According to Whitman who embodied the highest ideals of democracy

According to the American poet, essayist, and journalist Walt Whitman, the person who embodied the highest ideals of American democracy-wise was Abraham Lincoln. To Whitman, Lincon was a compassionate man who rose moral in leadership, reason why he dedicated this President a poem when he died.

Such poem about the death of Abraham Lincoln was called "O Captain! My Captain!", and it was first published in the pamphlet Sequel to Drum-Taps which assembled 18 poems regarding the American Civil War.