Mathew Carey was one of the most popular and influential economic writers of his day, but his work has been largely overlooked by modern writers, who tend to focus on more scholarly writers or on precursors to contemporary classical economics. Carey was a self-taught printer and publisher who rejected Adam Smith, led the early fight for protective tariffs, and wrote hundreds of newspaper articles to convince the public of the need to protect American manufacturers. “The New Olive Branch” is Carey’s most important, accessible, and sustained elaboration of his political-economic ideas, and is accompanied in this volume by portions of his “Addresses of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry” (1822), which offer further insight into his rejection of classical economics.

Trade is the dominant subject in nineteenth century economics. During the course of the century, Britain was transformed from a protectionist power to an open economy, a change embodied by the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. This is reflected in the economic literature of the period, with the qualified free trade advocacy of the early classical economists developing into more strident views of the Manchester School. However throughout the period free trade did not go unchallenged, and by the end of the century a fully developed protectionist position had emerged represented by, for example, the economic nationalism of Henry Carey in the United States and in the fair trade movement in Britain. This volume is a collection of materials relating to the major nineteenth century debates about external trade. It includes some extremely rare but representative pieces from less well-known names. The collection includes an original introduction by the editor, and each of the individual pieces has been carefully retypeset. The set includes material by: James Mill, Richard Cobden, Robert Torrens, John Ramsey McCulloch, Freidrich List, Henry Carey and M. Frederick Bastiet.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.