On Wed, 6 Jul 1994, NAZ wrote:
> All:
>
> A faculty member is looking for the source of the phrase "It's a
> free country." A colleague of his thought it might have come
> from James Fenimore Cooper, but that has not panned out so far.
> Clearly, it may just be too ubiquitous to be tracked down to a
> source. In a 1990 law review article, Andrew Koppelman
> identified it as a "popular American saying" (84 Nw. U. L. Rev.
> 480). Kenneth Lasson has referred to it as being "[i]n the
> vernacular..." (23 Duq. L. Rev. 97). We have checked about 20
> standard quotation books, including political, literary and
> historical collections, as well as Lexis and Westlaw. Any
> additional leads will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Titles checked include:
>
> Columbia Dict of Q's
> Home Book of American Q's
> The Q Dictionary
> Magill's Q's in Context
> Oxford Dict. of Q's
> Evans Dict. of Q's
> Q's in History
> Respectfully Quoted
> Power Quotes
> Dict. of Political Q's
> Political Q's
> Contemprary Q's
> Steven's Home Book of Q's
> Oxford D. of Modern Q's
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Linda Karr O'Connor
> Nazareth Pantaloni, III
> Reference Department
> Cornell Law Library
> Myron Taylor Hall
> Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
> email: naz@law.mail.cornell.edu
> phone: 607.255.9691
>
>
The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (3d ed. 1970) lists as a
proverb, "This is a free country." The first citation given is from J.
Neal, The Down-Easters, volume 1, page 102 (1833): "Free country,
neighbor." The second example is from Westall, Birch Dene, page 243
(1891 edition of book originally published 1889): "It would never do to
make th' cottages too comfortable....And this is a free country. Them as
doesn't like 'em can leave 'em.
Fred Shapiro
Associate Librarian for Public Services
Yale Law School
shapiro@minerva.cis.yale.edu
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