"The Freedom of the Will" are still studied.

After the French and Indian War, politics became the absorbing topic
of the day, and Benjamin Franklin was the first to achieve fame in
this field of letters. His writings in "Poor Richard's Almanac,"
honest and wholesome in tone, exercised a marked influence upon the
literature of his time. Among the orators who won distinction in the
discussion of civil liberty are James Otis, John and Samuel Adams,
and Patrick Henry. The writings of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and
James Madison in _The Federalist_ secured the adoption of the
Constitution and survive to this day as brilliant examples of
political essays, while the state papers of George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson are models of clearness and elegance of style.

With the peace and prosperity that followed the establishment of our
republic came the opportunity to cultivate the broader fields of
literature. Relieved of the strain of the struggle for civil and
religious liberty, the people could satisfy their inclinations toward
the beautiful in art and life, and from that time until the present
day the writers of America have held their own in the front ranks
of the authors of the English-speaking peoples.

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, the first American poet to win
distinction, was born in New York City in 1795. He was educated in
Columbia College. He died prematurely when only twenty-five years old.
His best-known poems are "The Culprit Fay" and "The American Flag."
He was the intimate friend of Fitz-Greene Halleck, the Connecticut
poet, author of "Marco Bozzaris." The last four lines of Drake's
"American Flag" were written by Fitz-Greene Halleck.