Chicago, Aug. 26th, 1852.

Frederick Douglass: Dear Sir:—I am again at home, after a short visit to Maryland. I found Hagerstown my birthplace duller than when I left it fourteen years ago. The spirit of enterprise does not seem to have worked its progress there. I could see none of that hurry and bustle which I had left behind me in the great North West. But I can well remember a time in Hagerstown when the thunders of stage coaches were almost constantly ringing in ones ears, as they came in alternately from Baltimore, Wheeling, Chambersburg, Williamsport and other places. Then, too, large covered wagons, some with five and others with six large horses attached to them, were seen passing to and fro in every direction, loaded, some with 18, 20, and 22 barrels of flour, and other produce, as also the various kinds of merchandise, &c. But this state of things no longer exists there; for, instead of progression, go a-headativeness and vitality, things have assumed the appearance of decay, quiet and inactivity.

But Hagerstown is pleasantly situated in the heart of a rich and fertile valley of about forty miles in width, commanding a delightful prospect of what is there called the "North" and "South Mountains." The town is built mostly of stone, and it is a clean and healthful location, well adapted to a peaceful quiet life. Good water, pleasant springs, and delicious fruit, such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, gages, grapes, &c., as also mellons of every variety.

My friends there, of the whites, persons of prominence in that place, received me with all the cordiality and open frankness for which the Southern people are so justly distinguished.

While in Maryland, I concluded to take very little notice of politics, as such, for I went there expressly to see the host of relatives and friends I have there, and to converse quietly with them, and to note with some care the changes which my mind and feelings had undergone during an interval of fourteen years. But enough of this private matter.

As I returned through Pittsburgh, there I learned the great fact of the consummation and promulgation of the "Free Democracy,"—a name which I much admire; for, after all, there is much in a name, and especially, if that name has the charm of being appropriate to the thing it represents.

Of the platform erected at Pittsburgh, I can say but little, nor need I say much; for it proclaims on the face of it, in tones louder than thunder, in favor of its own merits. It is, in my humble judgment, "nearly perfect." I had long hoped that the friends of freedom throughout the country would unite upon some platform, broad enough, and strong enough for all to stand upon, and at the same time so circumscribed as to embrace the purest of the various shades of anti-slavery sentiments of the country. Thank God, however, my hopes are now in a great measure, realized through the action of the Pittsburgh Convention! That convention, selected with great care the plank which compose their platform. I have faith to believe that the moral influence of that Convention will tell with a powerful effect upon the present, as well as future generations.

I am truly glad to learn that this movement has been of such a nature as to permit our friend, Gerrit SmithSmith, Gerrit

Gerrit Smith (1797– 1874), a New York businessman and land speculator, became best known for his philanthropic work for such reform causes as temperance and abolition. Between 1828 and 1835, he donated large sums of money to the American Colonization Society, but abandoned that movement in 1835 when his sympathies shifted to the immediate abolitionists. In the 1840s, he gave approximately 140,000 acres of land in upstate New York to three thousand black settlers, thus qualifying them to vote. Smith was a founder and frequent candidate of the Liberty party, running for governor of New York on that ticket in 1840 and winning a seat in Congress in 1852. When the Free Soil merger with moderate antislavery Democrats and Whigs lured away many Liberty party supporters, Smith helped bankroll that organization until 1860. Smith befriended Douglass when the latter moved to Rochester, and Smith frequently helped finance Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Like Douglass, Smith supported John Brown, but psychological stress caused by the failure at Harpers Ferry brought on the first of a series of bipolar episodes that greatly reduced his subsequent reform activities. Ralph Volney Harlow, Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer (1939; New York, 1972); Gerald Sorin, The New York Abolitionists: A Case Study of Political Radicalism (Westport, Conn., 1971), 269– 87; Lewis Perry, Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought (Ithaca, N.Y., 1973), 170– 80; John R. McKivigan and Madeleine Leveille, “The ‘Black Dream’ of Gerrit Smith, New York Abolitionist,” Syracuse University Library Associates Courier, 20:61– 76 (Fall 1985); NCAB , 2:322– 23; DAB, 17:270– 71. , without any less of principles, to acquiesce in it, and to promise his support and influence in its favor. And may he, and all the good men with whom he acted, live a long—I had almost said—yes, I will say, immortal life. I trust they will never swerve from the path which they have marked out. To have their names written on the imperishable altar of fame, they have only to live a life corresponding to their professions.

And the ball is set in motion, and the good work is now before us, I trust every man of us will endeavor to do his duty. All that we, colored people of Illinois, can do in this matter, is, as we have no vote, to use our influence with others to induce them to vote for John P. Hale and George W. Julian - Let us ask spiritually for spiritual guidance, but let us go to work physically for physical success. Let us be spiritually, morally, and physically active.

You have spoken of "light" and "fire" on a former occasion; but I tell you, friend Douglass, that the people, in many localities outside of New York State, want "light" rather than "fire." Would to God the poor white men in Slave States could be reached in some form! They want "light," and so do many of the laboring classes in Free States. I mean those bordering all along the line of Slave States. We should drop, for a time, our appeals for sympathy, and address the laboring classes in regard to their true interests in this matter. No laboring white man ought to be in favor of slavery, for certainly slavery is no advantage to him, but on the contrary an injury. It decreases his prospects for living, and degrades him to the level of a slave. But you are better able to explain and enforce this matter than I am, therefore, I shall leave it in good hands.

Yours for God and Truth,

H. O. W.Wagoner, Henry O.

One of Douglass’s most enduring friendships was with Henry O. Wagoner, Sr. (1816–1901). Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, to a formerly enslaved mother and a German father, Wagoner learned to read and write despite a lack of formal education. He spent most of his youth working on western Maryland farms, but fled to Ohio in 1838 out of fear that his Underground Railroad activities had roused suspicion. The following year he moved to Galena, Illinois, where he found employment as a newspaper typesetter and bill collector. He next worked for a newspaper and taught school in Chatham, Canada West, from 1843 until he relocated to Chicago in 1846 to run a profitable milling business. Wagoner met Douglass during one of the latter’s lecture tours in Illinois in the late 1840s and became an occasional correspondent for Douglass’s newspaper. Wagoner participated in abolitionist activities and aided John Brown in March 1858 by offering his mill as a hiding place for escaping Missouri slaves en route to Canada. During the Civil War, Wagoner recruited black troops for regiments in Illinois and Massachusetts. In 1865 he settled in Denver, Colorado, where he established a barbering business and quickly became a leader in the African American community. An active Republican, Wagoner campaigned for equal male suffrage as Colorado applied for statehood in the 18605, served as deputy sheriff of Arapaho County, Colorado, between 1865 and 1875, and received an appointment as clerk of the Colorado state legislature in 1876. With years of friendship between them, Wagoner and Douglass aided each other’s adult sons. In 1866 Wagoner hosted Frederick, Jr., and Lewis in Denver, teaching them typography. Eight years later Douglass returned the favor by helping to secure Henry O. Wagoner, Jr., a position as consular clerk in Paris, France. The younger Wagoner died while in Lyons, France, and upon the elder Wagoner’s request, Douglass looked for the grave during his 1886 European tour. NS, 18 February 1848, 24 August 1849; FDP, 11 December 1851; Denver Rocky Mountain News, 28 December 1901; Henry O. Wagoner to Douglass, 27 August 1866, 10 December 1873, 23 March 1878, 13 July, 13 October 1885, 19 August 1886, 1 September 1890, 17 August 1893, Henry O. Wagoner, Jr., to Douglass, 2 April 1874, 12 May 1877, Douglass to Lewis Douglass, 24 January 1887, all in General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 197–98, 700–703, 733–36, reel 3, frames 122–26, 241–43, reel 4, frames 193, 217–19, 380–81, reel 5, frames 783–84, reel 32, frames 250–51, FD Papers, DLC; William Simmons, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising (Alexandria, Va., 1887), 679–84; Benjamin Quarles, Allies for Freedom: Blacks and John Brown (New York, 1974), 39, 59; Quintard Taylor, In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528–1990 (New York, 1998), 123.