This is the web address for a google books website that has a quote regarding Whitman's ties to P.T. Barnum. (It wouldn't let me cut and paste the quote.)
Whitman interviewed Barnum for the Brooklyn Eagle.The connection between the two men seems to rest on nationalism. We know that Whitman was a patriot and transformed American poetry so it makes sense that he would ask Barnum, after returning from a trip to Europe, whether there was anything in Europe that would make him love America less to which Barnum basically replied that Europe was stuffy and dead and America was vibrant and alive. I'm sure Whitman would have enjoyed that answer.
The other thing that ties them is their stance on secession. It seems that Barnum got a lot of heat from the Copperheads as well as the Unionists. It was probably a Confederate who burned down Barnum's museum as the Confederates had hatched a plot to burn down New York. Seems like he walked a tightrope concerning sectionalism. Obviously Whitman was against slavery, but he got some heat for his positions too, (just look at our blogs) was anti-abolitionist and it seems like having a stance wasn"t as clear cut as it would seem to us now,considering the political ramifications.
http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1901&context=wwqr&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dwhitman%2520and%2520sectionalism%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCMQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fir.uiowa.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1901%2526context%253Dwwqr%26ei%3DmmYzT467CYfniAKUqpiZCg%26usg%3DAFQjCNExX-b0AJAE9JivcaL8pCmZFVuNcw%26sig2%3D73vdpdVTRtFb2LW83zfrPw#search=%22whitman%20sectionalism%22
Another interesting site.
Whitman and Barnum also looked down upon the European social class heirarchy which could tie them together.
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