Does the stories of Sherlock Holmes fit Poe's outline for a detective story?

Edgar Allan Poe is sometimes credited for the first detective story, although the Chinese had been publishing their's for centuries. Perhaps he's given this honorable mention because of his outline for detective stories. Poe introduced three common motifs of detective fiction: the wrongly suspected man, the crime in the locked room, and the solution by unexpected means. The protagonist is always a brilliant detective, and his brilliance is observed by an admiring narrator. Did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series follow these guidelines? (http://www.detnovel.com/, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-detective-stories.htm)

Well Sherlock Holmes was obviously brilliant, and Dr. Watson was his admiring narrator. That part fits. In all of his investigations, there is a feel that a certain someone is the criminal. Near the end, however, Holmes would always stumble upon something by accident that would point towards the actual guilty party. Needless to say, Poe's outline greatly helped this Irishman in his works. Even to this day, movies are being made about this character who greatly fits the image of Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. Seems like no one comes up with their own ideas anymore. They just build on some one else's hard work. Pictured below is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the most celebrated detective fiction author. (http://www.bestofsherlock.com/story/storyhm.htm)

How has Washington Irving influence American Literature?

American Literature was actually greatly influenced by Irving, and many later American authors may not have existed without his effort. Irving is known as the "The Father of American Literature." He is in fact, the first belletrist of America. All other forms of writing in our country had been used to influence or inform the public in some way. No one had ever published any stories or novels for the mere pleasure of writing them. I make my claim that other American authors may not have existed on the belief that we are influenced by our environment. Had future potential authors of the past never read his works, American literature may have never existed. Irving started out as being a not so outstanding student and  became a lawyer. His true passion from the beginning was writing. Perhaps Edgar Allan Poe had been inspired by Irving's Gothic short stories.(http://www.answers.com/topic/washington-irving, http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/irving.html)

A unique trait of Irving's writing is the American pull to it. His tales take place in an American environment, generally the Dutch settlements surrounding the Hudson, and they also present common American characters. This was unique in a world where there was generally some great conflict thrusting at the Herculean protagonist. Maybe Mark Twain's writings would have been especially different without the influence of Irving, just a thought. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer may have never existed. I personally loved these books as a kid, but I guess you can't miss something that never existed.(http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/lit/amlit1/fall2002/08irving.htm)

I mean think about literature today. There are probably tens of thousands of Americans all writing stories based in some American environment and centered around an American character with a touch of an American theme. I'm not much of a reader, but if all I had to read growing up were preacher sermons and news, I wouldn't have bothered learning how to read. I know everyone enjoys stereotypes. Pictured below is what everyone in Alabama would look like had Irving not created an interesting use of writing for Americans.

When did England abolish slavery and how did this come about?

Fredrick Douglass had to flee the country a couple times, and he seemed to be deeply welcome in England. I know that at one point in history, England also had slaves. Did Douglass have any impact on the British empire freeing their slaves?

Pictured above is one of the several meetings between English abolitionists and their adversaries in Parliament. A man by the name of William Wilberforce had been working to abolish slavery since 1798. England ended the slave trade in 1816, and freed all the slaves in the empire by 1833. So, England had freed their slaves before Frederick Douglass had even arrived in London. Wilberforce had been very influential in Parliament by arguing Christian viewpoints, and he also had many stories of the horrors of the slave trade from John Newton, an ex-slave trader. (http://www.britannia.com/bios/wilberforce.html)

I'd like to say that the fight for an end to slavery had been going on for a long time. Recorded slavery had been around for over four thousand years, with the Egyptians enslaving the Jews. The first group of people to actually speak out against the trade were the Quakers around the year 1787. So, Wilberforce is to be given a lot of credit for the destruction of the trade. Of course, Frederick Douglass actually asked the British to be the leading effort in showing the world the injustice of slavery. War was necessary to end the trade in the U.S., as we all know. Had it not been for Wilberforce, however, the abolitionist would not have included such a large number of supporters.There is a very good and inspirational movie on the matter. Check it out sometime. (http://www.victorianweb.org/history/antislavery.html, http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1084.htm)