issued by pro-manufacturing groups, groups which his own furious

energy had pushed into existence.

Carey directly challenged the public to think outside the

mental prison set up for Americans by the imperial establish-

ment. His call for moral courage is urgently relevant now, two

centuries later, as citizens yield to dominant public opinion and, as

Carey put it,

"surrender their reason" to

wild, ridiculous, and absurd theories on morals, religion,

politics, or science, which have domineered over man-

kind….

As a preliminary step, we propose to establish the utter

fallacy of some maxims, supported by the authority of the

name of Adam Smith, author of the Wealth of Nations,

but pregnant with certain ruin to any nation by which they

may be carried into operation.... [The influence of these

maxims has been most sensibly and perniciously felt in our

councils; has deeply affected our prosperity; and has been

the main source whence the prevailing distress of the na-

ton has flowed.

This writer stands so pre-eminent in the estimation of a

large portion of Christendom, as the Delphic Oracle of po-

litical economy, and there is such a magic in his name, that

it requires great hardihood to encounter him, and a high

degree of good fortune to obtain a fair and patient hearing

for the discussion.

But at this enlightened period, we trust our citizens will

scorn to surrender their reason into the guidance of any

authority whatever. When a position is presented to the

mind, the question ought to be, not who delivered it, but

What is its nature? And, how is it supported by reason and

commonsense, and especially by fact? A theory, how plausible soever, and however propped up by a bead-roll 60 of

Breat names, ought to be regarded with suspicion, if unsupported by fact-_and ... if contrary to established fact

ought to be unhesitatingly rejected.;In the long catalog.

Of wild, ridiculous, and absurd theories on morals, religion,

politics, or science, which have domineered over mankind

There is hardly one that has not reckoned among its part"

sans, men of the highest celebrity. And in the present instance, the most cogent and conclusive facts bear testimony against the political economist, how great soever his

reputation.

We hope, therefore, that our readers will bring to this

discussion, minds wholly liberated from the fascination of

the name of the writer whose opinions we undertake to

combat, and a determination to weigh the evidence in the

scales of reason, not those of prejudice. 61

Carey showed that Alexander Hamilton had thoroughly refuted

Adam Smith's arguments; Smith had warned America not to pro-

mote its own manufacturing. But the advocates of Smith's system,

plantation owners and international merchants, had blocked Con-

gressional approval of tariff rates that would have been high enough

to effectively protect U.S. industry from cheap imports.

Smith's American followers sought to maintain the U.S. in is

former colonial status. Carey wrote that they had objected to indus

trial development, with the

idea of the immense superiority of agricultural pursuits e

over manufactures…

Footnot 60:

Ih the medieval English church, a "bede-toll"' was a list of persons in a

Parish to be prayed for on the anniversary of their death.