Whitman's inclusion of explicit sexuality and celebrations of the physical anatomy in the 'Children of Adam' cluster led to which historical consequence for his career?

Correct answer: Secretary James Harlan fired him from his Interior Department clerkship on moral grounds

Whitman's honest, celebratory depictions of sexual desire and the physical human body frequently shocked 19th-century sensibilities. In 1865, Interior Department Secretary James Harlan discovered that Whitman was the author of the controversial 'Leaves of Grass' and dismissed him from his government job on the grounds that the book was indecent. Whitman's friends quickly rallied to his defense, launching a campaign that helped build his mythic reputation as the unappreciated 'Good Gray Poet.'