Profile Major Works Resources

Henry Charles Carey, 1793-1879.

Portrait of Henry Carey

American publisher, writer and economist, primary theorist and one of the chief proponents of the protectionist "American System".

Originally from Philadelphia, Henry Charles Carey inherited his publishing business and his economic ideas from his father, Matthew Carey.  An Irish nationalist and political refugee, Matthew Carey had emigrated to Philadelphia, and soon entered the book and publishing trade.  An enthusiast of Alexander Hamilton, Matthew Carey was a leading proponent of protectionist tariffs and founded the Society for the Promotion of American Industry in Philadelphia for the purpose in the 1810s.  For the next half-century, US politics were torn in repeated controversies over foreign tariffs.   Industrialists from the north lobbied for high tariffs to protect the fledgling American manufacturing from competition from industrial Britain, while agrarian plantation lords from the south insisted on keeping them low, to facilitate foreign trade.  The acrimonious struggle over the tariff went back and forth, frequently provoking the near-secession of states from the Union (e.g. during South Carolina's "nullificatoin crisis" of 1832).

The third child (and eldest son) Henry C. Carey joined Carey & Lea in 1814, and took over the publishing house of Carey & Lea on Matthew's retirement 1821. Henry was 28 years old at the time.  In 1835, at the age of 42, Henry C. Carey and retired from business  to dedicate himself to writing.  Drawing from Senior, Carey's first work (1835) was an examination on the wages-fund doctrine, disputing Ricardo's assertion that higher profits can be achieved by lower wages.   Carey's next work, Principles of Political Economy (1837-40) was largely conventional, and compatible with  classical Ricardian theory.

Henry C. Carey resuming writing after an interruption, producing his seminal The Past, the Present and the Future in 1848, where he introduced his famous "hilliside" theory of rent. Rejecting the classical Ricardian theory, arguing that increasing agriculture moves from comparatively less fertile to more fertile lands, thereby reversing the Ricardian theory.  Carey proposes the mental exercise of settlers arriving in a virgin valley, and notes that the most fertile lands, at the bottom of the valley, tend to be most cluttered with trees, vegetation, and underbrush that have to be cleared first, so early settlers tend to first cultivate the less fertile hillside, being more accessible with sparser vegetation.  And will only later move, as extent of agriculture expands, to the more fertile lands in the valley.  On the basis of this, Carey also rejects the Malthusian population doctrine, arguing that increasing returns to scale in agriculture will allow increasing population. Carey picked up Senior's point on decreasing fertility, and argued that eventually there would be a balance between subsistence and population.

"great law of molecular gravitation" applying an analogue of the Newtonian theory of gravitation to human society. 

Carey took up his father's standard most forcefully. 

Carey promoted the idea of an "American system"  a combination of high tariffs, internal improvements (roads, canals, harbors, etc.), a national currency and balanced budgets that he asserted was essential for American economic development.  It was held up in contrast to the " British system" of laissez faire free-trade.  At least as far as foreign trade was concerned. In domestic economy, Carey was a proponent of optimistic 'harmony' doctrines, not dissimilar to liberals like Bastiat.

Unlike his father, Carey was not, however, merely a polemicist, but looked to back up his arguments with detailed economic studies and statistics.  Carey initial ideas were laid out in the Principles (1837-38) which had some dissemination both in the US and abroad, and quoted approvingly on the political stage (e.g. by Henry Clay's Whigs).  Carey followed it up with smaller tracts, elaborating on specific points.  In older age, Carey tried to gather his ideas together in a monumental treatise, Principles of Social Science in 1858-59. 

Carey attacked the principles of Adam Smith and the classical British economists as not only being inapplicable and even detrimental to the American economy, but as being wrong in themselves.  Not only wrong on trade, but also wrong on population, rent, wages and value.  In Past, Present & Future (1848), Carey introduced his famous "hillside" theory of cultivation, arguing that increasing the scale agriculture moves from comparatively less fertile to more fertile lands, thereby reversing the Ricardian theory.  Carey proposes the mental exercise of settlers arriving in a virgin valley, and notes that the most fertile lands, at the bottom of the valley, tend to be most cluttered with trees, vegetation, and underbrush that have to be cleared first, so early settlers tend to first cultivate the less fertile hillside, being more accessible with sparser vegetation.  And will only later move, as extent of agriculture expands, to the more fertile lands in the valley.

However, Carey's efforts at constructing his own alternative economic theory were not very successful, and  much disparaged by economists for their vulgarity and inconsistency..  Carey's theoretical efforts seemed to be closer to the land theories of value of Cantillon and the Physiocrats.   Nonetheless, Carey is mostly remembered for connecting protectionism to economic development, and usually compared to his German "nationalist" contemporary Frederick List.

Carey's high-water moment came with the passage of the Morrill Tariff in 1863, introducing protectionist tariffs in the United States.  In the aftermath of the Civil War, Henry Carey urged the continuance and even increase of the tariff, and argued for a  reduction in internal taxes, and the elimination of the wartime income tax..  Carey also emerged as a leading proponent of "easy money",  arguing against the resumption of specie payments and the maintenance of inconvertible notes.  He welcomed the depreciation of the dollar to gold as acting as an effective tariff barrier.

Carey was highly influential in his day, arguably the single most influential American economist of the 19th Century.  The core of his support was among the industrialists of Pennsylvania, and the the University of Pennsylvania made Carey required reading for students.  

 

  


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Major Works of Henry C. Carey

  • The Geography, History, and Statistics, of America, and the West Indies; exhibiting a correct account of the discovery, settlement, and progress of the various kingdoms, states, and provinces of the western hemisphere, to the year 1822, with J. Lea, 1823 [bk]
  • Essay on the Rate of Wages: with an examination of the causes of the differences in the condition of the labour in population throughout the world, 1835 [bk]
  • The Harmony of Nature, 1836 (privately printed)
  • The Principles of Political Economy , 1837-40, 3 volumes (4 parts)
    • Part 1 - The laws of the production and distribution of wealth, 1837 (v.1) [bk]
    • Part 2 - Of the causes which retard increase in the production of wealth, and improvement in the physical and moral condition of man, 1838 (v.2) [bk]
    • Part 3 - Of the causes which retard increase in the numbers of mankind, 1840 (v.3) [bk]
    • Part 4 - Of the causes which retard improvement in the political condition of man, 1840  (v.3) [bk]
    • 1853 Italian trans.
  • The Credit System in France, Great Britain and the United States, 1838 [bk]
  • "Causes of the Unsteadiness of the Currency, and the Remedy Thereof", 1840, Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review, vol.2, Pt.1 (p.372), Pt.2 (p.450); vol.3, Pt. 3 (p.47), Pt.4 (p.122), Pt. 5.1 (p.311), Pt.5.2 (p.482)
  • Answers to the Questions: what constitutes currency? what are the causes of unsteadiness of the currency? and what is the remedy?, 1840 [bk]
  • "Commercial Associations of France and England", 1845, Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review, v.13, Pt.1 (May, p.403), Pt.2 (Jun, p.499)
  • "The Bank Restriction Act and the Financial Crisis of 1847", 1847, Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review, v. Pt.1 (Aug), p.131, Pt. 2 (Sep), p.227
  • [Anon] Letters to the People of New Jersey, on the Frauds, Extortions, and Oppressions of the Railroad Monopoly, by a Citizen of Burlington,   [repr. from Burlington Gazette, Jan 21-Apr 29, 1848], 1848, [bk]
  • [Anon] Beauties of the Monopoly System of New Jersey, by a Citizen of Burlington, 1848 (c.Oct) [bk]
  • [Anon]  A Review of an Address of the Joint Board of Directors of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad Companies to the People of New Jersey, by a Citizen of Burlington, 1848 [bk]
  • The Past, the Present and the Future, 1848 [bk] [1856 2nd ed; 1859 ed; 1869 ed; 1889 ed] [moa] [Italian extracts]
  • "Of a Beneficent Effects of a Policy that Promotes Concentration - Extract from Carey's Past, Present and Future", 1848, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, (Sep), p.177 
  • "The Slave Question - Letter from H.C. Carey to Nathan Appleton, Dec 7, 1848", 1849, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil,  v.1 (Jan)  p.401
  • "Man and His Helpmate - Extract from Carey's Past, Present and Future", 1849, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, v.1 (Mar) p.555
  • [Anon] The Railroad Monopoly, by a Citizen of Burlington, [repr. from Burlington Gazette, Dec 29, 1848 to May 25, 1849], 1849 [offprint]
  • "The Harmony of Interests, Agricultural, manufacturing and commercial", 1849-50, Plough, Loom & Anvil,  vol. 2. Dec. 1849 (p.325), Jan 1850 (p.389), (Feb, p.453), (Mar, p.525), (Apr, p.595), (May, p. 667), (Jun, p.747)  vol. 3 Jul (p.1), Aug (p.65), (Sep, p.137) (Oct, p.201), (Nov p.265),  (Dec, p.327) [offprint]
  • [Anon] Review of the Report of the Late Commissioners for Investigating the Affairs of the Joint Companies, and of the operations of the managers of those companies, by a Citizen of Burlington, 1850 [bk]
  • "Letter on what the North Desires - The Case as it Stands, the Why and the Wherefore, explained- On the true cause of existing difficulties, from a friend of the union in Pennsylvania, to a friend of the union in South Carolina, June 13,1850"",  1850, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, v.3, p.37
  • "Letter to Editor - Two Diseases raging in the Union, July 4, 1850", 1850, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, v.3, p.91.
  • "What Constitutes Real Freedom of Trade?", 1850, American Whig Review, Pt.1 (p.127)  Pt. 2 (p.228), Pt.3 (Oct, p.353), Pt. 4 (Nov, p.456)
  • "Political Economists", 1850, American Whig Review (Oct), p.376  [moa]
  • "The Prospect: Agricultural, manufacturing, commercial and financial, at the opening of the year 1851,", 1851, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, (Apr) p.595, (May), p.659
  • The Prospect: Agricultural, manufacturing, commercial and financial, at the opening of the year 1851, 1851 [bk]
  • The Harmony of Interests, Agricultural, Manufacturing and Commercial, 1851. [bk] [1852 2nd ed; 1856 repr, 1868 ed, 1872 edMisc repr]- [moa] excerpts
  • "The first tax to be paid by labor is transportation", 1851, Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.4 (Sep), p.129
  • "The Harmony of Real Free Trade and Discords of British Free Trade", 1851, Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.4 (Dec), p.321
  • "Centralization", 1852,  Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.4 (Jan) p.385
  • "Letters to Hon. R.M.T. Hunter, Chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, Nov 12, Dec 4 & Dec 24, 1852", 1852-53,  Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.5, First (Dec. 1852, p.321), Second (Feb, 1853, p.69), Third (March, 1853, p.129)
  • The Slave Trade, domestic and foreign: why it exists, and how it may be extinguished, 1853 [bk] [1867 ed]
  • Letters on International Copyright, 1853 [bk] [1868 2nd ed]  [moa] [1866 German trans.]
  • "Note from H.C. Carey, to Editor" 1853, Putnam's Monthly, (Aug), p.229 [moa]
  • "Letter from H.C. Carey, to Editor", 1853, Putnam's Monthly (Sep), p.342 [moa]
  • 1854, Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review, (v.31), p.?
  • "Money", 1855, Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review v.34, Pt.1 (Jan, p.19), Pt. 2 (Feb, p.166), p.3 (Apr, p.413)
  • The Present Situation and Future Prospects of American Railroads, 1855
  • "Money: a lecture delivered before the New York Geographical and Statistical Society, February 1857", 1857, Merchant's Magazine & Commercial Review, v.36, (Apr), p.403
  • Money: a lecture delivered before the New York Geographical and Statistical Society, February 1857. 1860 [bk] [1875 Misc reprint]
  • Letters to the President on the Foreign and Domestic Policy of the Union: and its effects, as exhibited in the condition of the people and the state, 1858 [bk]
  • The Principles of Social Science , 1858-9.
  • The French and American Tariffs Compared; in a series of letters addressed to Mons. Michel Chevalier, etc., 1861 [bk] (to Chevalier)
  • Financial Crises: Their causes and effects, 1864  [bk] [1872 Misc, repr] [moa]
  • The Currency: Letters to Hon. Schulyer Colfax, 1865
  • The Paper Question: Letters to Hon. Schulyer Colfax, 1865  [moa]
  • The Way to Outdo England without Fighting Her: Letters to Hon. Schulyer Colfax on the paper, the iron, the farmer's, the railroad and the currency question, 1865 [bk][moa]
  • The Resources of the Union: A lecture read December, 1865, 1866 [bk]
  • Contraction or Expansion? Repudiation or Resumption? Letters to the Hon. Hugh M'Culloch, Secretary of the Treasury, 1866 (Jan-Feb) [1872 Misc repr, Misc repr]
  • The Public Debt, local and national: How to provide for its discharge while lessening the burthen of taxation, letter to David A. Wells, etc., 1866 [bk]
  • "British Free Trade", 1866, Iron Age [repr. in J. Williams, editor, British Free Trade, how it affects the agriculture and the foreign commerce of the Union, bk]
  • Reconstruction: industrial, financial, and political, 1867. [moa]
  • Shall We Have Peace? Peace financial, and peace political? Letters to the President Elect of the United States, 1869 [bk]
  • A Memoir of Stephen Colwell, read before the American Philosophical Society, Friday, November 17, 1871, 1871 [bk]
  • The Unity of Law; as exhibited in the relations of physical, social, mental, and moral science, 1872 [bk], [moa]
  • Manual of Social Science, 1872  (condensation of 1858-9 by Kate McKean)  [bk] [moa] [German 1866 trans]
  • Miscellaneous works of Henry C. Carey, 1872  [1883, v.1, v.2] [moa]
  • Miscellaneous papers on National Finances, the Currency and other economic subjects, 1875 [bk, cont]
  • Resumption: When, and how, will it end? Letters to the President of the United States, 1877 [bk]

HET

 

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Resources on Henry Carey

  • A Memoir of Henry C. Carey, read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, January 5, 1880 by William Elder, 1880 [bk] [Repr in 1883 Miscellanous Works, v.1, p.1], appendix with list of books and pamphlets by Henry C. Carey (p.37)[(p.37)]
  • "A Discourse on the Reciprocal Relations of Agriculture and the Other Branches of American Domestic Industry", by J.S. Skinner, 1848,  The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, v.1 (Jul), p.1
  • "Carey's Principles of Political Economy", 1838, NAR (Jul), p.73 [moa]
  • "Carey's Past, Present and Future", 1848, Living Age, p.212
  • "Carey's Past, Present and Future", 1848, American Whig Rev, p.544 [moa]
  • "Henry C. Carey, the Apostle of the American school of Political Economy", by Rufus W. Griswold, 1851, American Whig Review (Jan), p.79 [reprinted as "Henry C. Carey and His Political Economy" in 1851, International Magazine, p.402] [moa]
  • "The Study of Political Economy" by "A Farmer", 1851, Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review (Apr), p.452
  • "Protection vs. Free Trade - the Study of Political Economy", by E.P. Smith, 1851, Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review (July), p.64
  • "Carey on the Slave Trade" 1853, Putnam's Monthly (Jul), p.104 [moa]
  • "Carey's New Work on Political Economy - Abstraction and Restitution" 1853, The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, v.6 (Aug) p.65
  • "Carey on Literary Piracy", 1854, Putnam's Monthly, (Jan) p.96
  • "Editorial - portrait and biography of Henry C. Carey", 1851, Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.4 (Oct), p.249
  • "Henry C. Carey and His Writings", by W.O.B., 1852, Plough, Loom & Anvil, v.4, (Jan) p.414
  • "Free Trade and Protection, or a partial review of Mr. Carey's letters to the president", by Richard Sulley, 1859,  Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review,  v.40 (May), p.531
  • "Strictures on a review of Mr. Carey's letters to the president", by Henry Carey Baird, 1859,  Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review,   v.41 (Jul) p.63 (reply to Sulley)
  • "Free Trade and Protection, or a partial review of Mr. Carey's letters to the president II", by Richard Sulley, 1859,  Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review,  v.41 (Sep), p.288 (rejoinder to Baird)
  • "Partial review of Mr. Carey's letters to the president - Reply to Mr. Henry Carey Baird", 1859,  by Richard Sulley, 1859,  Hunt's Merchants' Magazine & Commercial Review,  v.42 (Feb), p.147 (reply to Baird)
  • Carey's Umwälzung der Volkswirtschaftslehre und Socialwissenschaft, by Eugen Dühring 1865. [bk]
  • Die Verkleinerer Carey's und die Krisis der Nationalökonomie, sechszehn Briefe, by Eugen Dühring, 1867 [bk]
  • "Henry C. Carey and his Social System" by CH Levermore, 1890, PSQ (Dec), p.553 [js]
  • "Carey, Henry" in C. Coquelin and G.U. Guillaumin, editors, 1852, Dictionnaire de l'économie politique [1864 ed.]
  • "Carey, Henry" in L. Say and J. Chailley-Bert, editors, 1892, Nouveau Dictionnaire de l'économie politique
  • "Carey, Henry" in R.H. Inglis Palgrave, editor, 1894-1899, Dictionary of Political Economy [1918 ed.]
  • "Carey, Henry" in H.D. Macleod, 1863, Dictionary of Political Economy: Biographical, bibliographical, historical and practical, vol.1.
  • "Carey, Henry"  in J. Conrad et al, (1891-94) Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften [2nd ed, 1898-1901]
  • "Carey, Henry" (1897 version) in  in W. Bliss, et al, 1897 Encyclopedia of Social Reform.
  • "Carey, Henry" (1908 version) in W. Bliss, et al, 1908, New Encyclopedia of Social Reform.
  • "Carey, Henry" in 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  • "Henry C. Carey's Attitude toward the Ricardian Theory of Rent", by John Roscoe Turner, 1912, QJE (Aug), p.644  [js] [av]
  • "Ch. VI - Henry Charles Carey" (ch.6) in The Ricardian Rent Theory in Early American Economics by John Roscoe Turner, 1921 [bk]
  • Biography of H.C. Carey from Hypertext on American history, Groningen
  • "Carey & Lea, publishes - seasonal variations in its business cycle, 1833-1836 " at Hypertext on American History, Groningen [site]  (history of Carey's publishing firm)
  • Wikipedia

 

 
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