John L. Carey
John L. Carey | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer, newspaper editor |
| Nationality | USA |
| Period | Antebellum South |
| Genre | Journalism, essays |
John L. Carey was a member of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1843 and a newspaper editor in Maryland in the years leading up to the American Civil War.[1] He was much preoccupied with the vexed question of slavery, about which he wrote a number of letters and books. He was editor of the Baltimore American (then known as the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser),[2] and in 1845 entered into a correspondence with the physician and planter Richard Sprigg Steuart on the subject of slavery.[3]
He wrote a number of letters, books and essays on the subject including "Slavery in Maryland - Briefly Considered", published in Baltimore in 1845.[4] Carey's position on slavery was essentially conflicted, reflecting the wider division of feeling in Maryland prior to the Civil War. On the one hand, Carey could not imagine a world in which the two races co-existed peacefully in liberty, and like many Southerners he deeply resented the pressure from Northern abolitionists. On the other hand, he sought a solution to the problem of slavery through peaceful re-settlement of former slaves in Africa.[5] Carey was a member of the Maryland State Colonization Society, an organization which sought to return free black Americans to the west coast in Africa, in what is today Liberia.[6]
John L. Carey was editor of the Baltimore American & Commercial Daily Advertiser for twelve years prior to his death in December 1852. He died from cholera in New Orleans where he had gone to assume the editorship of the Crescent.[7]
Published works
- Some Thoughts Concerning Domestic Slavery, Baltimore (1838) Retrieved July 2012
- Slavery in Maryland - Briefly Considered, Baltimore (1845) Retrieved July 2012
- Slavery and the Wilmot Proviso; With Some Suggestions for a Compromise (c1846) Retrieved July 2012
References
- Clark, Susan E., The Work of Cities Retrieved July 2012
- Grivno, Max L., p.118, "There Slavery Cannot Dwell": Agriculture and Labor in Northern Maryland Retrieved July 2012
Notes
- ^ [1] Maryland State Archives biographical file on John L. Carey [dead link]
- ^ Whalen, Terence, p.132, Edgar Allan Poe and the Masses: The Political Economy of Literature Retrieved July 2012
- ^ Richard Sprigg Steuart, Letter to John Carey 1845, p.4. Retrieved July 2012
- ^ Carey, John L., Slavery in Maryland - Briefly Considered Retrieved July 2012
- ^ Clark, p133 Retrieved July 2012
- ^ p.14, Journal of the Maryland Colonization Society Retrieved July 2012
- ^ American & Commercial Advertiser, December 16, 1852