Books and Manuscripts

(Carey, Mathew)
The American Remembrancer; or, An Impartial Collection of Essays, Resolves, Speeches, &c. Relative, or Having Affinity, to the Treaty with Great Britain
Philadelphia: Printed by Henry Tuckniss, for Mathew Carey, August 20, 1795-January 20, 1796. In three volumes. First edition. No. I-XII (all printed), each part with title-page. 8vo. 288; 288; 312 pp. Contemporary quarter paper over marbled paper-covered boards, original paper cover labels, second and third volumes rebacked to style (marbled paper on third volume possibly replaced at sometime), boards soiled and rubbed, upper fore-edge of second volume evenly shaved; top edges trimmed, other edges untrimmed; contemporary ownership signature of William Coleman at head of title-page in first volume; scattered spotting in first volume; scattered dampstaining in second volume; third volume lacking front free endpaper; title-page and pp. 3/4 in third volume starting, text leaves in same variously darkened with scattered foxing and dampstaining; in brown cloth fall-down-back box. Reese, The Federal Hundred, pp. 123-124

The complete run in original boards of Republican publisher Mathew Carey's nationally-distributed periodical The American Remembrancer, published in response to John Jay's proposed treaty with Great Britain. In 1794 Jay was sent by President Washington to negotiate with Great Britain on several matters left unresolved since the Treaty of Paris and which threatened to again engulf the two nations in war. Most concerning were the increasing British attacks on American merchant vessels and the impressment of American sailors into the British Navy, as well as the continued presence of British troops in the Northwest Territory, and their support of Native American raiding parties. In pursuance of a treaty, Jay made several concessions to the British that created a political firestorm at home. The ensuing political uproar helped mark the emergence of political parties in the United States, which this publication documents. 

Created to cover the contentious debates surrounding the treaty's ratification, Carey distributed it nationally, appealing to both pro and anti-treaty parties. As Carey notes in the first volume, as he “intended, in the present Publication, to collect together the most valuable Essays, Resolutions, Speeches, &c. respecting the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain,” and pledged to “observe the strictest Impartiality". The work was released serially over a six-month period, then bound into three volumes, and covered the controversy in great detail. “Remarkably, Carey's compilation is a relatively impartial collection of views on the treaty, bringing together opinions both for and against--though there appear, on balance, to be more essays for, rather than opposed to, the treaty. Included are speeches and articles by noted statesmen and politicians, including Charles Pinckney and Caesar Rodney, as well as anonymous essays in favor of and against the treaty. There are also printed several local town resolutions, showing the involvement of citizens at all levels of society in the important issue.” (Reese) 

Such was the significance of Carey's work that “Washington would give the American Remembrancer a prominent place in his library at Mount Vernon.” (George Washington: A Life in Books, Hayes, p. 278).