February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
He had no way of knowing that this decision would someday bring him to Philadelphia and a prominent place in early American journalism and politics.
Carey became an apprentice and within a few years became an accomplished printer. He also read widely and voraciously, acquiring a firm grasp of literature, philosophy, history, and politics. In 1777, at the age of 18, he published his first article, a condemnation of the practice of dueling that appeared in the Hibernian Journal.
Two years later he published a pamphlet that quickly gained the attention of British authorities. “The Urgent Necessity of an Immediate Repeal of the Whole Penal Code Against Roman Catholics” demanded that Parliament abolish a long list of civil, economic, and political restrictions (The Penal Laws) imposed on Ireland’s Catholics back in the 1690s.
The anonymous pamphlet was read throughout Ireland and sparked a heated public debate. Politicians read passages aloud in Parliament as evidence of a likely Catholic insurrection. Carey’s opponents, including some conservative Catholics, posted a