When Emily Dickinson used the word "American," she meant what we more and more use the term "United States" to signify. She did not intend to refer to two hemispheres by "American," but to the new nation in North America. Her father was active in local and national politics, and her brother was a conscientious and active citizen of Amherst. When the two disfranchised women were in their early twenties, Emily Dickinson complained to her dear friend Susan Gilbert: "Why cant I be a Delegate to the great Whig Convention? - dont I know all about Daniel Webster, and the Tariff, and the Law? . . . but I dont like this country at all, and I shant stay here any longer! 'Delenda est' America, Massachusetts and all! open me carefully -.