Six English-language newspapers and one in German were already in circulation in Philadelphia. Despite the competition, on January 6, 1785, Carey boldly announced his plans to publish the Pennsylvania Evening Herald every Tuesday and Saturday evening. He had not yet bought a printing press.
Printer Robert Bell had recently died. His printing press, in Carey’s words, was “…very old, and very much impaired in usefulness.” The press came up for auction in Bell’s estate sale. Carey expected to purchase it at a bargain. As Carey began to bid, he realized that Eleazer Oswald, editor of the Independent Gazetteer, was bidding against him.[1]
Oswald, a Revolutionary War veteran, was an ardent nativist, even though he had come to the colonies from England as a teen. Enemies described him as a “seditious turbulent man.” Oswald feared the brash young foreigner from Ireland would become a fierce competitor. Oswald tried to outbid him. Carey finally bought the press, but nearly at the price of a new one.[2]
The inaugural issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Herald appeared as announced on January 25, 1785. Response was poor. Two months later he took on William Spotswood and Christopher Talbot as partners. Readership failed to increase. He raised the price of the Herald even though his paper competed against six others.
Then Carey attended a town meeting about trade in the United States to report it in the Herald. He heard Jared Ingersoll, an urbane and skillful lawyer, deliver a stirring speech without notes. When Carey returned home, he accurately jotted down the speech. When Ingersoll reviewed it, he mentioned that Carey could not have done a better job recollecting his speech.[3]
The success of that report encouraged Carey to publish debates in the Pennsylvania Assembly. Despite his lack of stenographic skills, he managed to recount the debates accurately, increasing the Herald’s circulation. No other newspaper in Philadelphia reported the debates, giving him the competitive edge.[4]
When Carey arrived in America, the nation was in the midst of a depression. After the Revolution merchants discovered the difficulties of re-establishing trade. Britain, Spain and France, and policies that favored their colonies, largely prohibited American exports to the Caribbean. These policies restricted exports of livestock, flour, lumber and shipping. As a result, the United States lacked financing for manufactured goods from Britain and the continent. As he had done in the Volunteer’s Journal, Carey commented on economic issues in the Herald. He noted that America’s desire for foreign manufactures caused a shortage of coined money. He promoted the idea of domestic manufactures, lauding the New York State legislature’s efforts encourage them. He praised the legislature for putting more duties boot, shoes hemp, rope, cordage and linseed oil. Duties, he wrote, encouraged domestic production of those items. In a piece entitled Observations on the Badness of the Times, his opinions foreshadowed his future as an advocate of protection.[5]
BECOMING AMERICAN | Eleazer Oswald Challenged Carey to a Duel
[1] Mathew Carey, Autobiography (Brooklyn: Research Classics, 1942) 11.
[2] Carey, Autobiography, 11.
[3] Carey, Autobiography, 12.
[4] Carey, Autobiography, 12.
[5] Stephen Meardon, “’A Reciprocity of Advantages’: Carey, Hamilton, and the American Protective Doctrine” Early American Studies, V. 11 N. 3 (Fall, 2013) 442-3.