[Whitman] proclaimed the right to revolt and recommended permanent disobedience: "I hold up agitation and conflict"; "Resist much, obey little." . . . The danger of such a doctrine is that by depreciating and undermining institutions, it may eventually lead to anarchy. Whitman foresaw this objection and answered it in advance in "I Hear It Was Charged against Me". . . . The letter of the law mattered little to him. In his eyes, the only thing that really counted was the spirit of democracy. Brotherhood seemed to him to be a sufficient tie between men.