Mathew Carey (1760-1839)
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
An Irish Catholic who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1784, Carey was a prominent printer and publisher and prolific writer. He was an influential political economist and nationalist, promoting the purchase of American goods over imports, a strong central bank, and protective tariffs. He was a civic leader and a founder of the Hibernian Society (1793), which provided support and relief for Irish immigrants. His print shop was here, 1792-1813.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Mathew Carey emigrated from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1784 and built one of the young nation's most influential publishing houses, operating his print shop on this site for two decades. A prolific writer and political economist, he championed American manufacturing, protective tariffs, and a strong national bank. In 1793 he helped found the Hibernian Society, which aided newly arrived Irish immigrants.
Why it matters
Carey shaped early American economic thought and the print culture of the new republic while easing the path for the immigrants who followed him.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1780s and 1790s, Philadelphia was the busy capital of a brand-new country still figuring out what it wanted to be. It was the largest city in the United States, a place of wharves and coffeehouses and printing presses, and for a stretch of years it served as the seat of the federal government. Ideas moved through it as fast as ships.
Into that city, in 1784, stepped a young Irish Catholic who had already gotten into trouble at home for his outspoken pen. Ireland under British rule was no easy place for a Catholic with strong opinions, and America — for all its imperfections — offered a printer room to work and argue out loud.
This corner of Philadelphia was part of the young republic's information engine. Before radio, before the telegraph, a print shop was where public argument actually happened: pamphlets, books, and periodicals rolled off the presses and into the hands of readers deciding what kind of nation they lived in.
People & events
Mathew Carey set up his print shop on this site and worked here for more than two decades. He was a publisher first, but he was also a relentless writer and one of the most active minds in early American economic debate.
Carey argued, again and again, that the young country should stand on its own feet. He championed buying American-made goods over foreign imports, backed protective tariffs to shelter homegrown industry, and supported a strong central bank to steady the nation's finances. These weren't abstractions to him; they were a program for national survival, printed and circulated in his own shop.
He did not forget where he came from. In 1793 he helped found the Hibernian Society, an organization created to help Irish immigrants — people arriving much as he had, needing a foothold. It was one thing to succeed as a newcomer; Carey turned around and built a ladder for those following behind him.
Its place in the American story
Carey's story sits at the meeting point of two big American themes: immigration and the making of a national economy. He arrived with little standing and became a shaper of how Americans thought about money, manufacturing, and independence.
His push for tariffs, domestic industry, and a national bank fed directly into the great economic arguments of the early republic — debates over whether America should remain a nation of farmers or become a nation of makers. Those questions ran through the country's politics for generations.
And his print shop is a reminder that the United States was, from the start, an argument conducted in ink. A single immigrant's press could help set the terms of national debate — and, through groups like the Hibernian Society, ease the path for the immigrants who would keep remaking the country.
If you visit
Stand here and picture the noise: the clatter of a hand press, the smell of ink and paper, apprentices hauling type. What looks today like an ordinary Philadelphia streetscape was once a workshop where opinion was manufactured and shipped.
This marker fits naturally into a walking tour of old Philadelphia, a city dense with the buildings and stories of the founding era. Carey's corner pairs well with the nearby sites of early American government and commerce — this was all one connected world.
As you read, remember that you're looking at the spot where a man who crossed an ocean helped decide what the new country would argue about. It's a small place with an outsized claim on the American conversation.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Themes & tags
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