OLIVER OTIS HOWARD TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Washington, D.C. 10 July 1870.

DOUGLASS MR FREDERIC,

MY DEAR SIR:

I read a part of your reply to the Philadelphia resolutions, copied into the
“Independent” of July.¹The attack on Douglass’s religious faith by the Reverend Jabez Campbell and Douglass’s written reply appeared in the 7 July 1870 issue of the New York Independent. Much that you there say accords with my judgment
and sympathy, but I feel that you speak more strongly and sweepingly than
you meant. The church and state are about the same in point of “authority
and in point of excellence.[”] Both are ever on the side of “popular wrong,

and both are against unpopular right.”²In his letter, Douglass writes: “The Church and the street are about the same in point of authority and in point of excellence. Both are ever on the side of popular wrong, and both are against unpopular right.” Howard correctly quotes him except for his replacement of “street” with “state.” Boston Investigator, 29 June 1870; New York Independent, 7 July 1870. Such had not been the teachings
of the branches of the Church that I have attended from my youth. That
individual ministers have led astray, that people have blindly followed
them into the practice and defense of crime, I admit, but has not been the
general rule. I learned in the church to love God. I learned to reverence the
authority of His law. I found in the church a savior, and my heart has been
by his word and grace enlarged in its capacity to love my fellow men, and
I firmly believe that it is the foundation of the teachings of the New England Churches, that made so many strong abolitionists there. The great
majority of ministers I have heard in Maine have been outspoken against
slavery, against wrong of any description and my view has been that the
usefulness of men and women in the church has been, not in consequence
of, but in spite of right instruction they receive. “Love thy neighbor” is the
teaching[.] Act up to it and slavery of every description falls. Now as to the
abolition; you do not attribute it to a miracle; not due to any special interposition of Divine Providence, but as resulting from the certain operation
of national causes inherent in the very constitution of human nature. Were
this so we should be just as thankful to the author of human nature; the
Lord God who so wonderfully imagined all things. But I think some of
us who face the brunt of the battle, realized a daily aid, specially given as
to a beseeching child. I cannot look upon Mr Lincoln³Abraham Lincoln. regarding him as a
special providence, as much as David, and even Andrew Johnson as much
as was Pharaoh or Herod whose wicked purposes were overruled by the
good of God’s people.⁴Douglass compares the autocratic behavior of President Andrew Johnson to three biblical figures: David, the second Jewish king to rule over a united Judea and Israel, around 1000 B.C.E; Pharaoh Thutmose II, believed by some to have been the monarch at the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt; and Herod “the Great” I, presided over Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus. 1 Sam., Exod., Matt., 2: 1–23. Natural indeed, because God is in every thing and
guiding every thing, and hindering even the independent will of Satan and
his friends. We do not read that God is the author of wrong. He can abolish wrong. This is the everlasting work of Christ, by his spirit working in
us and with us. He is not the author of sin such as slavery, drunkenness,
lying, stealing, murder, hate & etc. You are a leader, have long been, and
may God keep you in the forefront; but do not let the sins of church members obscure your clear vision, and hide the torches of truth that Christ
and his followers (formed into the Churches) do really bear.

My point is that I long to have you a strong leader in the church and
have been fighting for truth and principle there, and are sustained.

Very truly Yours

[ILLEGIBLE] O O HOWARD⁵In the copy of the letter retained in Howard’s files, his rank followed on the line below his signature: “Bvt Major General UASA Commissioner.”

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 567R–69, FD Papers, DLC.
Another text in ALS: O. O. Howard Manuscripts, MeB.