FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CHARLES J. LANGDON¹Possibly Charles Jervis Langdon (1849–1916), son of the wealthy coal merchant Jervis Langdon of Elmira and the brother of Mark Twain’s wife, Olivia. In 1870 he took over the family coal business and expanded into other enterprises. An active Republican, Langdon served as a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention, where he was one of the 306 “Stalwarts” who unsuccessfully attempted to nominate Ulysses S. Grant for a third term. Harriet Elinor Smith and Richard Bucci, eds., (Berkeley, Calif., 1990), 63–64, 287, 378; J. R. LeMaster and James D. Wilson, eds., (New York, 1993), 440; , 16: 31.

Washington, D.C. 15 Aug[ust] 1872.

MY DEAR MR LANGDON:

I am obliged by your favor of the nineth August.²Langdon’s earlier letter to Douglass has not been located. Absence from home
is my apology for my silence. I believe in General Grant fully. There is
something so ridiculous about this dinner affair, that I really don’t care

to talk or write about it. While it would have given me great pleasure to
dine with our worthy President, and while an invitation to dine with him
in the circumstances would have been a valuable fuel against prevailing
prejudices—I should be ashamed to charged the omission to invite me
as <an> offense against me or my race. The President was under no obligation to invite me to dine with him. It was a matter in which he had a
perfect right to act free from outside guidance or outside criticism. I very
much enjoyed my dinner at your hospitable table last winter winter—as
I had enjoyed many winters thirty years ago—good dinners at the house
of your noble father—but, while I appreciate the kind hospitality in both
cases—I do not bring any complaint against numerous good people by
whom <I> did not happen to <be invited to> dine. I may be forced to say
a word more to the public on this subject, but I would rather avoid it. It is
enough that I am with all my heart laboring to elect U. S. Grant President
of the U. S. for a Second Term. I certainly should not so labor if I thought
him capable of offering me an insult because of the color of my skin. With
kind rememberances to all your kind circle.

Yours Very truly

FREDK DOUGLASS

ALS: Division of Rare Books and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca,
N.Y. Other texts in , 22 August 1872; Bangor (Me.) , 23 August 1872.