Extract from Edgar Allan Poe’s Essay, The Literati of New York City

[before Jan. 1846]

Mr. William Kirkland ... has written much for the magazines ... A valuable essay on “The Tyranny of Public Opinion in the United States,” (published in “The Columbian” for December, 1845,) demonstrates the truth of Jefferson’s assertion, that in this country, which has set the world an example of physical liberty, the inquisition of popular sentiment overrules in practice the freedom asserted in theory by the laws.

Published in Gary R. Thompson, ed., Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849: Essays and Reviews (New York, 1984), 1134. Conjectural date based on publication of original essay.
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January 1, 1846
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