Carey arrived in Philadelphia with just twelve guineas to his name. Under sail on the America, Carey foolishly gambled at cards losing half his money. In a twist of fate, Carey received the funds he needed to make a new start in the United States. Following his arrival on November 1, 1784, a companion on the America continued to Virginia to meet with George Washington. At the time, Lafayette was visiting Mount Vernon. When he learned that Carey had landed in Philadelphia, he made plans to meet with him on the way to New York. When they met, Carey discussed his desire to publish a newspaper in Philadelphia. The next morning, Carey was surprised to discover a note from Lafayette with four one hundred dollar bank notes to buy a printing press. He agreed to commend Carey to political leaders Robert Morris and Thomas Fitzsimmons.[1] The Marquis also wrote a letter of recommendation to George Washington auspiciously launching Carey’s career.[2]

 

“…a most extraordinary and unlooked-for circumstance occurred, which changed my purpose, gave a new direction to my views, and in some degree, colored the course of my future  life.” [3]                                                                                           

                                                                        Mathew Carey

                                             

The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) gave Carey the funds to start a newspaper, launching Carey’s career as a printer and publisher in America.

BECOMING AMERICAN | The Pennsylvania Evening Herald

[1] Mathew Carey, Autobiography, (Brooklyn: Research Classics, 1942) 11. See also Joseph M. Adelman, “Trans-Atlantic Migration and the Printing Trade in Revolutionary America,” Early American Studies, V. 11, N. 3 (Fall, 2013) 538.

[2] James N. Green, “Mathew Carey: Publisher and Patriot,” (Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1985) 5.

[3] Carey, Autobiography, 10.