Content:
The poem was originally numbered 50. Whitman penciled in a question mark, in
parentheses, in the upper-right corner. This became section 17 of "Chants Democratic" in the 1860
Leaves of Grass
, with leaf 1
corresponding to verses 1-6 and leaf 2 ("We confer on equal terms with / each of
The States,") to verses 7-13. Although he dropped it from
Leaves of Grass
in 1867, Whitman nonetheless used the
poem, permanently retitled "On
Journeys through the States," in
Passage to India
in 1871. In 1872 and 1876 it
appeared in the "Passage to
India" annexes to
Leaves of
Grass
and
Two
Rivulets
, respectively, and in the 1881 edition it took its final position
in the cluster "Inscriptions."
