FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO HARRIET R. LLOYD¹Born in Hamilton, New York, Harriet Raymond Lloyd (1842–90) was the eldest of four children born to John H. and Cornelia E. Raymond. She married Harlan Page Lloyd, a Union army veteran and lawyer, and resided with him in Cincinnati, Ohio. Obituary Records of Graduates of Yale University, Deceased from June, 1900, to June, 1910 (New Haven, 1910), 1271; Find a Grave (online).

Washington[, D.C.] 18 Oct[ober] 1880[.]

MRS H. R. LLOYD

DEAR MADAM,

I have been obliged by absence from home and incessant labors on the
stump to leave your letter unanswered until now. I am glad to know that it
is your purpose to publish life and letters of your father ²Born in New York City, John Howard Raymond (1814–78) graduated from Union College, in Schenectady, New York. He abandoned the pursuit of the Baptist ministry for professorships in Hebrew, first at Madison (later renamed Colgate) University and then the University of Rochester. He later helped found the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, serving as its president. In 1865 he became president of Vassar College. ACAB, 5: 193–94; DAB, 15: 412–13. the late John H.
Raymond.³Harriet Raymond Lloyd edited and published The Life and Letters of John Howard Raymond (New York, 1881). Unhappily for me, I have no letters of his which can be of
service to you. I knew him well while he was Professor in Rochester University. It was at a critical and trying time in the history of the struggle
between freedom and slavery in our country. The fugitive slave bill⁴Replacing a 1793 federal law, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, part of that year’s infamous sectional compromise, created a federal position of commissioner, who was authorized to issue arrest warrants for fugitives and to certify the removal of captives to the South. The law stimulated a growth in antislavery sentiment in the North. Opposition centered on the inherent bias of the commissioners, who were paid ten dollars each time they ordered the removal of a fugitive, but only five dollars if they judged that the captive was not a fugitive slave. Many also objected to the creation of a bureau of federal officials to enforce the property rights of slave owners in the South. Campbell, Slave Catchers, 23–25; Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, eds., Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery (New York, 1988), 275–76. had

just been enacted, making the whole North slave hunting ground and every American citizen a slave-hunter, had but lately become a law.

The effort to make that law respectable was immense. Press, pulpit
and official position, all clamored for its enforcement. To speak and write
against that law was to brand one’s self in public estimation as a lawbreaker and such a law-breaker I confess myself to have been, both in
theory and practice, for I assisted as many as I could in their escape from
slavery, and no man <in Rochester> more than your father in Rochester
more cheerfully gave me countenance and support in my efforts to secure a safe conduct of the many fugitives from slavery who came through
Rochester <that city> on their way to Canada. He freely gave his time,
his influence, and his voice on the side of humanity.⁵Witnessing the rendition of the escaped slave Henry Long in 1851 moved Raymond to more actively oppose slavery. He contributed an essay, “A Plea for Free Speech,” to the 1853 edition of Autographs for Freedom, a gift book edited by Julia Griffiths to raise funds for Douglass’s newspaper. Lloyd, Life and Letters of Raymond, 262–63, 269–72. No so-called law,
interest or logic, could blind him to the stupendous wickedness of slavery,
and he had the courage to be known and read of all men in that dark hour
of our history as an inflexible friend to the cause of emancipation. Many
have been the words of kindness and consolation which he addressed to
me when the way seemed dark and difficult, and I retain a vivid recollection of his benevolent face and his amiable manners and bearing, though it
is more than a quarter of a century since I saw him. It is just possible that
Saml D. Porter of Rochester may have valuable letters of his. They were
warm personal friends and it might be well for you to write to Mr. Porter
on the subject.

Truly Yours

FREDK DOUGLASS

PLSr: Harriet Raymond Lloyd, (New York, 1881),
268–69.