One page autograph letter signed to Nicholas Biddle concerning an election
Philadelphia: January 6, 1817. 4to, 12 lines, approx. 75 words; integral leaf attached with Biddle's Harrisburg address on the verso; previous folds; very good. The publisher Mathew Carey writes to Nicholas Biddle in Harrisburg, and the letter is marked "Private." "As the period of the election approaches, I feel desirous of knowing the probable issue, as far as it can be ascertained ... I shall therefore regard it as a particular favor if you will inform me whether there is any nomination made; when the election is to take place; and what is the name of." Carey may be referring to elections for the newly chartered United States Bank. Carey's relationship with financier Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), who had been elected to the Pennsylvania state senate in 1810, was a close one. In league with the Society of the Cincinnati circle, the two men organized the first large-scale American coal mining operations. Nicholas Biddle also joined Carey's vigorous campaign for a second United States Bank, to be chartered in 1816, in order to protect American financial independence. Biddle was appointed president of the Bank in 1823 by James Monroe, who was then finishing his second term as U.S. President. In 1820 Carey founded the "Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry" made up of the leading citizens of Philadelphia. Carey (1760-1839), American publisher, bookseller, and economist, was born in Dublin and immigrated to Philadelphia in 1784. A gift from Lafayette enabled him to establish the Pennsylvania Herald. From 1787 to 1792 he edited and published the American Museum, making it the leading American magazine of the period. Many of his political pamphlets were controversial, the most famous, The Olive Branch (1814), was written during the War of 1812 in an effort to unite the Democratic and Federalist parties in support of the war. His copious writings advocating the American protective system are interesting documents for the study of American economic history. His Essays on Political Economy was published in 1822. Subsequently he published and distributed at his own expense numerous pamphlets on the tariff question. His essays had a large circulation and went far in turning sentiment in the direction of a protectionist policy. Item #53959
Price: $425.00
