Possibly because he had some bad years living in New England and eventually settled in London where his sentiments were bent toward the Church of England. Also, readers of his novels written and published in England found his satirizing of Americans, not just Presbyterians, amusing. Yet his earlier works, especially The Luck of Roaring Camp and the poem above, both of which became very popular in his day, were about as American as our literature ever became.
G/W
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