Rochester[, N.Y.] 6 Sept{[ember] 1856[.]

HON. GERRIT SMITH.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I am just home from Ohio where I have been lecturing¹Evidence suggests that Douglass had just returned from making campaign speeches for Frémont. An article entitled “A Black Disunionist Stumping for Fremont” published in the 8 October 1856 issue of the Newark (N.Y.) indicates that Douglass delivered election addresses for Frémont in Otisco, Onondaga County, “the other day.” Newark (N.Y.) , 8 October 1856.—and find your kind letters for which please accept my thanks. What I think of your letter to our Friend William Gordell, will be Seen in my paper of yesterday.²Smith’s letter to Goodell was published in the 5 September 1856 issue of . Smith stated that he would not vote for John C. Frémont in the upcoming presidential election, but defended the Republican candidate from claims made during a recent speech by Edward C. Delavan. Specifically, Delavan acknowledged that he was drawn to the pro-temperance plank of the Know-Nothing party and asserted that Frémont was not a viable candidate for president because he was Catholic. Smith’s response asserted that the Republican party had a history of supporting temperance, and that Frémont was a Protestant. , 5 September 1856. I had noticed your letter before your note reached me—Yes! I get it all around. Mr Garrison tries his hand upon my case this week,³In an editorial entitled “Gone, Gone, Sold and Gone," Garrison criticized Douglass’s support for the Frémont-Dayton ticket in the 29 August 1856 issue of the . Garrison asserted that Douglass’s decision was for personal gain and that, as a result, the would be the sole remaining “Radical Abolitionist” newspaper. In “Another Somerset,” published in the 5 September issue, Garrison criticized Douglass’s abandonment of Smith and the transfer of his support to a candidate, party, and principles he had previously condemned. Garrison characterized Douglass as a political chameleon, morally inconsistent and self-contradictory. ., 29 August, 5 September 1856.
the most Skillful of them all. The Liberator and “"⁴The Boston and the New York .—Seem more shocked, at my apostacy from the Radical Abolition Society, than at Mr May’s apota[s]y from the American Society.⁵A leading Garrisonian, the Unitarian minster Samuel Joseph May had relocated to Syracuse from Boston in 1845. In an Fourth of July oration in 1856, May endorsed voting for the Republican party presidential ticket, causing a round of editorials and letters to the editor criticizing or defending his position in the Garrisonian press. , 2, 16, 23 August 1856; ., 22 August 1856;, 6:447-48. They are tender with him—but harsh with me. I shall endeavour to be at the Jerry Rescue (1st oct) Celebration⁶Douglass was scheduled to speak at the Jerry Rescue Celebration in Syracuse on 1 October 1856; he published a review of the event in . , 10 October 1856; , ser. 1, 3:xxvi.—and possibly in Syracuse at the Liberty Party meeting on the 17th Sept.⁷Douglass was scheduled to speak at the Liberty party meeting held in Syracuse on 17 September 1856. Minutes of the meeting published in , however, do not confirm his attendance. , 3 October 1856; , ser. 1, 3:xxv.

I am as ever yours Truly and affectionately

FREDERICK DOUGLASS—

ALS: Gerrit Smith Papers. NSyU.