1856 and 1836 and 1840. The resulting recession, helped shape its later protectionist platform. and Carey ’ s own fi nancial losses during this Between 1858 and 1860, Carey crafted his period, probably caused him to question the greatest work, his three volume The Principles principles of laissez faire . More and more, of Social Science . He supplemented his eco- Carey saw the British industrial dominance nomic theories with the addition of natural and moves toward freer trade with skepti- history and natural science. Man was but the cism and suspicion. So, too, was the likely “ molecule of society . the subject of social infl uence of Friedrich List ’ s System of science, ” and “ the great law of molecular National Economics (1841). When tariffs gravitation ” was “ the indispensible condition were raised in 1842 and Carey ’ s business of the being called man ” (vol. 1, 41, 42). The grew accordingly, he later remarked that protective tariff was therefore a force that “ in the closing months of 1842, seeing the “ tends to the establishment of decentraliza- wonderful change effected by the protec- tion, and to the production of local employ- tive tariff then in operation, ” John C. CAL- ment for time and talent, tends to give value HOUN had “ suggested that there must be to land, to promote its division, and to enable some great law that would explain the fact parents and children to remain in closer con- that we always grew rich under protection, nection with each other ” (vol. 1, 45). whereas we always ended in bankruptcy Money advanced fi nancial progress. after free trade ” (1883, vol. 1, 26). By 1845, According to Carey, increases to the money Carey began to further question Ricardo ’ s metals, gold and silver, increased soci- theory of rent which was so closely tied to etal ties: “ The more abundant the supply free trade. In order to support a protective of those metals, the more instant become tariff, therefore, Carey, in his 1848 work the exchanges of society, the greater is the 177 Dictionary_Voume_I.indb 177 2/25/2012 7:49:20 AM CAREY economy of mental and physical force, and Further Reading the greater the power to produce commodi- Amer Nat Bio, Appleton ’ s Cycl Amer Bio, ties to be given in exchange for further sup- Cambridge Dict Amer Bio, Dict Amer plies of these great instruments of association Bio, WWWHV and combination ” (vol. 2, 306). His position Conkin, Paul K. Prophets of Prosperity: on free banking and infl ationary currency America ’ s First Political Economists remained quite similar to his views twenty (Bloomington, Indiana, 1980). years before. He did add that international Dawson, Andrew. “ Reassessing Henry free trade forced raw materials and precious Carey (1793 – 1879): The Problems of metals into foreign markets, whereas protec- Writing Political Economy in Nineteenth- tionism increased the price of raw materials, Century America, ” Journal of American domestic consumption of those materials, Studies 34 (2000): 465 – 85.