FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CALVIN STOWE¹Calvin Ellis Stowe (1802-86) met Harriet Beecher during the 1830s when he was a professor of theology under Lyman Beecher at Lane Seminary in Ohio. The two were married in 1836, following the death of Stowe’s first wife. Throughout their marriage, Stowe remained a strong supporter of Harriet’s literary career. Hedrick, , 93-94, 96-99, 167-68; , 18:115.

Roch[ester, N.Y.] 17 Jan[uary] 1854.

DEAR DR STOWE,

Please accept my Sincere thanks for the volumes five in number²The books that Stowe sent Douglass have not been identified. In 1867, Stowe published . This was one of the earliest attempts by an American scholar to assess the Bible from a historical perspective. C.E. Stowe, (Hartford, Conn., 1868).—just
come to hand, intended to assist me in the Study of the Claims of the Bible
as a Devine revealation. The thought that I am an object of your Care has
Comfort in it. I will read and Study these Books—and Some day give you
some idea of the progress I have made on the Subject. At present I Shall
be too much in the Lecturing field to Study—but if all be well, Shall have
more time in Summer—Tomorrow Evening I begin a Series of appointments
made for me in New hampShere.³Douglass, in a letter he wrote and planned to publish in his newspaper, announced that he had left Rochester on 17 January 1854 and commenced a speaking tour in New Hampshire with an address in Nashua the next day. , 27 January 1854. Please remember me Kindly to Mrs Stowe.⁴Harriet Beecher Stowe.

And Believe, me very gratefully your friend

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

ALS: Frederick Douglass Collection, ICHi.