Poetry Manuscripts

Table of Contents
Color Key

       
[Leaf 1 recto]
39—

Walt Whitman's Caution.

        To t T he States, or any one of
        them, or any city of The
        States, Resist much, Obey
         little,
        Once unquestioning obedience,
        once fully enslaved,
        Once fully enslaved, no nation,
        race, city, of this earth,
        ever afterward resumes
        its liberty.—
Date
This manuscript was likely composed in the years immediately preceding the poem's first publication in 1860.
Editorial note
"Walt Whitman's Caution" was first published as one of the "Messenger Leaves" in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The poem was later retitled "To the States."
The verso of the manuscript leaf is blank.
Notes written on manuscript
In top margin, in unknown hand: 35.00
clsx.
In bottom margin, in unknown hand: [deletion, illegible] m n.
Location
Walt Whitman's Caution.  |  Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.
Whitman Archive ID
amh.00009

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