"The Cask of Amontillado" is the one of the latest of Poe's popular short stories, published in the November 1846 edition of Godey's Lady's Book, based in Philadelphia. The cold winter had begun to set upon the Poe family, and Edgar reportedly did not even have money for coal to heat their tiny cottage in the Bronx after The Broadway Journal, where he worked as editor, went bankrupt earlier in the year. During the summer months, Poe had also been engaged in a vicious war of words with literary critic Thomas Dunn English after the two get into a fist fight, thus circulating rumors that Poe is a madman; Poe further criticizes English among others in a column entitled "The Literati of New York City," also hosted by Godey's Lady's Book. The battle waged back and forth between these two individuals, reaching its apex after The Evening Mirror willfully published a message from Thomas English taunting Poe to sue him. After no apology was given from the journal's publisher, Poe decided to file a lawsuit against them for libel, an offense clearly referenced in the Constitution , which forbids abuse of the First Amendment by intentionally defaming others through writing.