FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER¹Born to Quaker parents, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92) tended his family farm near Haverhill, Massachusetts, in his youth. Inspired by the poets Robert Burns and John Milton, Whittier published his first poem, “The Exile’s Departure,” in William Lloyd Garrison’s Newburyport Free Press in 1826. Garrison encouraged Whittier’s father to allow his son to attend the Haverhill Academy in Boston for a year. Again with Garrison’s help, Whittier secured his first editorial position in 1829 at a political weekly, the American Manufacturer, in Boston. There, he became acquainted with the abolition movement and was one of the founding members of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Whittier was elected to a term in the Massachusetts state legislature in 1835, and two years later, friends published his first collection, Poems Written during the Progress of the Abolition Question in the United States. Whittier worked as a corresponding editor for the Washington National Era, an antislavery journal that published many of his poems, until he cofounded the Atlantic Monthly in 1857. Roland H. Woodwell, John Greenleaf Whittier: A Biography (Haverhill, Mass., 1985); DNB, 20: 173–75; ANB (online).

Rockland[,] Me. 15 March 1873.

JOHN G. WHITTIER:

DEAR SIR:

I am with you entirely. No censure of Mr Sumner should be allowed to
stain the annals of Massachusetts.²In December 1872, Sumner proposed a bill in the U.S. Senate to erase Civil War battles and regimental colors from the Army Register. Although Sumner proposed similar legislation in 1862 and 1865 without much attention, this particular bill triggered outspoken criticism. The Massachusetts legislature, then in extra session, feared the reaction from Civil War veterans and quickly voted to censure Sumner. Bangor (Me.) Daily Whig & Courier, 14 December 1872; Boston Daily Advertiser, 27 February 1873; Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, 14 February 1874; Samuel Thomas Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, 2 vols. (Boston, 1894), 2: 583, 585–86; Moorfield Storey, Charles Sumner (Boston, 1900), 419–22. I am far from assenting to the principle
of his resolutions[.] We are more likely to forget too soon than to remember too long the dreadful struggle with slavery in armed rebellion—But
we know the noble and pure motives of the patriot Philanthropist and
statesmen: He is consistent with himself—and with the cheerished convictions of his life, known and read of all men. Massachusetts in her haste,
has misapprehended him and should make haste to repair the blunder.³In January 1873, supporters of Sumner began a movement to rescind the vote passed to censure the senator, which had occurred in December 1872 during a special session of the Massachusetts legislature. John Greenleaf Whittier led the movement, relentlessly gathering signatures for petitions. From January to March, over five thousand people signed Whittier’s petitions criticizing the legislature for its hasty decision. This 1873 “expunging movement” ended in failure, however, with the legislature upholding the censure vote at the end of March. But Whittier succeeded in the next congressional session, and the censure was lifted in February 1874. Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, 14 February 1874; Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Sumner, 4: 553–54; Pickard, Life and Letters of Whittier, 2: 583–86.
She can less afford to persist in it than he can afford to bear her censure[.]
I fear your letter has come into my hands too late for me to be of any
service to the expunging Movement—but I want you to know that I am
with you entirely. I have this winter lectured from Bangor to Omaha and
from St Louis to St Paul⁴In the winter of 1872–83, Douglass’s lecturing engagements were arranged by the Boston Lyceum Bureau, operated by the abolitionist veteran James Redpath. Douglass spoke in Lewiston and probably in Bangor in early January and then headed west. He is known to have lectured in St. Louis, Missouri, on 13 January; Carthage, Illinois, on 16 January; Burlington, Iowa, on 17 January; Omaha, Nebraska, on 21 January; Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 23 January; Red Oak, Iowa, on 24 January; Grand Rapids, Michigan; on 30 January; Big Rapids, Michigan, on 31 January; and St. Paul, Minnesota, on 7 February 1873. His usual speeches included “Reminiscences of the Anti-Slavery Conflict,” “Composite Nationality,” and “Self-Made Men.” James Redpath to Frederick Douglass, 20 December 1872, General Correspondence File, reel 2, frame 640R, FD Papers, DLC; Omaha Daily Herald, 19, 21, 22 January 1873; Grand Rapids (Mich.) Daily Times, 22, 24, 26 January 1873; Carthage (Ill.) Gazette, 22 January 1873; Carthage (Ill.) Republican, 22 January 1873; Council Bluffs (Iowa) Daily Nonpareil, 22, 23, 24 January 1873; Grand Rapids (Mich.) Daily Eagle, 29, 30, 31 January 1873; NNE, 30 January, 13, 20 February 1873; St. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch, 4, 7, 8 February 1873; Washington Evening Star, 11 February 1873. and in no instance have I failed to speak of Mr
Sumner with confidence, esteem and gratitude. This is not new for me
but I have been all the more mindful of this duty to a faithful statesman
because I found many who once admired and trusted <him> disposed to
censure him.

Hoping that you will succeed in setting Massachusetts right with the
man who to day sheds more lustre upon her and upon the Nation than any
other Living American Statesman.

Very truly yours

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

ALS: Frederick Douglass Manuscripts, NHi.