FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO GERRIT SMITH

Rochester[, N.Y.] 16 Dec[ember] 1856[.]

HON. GERRIT SMITH.

MY DEAR SIR.
Please accept my thanks for your generous donation of twenty dollars—I
am happy to know by this expressive Sign, that you Still desire to See my
paper afloat. You ought to, for you have watched over it with almost pater-
nal interest. No, my Dear Sir. I am not a member of the Republican party.¹Douglass had editorially endorsed the 1856 Republican party ticket headed by John C. Frémont rather than the Radical Abolition ticket, headed by Gerrit Smith. Smith had alienated many in his faction that summer by strong public statements in support of violent attacks on slavery. While not abandoning his candidacy officially, he announced his preference for Frémont over either James Buchanan (Democratic party) or Millard Fillmore (American party) and contributed $500 to the Republican campaign. Stauffer, Black Hearts of Men, 293; John R. McKivigan, “The Frederick Douglass—Gerrit Smith Friendship and Political Abolitionism in the 1850s,” in Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays, ed. Eric J. Sundquist (Cambridge, Mass., 1990), 220–22; Perkal, “William Goodell,” 255–66. I am Still a radical abolitionist—and shall as ever, work with those whose
antiSlavery principles are Similar to your own. My English friends—are
just now dealing with me for my Jerry rescue Resolutions²Many of those who heard Douglass’s resolutions at the 1856 Jerry Rescue Celebration believed that he had called for open and bloody slave insurrection. The resolutions “greatly disturbed many of [Douglass’s] friends on both sides of the Atlantic.” Though Douglass did not name the authors, several supporters from England were particularly vociferous in their condemnation of his resolutions. Some of Douglass’s “English friends” called his statements “those shocking resolutions” and “abominable sentiments.” FDP, 19 December 1856.—They think you were altogether too tolerant of my “abominable Sentiments”—I am writing an article³To ameliorate criticism from abolitionists in England and the United States, Douglass used the editorial of the 19 December 1856 edition of Frederick Douglass’ Paper to assure readers that he had not called for violent insurrection at the Jerry Rescue Celebration. He explained that he had directed the resolutions to slave owners in an attempt to persuade them to release their slaves and forestall the kinds of violent slave insurrections that had shaken the Caribbean and South America. His statements were not “directed at the slave,” but were mere “reminders to slaveowners.” though not a formal reply to Strictures made upon those resolutions—yet a Sort of imbodyment of the Sentiments uttered by me at the “Jerry rescue Celebration[”]—

Please make my best respects to Mrs Smith—Accept my Sincere
Thanks for the donation of twenty dollars—

Yours Alway Most Truly

FREDERICK DOUGLASS—

ALS: Gerrit Smith Papers, NSyU.