HIRAM PUTNAM^*Born in Danvers, Massachusetts, Hiram Putnam (1786-1874) was a long-tenured sea captain who moved to Syracuse, New York, in the late 1820s. There he became active in the Unitarian Church and contributed much of his time and money to the local congregation until his death. Putnam became an ardent abolitionist in Syracuse and gained the respect of many local abolitionists for his vocal opposition to slavery. After Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, he joined a committee of local abolitionists and publicly denounced President Fillmore and Congress. In addition, Putnam supported social reform through education, and backed the establishment of public schools in Syracuse and central New York. New York , 20 July 1852; (n.p., c. 1874); Samuel J. May, Some Recollections of our Antislavery Conflict (Boston, 1869), 350. TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Syracuse, [N.Y.] 7 July 1856.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ. :—

DEAR SIR :—

I have been in hopes you would see your way clear to vote this fall with the Republican party, and thereby strengthen the good cause. But I see you are determined to throw away all the Abolition votes you can control, and thereby work directly against the only practical liberty party that stands any chance of success. Why not go as far with that party as they promise to travel with you on the same road; and when you can go no further with them, continue your own course alone. That appears to me to be the better course, and the only one which can justify you as a liberty-loving man. I am aware that the Republican party does not take strong ground against Slavery everywhere,²To appeal to a broad base of Northern voters during the 1856 presidential election, the Republican party took great pains to repudiate accusations that it favored the abolition of slavery. Despite disappointing many abolitionists in the North, party leaders knew that they needed to attract former Know-Nothing and Democratic voters in order to win the presidency. The 1856 Republican platform emphasized opposition to slavery’s extension into the western territories, but was content to let slavery continue “where it already exists.” William E. Gienapp, (New York, 1988), 331-38, 347, 362. (I would that they did, it would rejoice my heart,) but they promise to do the first thing to be done, and I go with them, trusting that their success will stimulate them to go further and still onward in the good cause. I am sorry to part company with you, for I have read your paper with much pleasure for several years, but the course you have adopted for this Presidential campaign is such as I cannot approve, and I must confine myself to papers which advocate a different course. Please discontinue the paper to me, and if the amount enclosed does not meet the balance due you, let me know, and it shall be paid.

Your friend, In the cause of universal freedom,

HIRAM PUTNAM.

PLSr: 25 July 1856.