Pest pays respect to his council-members and honors their unique individual talents, in accordance with the American spirit of individualism, as each of the members of Pest's cabinet demonstrates a unique specialty. Poe attributes a grotesquely enlarged facial feature to each member of the "extraordinary assembly," suggesting that American culture may exaggerate the importance of individualism or, perhaps, that American politics may overemphasize the unique features of individual states.

During a time when the American government was still working out its kinks, Poe wrote "King Pest" to illustrate the shortcomings of both Federalism and Jeffersonian democracy. Poe depicts King Pest himself was a strong "elite" political leader who Hamilton and the Federalists would have supported. Yet the grossly exaggerated facial features of the individual council members indicate that Jefferson's concept of states' rights was also deeply flawed.

Moreover, the description of the group of six hoarding the town's liquor during...
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