GEORGE T. DOWNING TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Newport, [R.I.] 28 Feb[ruar]y 1877.¹Downing wrote “Confidential” at the top of this letter.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS,

DEAR FRIEND.

I look at my family that has been reared in a fathers house not in idleness, yet without the experiences of those who are accustomed to the hard

fisted toil of the outer world. They have been reared to a certain dignity,
with much tenderness. I pray that their future may not contrast too pointedly with their past life; that they may not be cast upon the cold charity
of a heartless world. They have been encouraged in an elevated tone and
to encourage those <who were> striving upwards; this should commend
them, but on the contrary it would make too many rejoice at their misfortune. I begin to see more than ever the cold and unfeeling character of the
world, how non appreciative it is. I was so engrossed in efforts for my race
in which I was encouraged by my parents²Thomas Downing (1791–1866) was a prominent black abolitionist in New York City. Born a slave in Accomack County, Virginia, he was manumitted by will in early manhood. Downing moved north in 1812, when the heirs of his former master tried to reenslave him. He fought with the Americans during the War of 1812 and then settled in Philadelphia. In 1819 he resettled in New York City, where he worked as a caterer before establishing an oyster bar in the financial district, which for several decades was the favorite eating spot of many New York merchants and their families. Downing became a relatively wealthy man for his day, able to finance a European education for a few of his many children, and accordingly, he took an active part in the civic life of his community. He held membership in the New York African Society for the Mutual Relief, the Masons, and the Odd Fellows, and served for many years as a vestryman in St. Phillips Protestant Episcopal Church. Prominent in the antislavery and equal rights movements, from 1831 onward Downing was a familiar face at National Negro Conventions. He was in the forefront of the effort to repeal the New York property qualification for black voters, helping draft the 1837 petition that black abolitionists sent to the state legislature. Downing served on the New York Vigilance Committee and the Committee of Thirteen, two black organizations in New York City dedicated to assisting fugitive slaves. New York Times, 12 April 1866; New York Herald, 12 April 1866; NASS, 21 April 1866; New York Colored American, 16 January, 20 February 1841; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 107, 171; Freeman, “Free Negro in New York City,” 35, 46, 103–04, 128, 138, 197, 285, 295, 394. and favored by circumstances
that I have not thought sufficient of my family. I could bear misfortune
for myself, but I have the pride of name and of family. I enjoy a character
that should command consideration. I have property I have supposed that
with these, I might go in an extremity to those who had known me from
my boy hood days <I mean among the whites> and be assisted, but I am
disappointed: time I [illegible] that is to some extent time because of the
general depression. Still I cannot get it from my mind that the absence
of will exists to some extent. My property is worth $60,000 it probably
would not under a forced sale at present sell for more than $50,000, it is
free from all claims save one held by the Savings Bank for $21,000; I have
an obligation of $220 to meet in a few days and a similar one the middle
of next month: there would have been no difficulty in the matter had I
rented my stores Last Summer as usual and had I collected rents and other
debts due me, besides I have been out of business two winters; all of this
creates anxiety. A jealousy exists because a cold man has such prominent
property, and against his manliness, this is to me a source of anxiety. The
Bank says we sho[uld] not make heavy loans as a rule, business men do
not care to take second mortgages. So I am hemmed in, I expected to sell
my dear property to a party but he cannot raise the funds, I have made my
case full that you may understand it, I would like to have 500$ I will give
you a mortgage on my property, if you cannot let me have it, of course you
will state it freely for we know each other to well not to be candid.³Although Downing is requesting that Douglass purchase some of his property in Rhode Island so that he can make some essential payments, there is no evidence that Douglass did so, though the public record abounds with Downing’s transactions, especially with the “Savings Bank,” perhaps a reference to the Savings Bank of Newport, which figures prominently in Downing’s real-estate transactions. Downing also seems to have had holdings in New York and probably in Washington, D.C., as well, so it is possible that he is petitioning Douglass to a purchase stake in property in one of these locations. City of Newport, R.I., “Real Property Records,” uslandrecords.com.

I am leaving for the Senate Restaurant,⁴Downing began his career by following in his father’s footsteps as a restaurateur; he had opened a catering business on Broadway in New York City by the age of twenty-six. In the mid-1840s he relocated to Newport, Rhode Island, where he opened a hotel for wealthy summer vacationers. He originally came to the District of Columbia in 1869 to run the House of Representatives’ restaurant, which became well known under his management for its high standards and quality. He lost that position in 1876, likely because of the changing political landscape, but his friend Senator Thomas W. Ferry arranged for him to take over as the keeper of the Senate’s restaurant instead. David S. Shields, The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the First Age of American Fine Dining (Chicago, 2017), 255–56. will you not see Senator Conkling,⁵Roscoe Conkling. Allison⁶William Boyd Allison (1829–1908) briefly attended Western Reserve College before opening a law office in Ashland, Ohio, in 1852. He helped found Ohio’s Republican party in 1854. After losing a county political race, however, Allison headed west in 1857, settling in Dubuque, Iowa, where he again practiced law. Allison’s political future was assured with the case of Gelpcke v. City of Dubuque (1862). Herman Gelpcke brought suit against Dubuque for its failure to pay interest on railroad bonds issued to promote the building of the Dubuque Pacific Railroad. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city, but the U.S. Supreme Court accepted Allison’s arguments that a state supreme court’s interpretation of its own constitution was subject to higher authority and ruled against the city. For his part, Allison endeared himself to the railroad industry, Iowa’s most powerful political force. In 1860, Allison was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican, where he introduced a bill providing federal land grants for his old friends, the railroads. In 1870, with the support of railroad magnates, Allison was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served as Iowa’s political boss for thirty-five years. A master of political compromise, Allison served on the Senate’s Appropriations Committee and Finance Committee, influencing the major domestic legislation of the day. Allison made two bids for the Republican presidential nomination but lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and William McKinley in 1896. Leland L. Sage, William Boyd Allison: A Study in Practical Politics (Iowa City, 1956); ANB, 1: 365–67; BDUSC (online). Sherman,⁷John Sherman. S Cameron,⁸Simon Cameron (1799–1889) began his career as a political editor and businessman in Pennsylvania. Elected for a term in the U.S. Senate in 1845 and again in 1857, Cameron built a powerful machine in Pennsylvania that led to his consideration for the presidential nomination in 1860. His influence within the Republican party led to his appointment as secretary of war in 1861. Cameron saw this as an opportunity to reward friends and punish enemies, and his inept administration of the War Department caused great scandal. In an effort to boost his popularity, Cameron advocated the emancipation and arming of slaves. Although Douglass and other African American leaders found this idea compelling, moderate and conservative Republicans were not amused. Thus, Lincoln removed him from the War Department and appointed him to a diplomatic post in Russia. Cameron returned to the U.S. Senate in 1867 and served for ten years before retiring to a farm in rural Pennsylvania. Erwin Bradley, Simon Cameron: Lincoln’s Secretary of War (Philadelphia, 1966); NCAB, 1: 5009; DAB, 3: 437–39. Spencer,⁹George Eliphaz Spencer (1836–93), a brevetted Civil War brigadier general and U.S. senator, began his public career in Iowa as a result of his attraction to the new Republican party. From 1857 to 1859, Spencer was the secretary of the Iowa Senate and speculated in land throughout the Iowa frontier. Spencer served in the Union army, first as a sutler for the First Nebraska Regiment and then as the chief of staff of Brigadier General Grenville M. Dodge, a friend from Iowa. Following the war, Spencer moved to the South and became involved in the cotton industry in hopes of making a fortune. Democrats later accused Spencer of being a carpetbagger for pursuing these ambitions. Spencer opposed Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction policies and briefly relocated to San Francisco in 1866 to pursue mining. The early days of Radical Reconstruction in 1867 saw Spencer return to Alabama as a devoted Republican pushing for a permanent political change in the state. Spencer’s dedicated campaigning for Republicans in the 1868 state elections resulted in the new Republican legislature awarding him a U.S. Senate seat. Spencer was on the Senate Commerce Committee, and his time as senator was marked by unequivocal support for black suffrage and improved civil rights, adamant opposition to unremorseful former Confederates, and a push for revitalizing the South economically and socially towards progressivism. Spencer narrowly avoided being ousted when Democrats reclaimed control of Alabama in the 1874 elections and served as a senator until 1879. BDUSC (online); ANB (online). and Davies¹⁰Henry Gassaway Davis (1823–1916) was a U.S. senator from West Virginia and the Democratic party’s vice presidential nominee in the 1904 presidential election. Davis initially became recognized in the public eye for his success as a businessman in lumber, coal mining, and banking in West Virginia. His ventures included the Henry G. Davis & Company and the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company. Davis was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 and won election as state senator in 1869. Davis entered the U.S. Senate in 1870 and served two terms. Afterward, Davis returned to West Virginia to resume his business ventures. By 1892, Davis’s coal company, the Davis Coal and Coke Company, had become one of the world’s largest as a result of the business partnership between Davis and his son-in-law, U.S. senator Stephen Benton Elkins (also from West Virginia). Despite Davis’s reluctance to run for office again, and Democrats’ hesitation to put Davis on the party’s presidential ticket, he became the Democratic nominee for vice president under presidential nominee Alton B. Parker in the 1904 presidential election. Democrats needed Davis’s financial resources to fund the presidential campaign. The duo, however, lost to Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Fairbanks. Davis eventually became chairman of the Pan American Railway Committee and helped establish Davis and Elkins College. Charles Melville Pepper, The Life and Times of Henry Gassaway Davis, 1823–1916 (New York, 1920); BDUSC (online); ANB (online). or address
them urging them to use effort in my behalf. Had I retained the Senate
House I would not have had need to ask for this loan: I want to be tided
over until the middle of Summer when my rents will come in.
Remember me to family. We are all well.

Yours &

GEO T DOWNING

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 15R–16, FD Papers, DLC.