FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO WILLIAM H. SEWARD¹William Henry Seward (1801-72) was a New York state senator (1830-32) and governor
(1839-43) before serving as a U.S. senator (1849-61). He originally belonged to the Anti-Mason party, but became a leader of the Whig party during the 1830s and 1840s. By 1855, Seward had moved his allegiance to the Republican party. During the Compromise of 1850, he first invoked the concept of “‘a higher law than the Constitution” to support abolition. As the decade progressed, Seward became more outspoken against slavery, characterizing the struggle as an “irrepressible conflict” between opposing forces. In 1856 and 1860, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination, and instead became Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state in 1861. Seward’s influence as secretary of state prevented European recognition of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and in 1867 he negotiated the U.S. purchase of the Alaska territory, which became known as “Seward’s Folly.” Frederic Bancroft, , 2 vols. (1899-1900; Gloucester, Mass., 1967); , 5:470-73; , 16:615-21.

Rochester[, N.Y.] 16 April [1853.]

Hon: WM H. SEWARD.

MY DEAR SIR,
I thank you Sincerely for your prompt and promising response to my beg-
ging note.²No specific letter from Douglass to Seward requesting funds has been located. Douglass possibly refers to a notice published in his paper on 8 April 1853, entitled “Money! Money!! Money!!!,” in which he urges delinquent subscribers to pay off their accounts. , 8 April 1853.—I wish Sir, to make myself thouroghly acqainted with the public Labors of your life—and although I have already made Some progress in this line—I feel that there is much yet to be learned. J am even
now but as a boy of fifteen, less than that Space of time has past Since I
escaped from Slavery—He who helps fit me for the voyage of life, Shall
not lack my gratitude—Pardon me for tress passing upon your time.

I am most truly yours—With high esteem—

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

ALS: William Henry Seward Papers, NRU.