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Not for nothing have the indomitable heads of the
earth been always ready to fall for Liberty!

26. Are you indeed for Liberty?
Are you a man who would assume a place to teach
here, or lead here, or be a poet here?
The place is august—the terms obdurate.

27. Who would assume to teach here, may well prepare
himself, body and mind,
He may well survey, ponder, arm, fortify, harden,
make lithe, himself,
He shall surely be questioned beforehand by me with
many and stern questions.

28. Who are you, indeed, who would talk or sing in
America?
Have you studied out My Land, its idioms and
men?
Have you learned the physiology, phrenology, politics,
geography, pride, freedom, friendship, of
my land? its substratums and objects?
Have you considered the organic compact of the first
day of the first year of the independence of The
States, signed by the Commissioners, ratified by
The States, and read by Washington at the head
of the army?
Have you possessed yourself of the Federal Constitution?
Do you acknowledge Liberty with audible and absolute
acknowledgment, and set slavery at nought
for life and death?
Do you see who have left described processes and
poems behind them, and assumed new ones?