The full title was The Olive Branch, or, Faults on Both Sides, Federal and Democratic. A Serious Appeal on the Necessity of Mutual Forgiveness and Harmony. Shmoop loves those 19th-century titles. But it wasn't just the title that seemed a little grandiose. Advertisers actually bragged that everyone should own at least two books: The Bible and The Olive Branch. Trust us, it's okay if you don't own The Olive Branch.

This was an odd sort of book. Carey wrote it during the War of 1812, which saw the Americans pitted against the English once again. He was an Irish immigrant, and the Irish had no particular love for the English. When he arrived in the U.S., Carey saw a bunch of sectional groups bickering over seemingly everything. He just wanted all these groups to kiss and make up so they could focus on beating on the Brits.

He compared a number of prominent Americans to dumb dogs, each chasing and fighting over different bones when they should be worried about English dog-catchers. It's actually a rather interesting argument for national unity, and one that those who exacerbated the Nullification Crisis should have paid more attention to. Big picture thinking and all that.

Ironically, Robert Hayne used ideas from the book during his debate with Webster. But instead of restating Carey's pleas for harmony, he incorporated all of the insults and name-calling into his arguments. So much for using The Olive Branch as an "olive branch."