The American Review: A Whig Journal - History

History

The first issue of American Review was dated January 1845, though it was likely published as early as October 1844. The timing was purposeful so that it could promote Whig candidate Henry Clay in the presidential election against James K. Polk, who was supported by the Democratic Review.

In December 1844, Edgar Allan Poe was recommended as an editorial assistant by James Russell Lowell, though Poe was not hired. In May 1846, Poe would review Colton's work in The Literati of New York City, published in Godey's Lady's Book. Poe described Colton's poem "Tecumseh" as "insufferably tedious" but said that the magazine was one of the best of its kind in the United States.

The American Review had the distinction of being the first authorized periodical to print "The Raven" in February 1845. It was printed with the pseudonym "Quarles". Another well-known poem by Poe, "Ulalume," also was first published (anonymously) in the American Review. Other works by Poe published in the American Review include "Some Words with a Mummy" and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar."

The American Review ceased publication in 1849, unable to continue paying its contributors.