Charles R. Douglass to Frederick Douglass, May 25, 1869

CHARLES R. DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

[Washington, D.C.]^{1Charles wrote on stationery with the following printed letterhead: “Treasury Department / Third Auditor’s Office.”} 25 May 1869.

DEAR FATHER,

I commenced a letter to you some time ago, but on learning through the papers that you were away from home I did not finish it. Success has crowned all our efforts, and we start out mornings now three abreast instead of one.

George Seldon^{2Charles Douglass probably refers to George Baldwin Selden (1846–1922) and his father, the New York jurist Henry Rogers Selden (1805–85). The elder Selden had moved from his Connecticut birthplace to Rochester in 1825 and studied law. He opened a practice in Clarkson, in western Monroe County, where he married and had his son George. Antislavery sentiment led Selden to abandon the Democrats for the newly founded Republican party, and he was elected lieutenant governor of New York in 1858. After leaving office, Henry Selden settled in Rochester. He sat as a judge on the state court of appeals (1863–65), but was defeated in his attempt to become chief justice in 1870. He gained fame for defending Susan B. Anthony’s attempt to vote in the election of 1872. The younger Selden served briefly in the Union army and then attended Yale University. He followed his father into the practice of law, but his passion was for engineering. George Selden was granted the first U.S. patent for an internal combustion engine for an automobile in 1895 after a sixteen-year struggle. For a few years, Selden successfully collected royalties from the nation’s principal automobile manufacturers, but Henry Ford won a court case overthrowing Selden’s rights in 1911. W. H. McIntosh, History of Monroe County, New York (Philadelphia, 1877), 38, 45, 88, 107–08, 127–28, 134, 139; William Farley Peck, Semi-Centennial History of the City of Rochester (Syracuse, N.Y., 1884), 729–31; Joseph W. Barnes, “Rochester and the Automobile Industry,” RH, 43: 1–39 (April and June 1981).} called on us last week his father is here looking for a farm.

How stands the Rochester Post Office Postmastership?^{3Rumors of Douglass’s possible appointment as the U.S. postmaster in Rochester appeared in New York newspapers beginning in May 1869. Douglass had sought the position, but Grant’s postmaster general, John Creswell, rejected the application, relaying to Douglass that it was a “local position” more suited to “small politicians.” William Founders to Douglass, 12 October 1869, in this volume; Rochester Union and Advertiser, 29 May 1869.} are your claims being urged? I would like very much to see a Rochester paper on the subject. I rcd. the one you sent containing report of Natl Convention.^{4Probably a reference to newspaper reports of the meeting of the American Equal Rights Association at Brooklyn’s Academy of Music on 14 May 1869. Douglass attended the daylong convention but declined an opportunity to address it during the evening session. New York Times, 15 May 1869; New York World, 15 May 1869; New York Tribune, 15 May 1869.}

I suppose if all works well with you this summer, you will come to see us. I assure you that I will make your stay a pleasant one. I intend to have a model garden. I have already planted sweet potatoes, water melons, & cantelopes, and have peas, potatoes, onions, cabbage, beets, beans and corn up. The peas are filling very fast, and in two weeks will be fit for use. I have also two splendid shoats, and about 50 chickens now, and six hens are still setting. I have also twelve little ducks for your especial [illegible] when you come, as I am aware that they rank first in your estimation, among fowls. I was in hopes that Mother would come to see us this summer. I would do my utmost best to have her enjoy herself and Libbie would also. Come all when you can, and I will be only to happy to serve you. It is my only desire now, and I am only sorry that I cant do as much as I would like. ^{5While residing in Denver after the Civil War, Lewis H. Douglass was trained in typography by his father’s longtime friend Henry O. Wagoner. When Lewis returned east, he took a position in Washington with the Government Printing Office. In June 1869 the Columbia Typographical Union No. 161 condemned Lewis as a scab for working for lower wages. At the same time, the union refused to accept him as a member, because it claimed he was inadequately trained. Lewis had support inside the union, and the dispute was referred to the union’s national president. The elder Douglass entered the controversy, arguing that the opposition Lewis faced was solely on account of his color, not his skill as a compositor. Frederick Douglass visited Washington in August 1869 to lobby governmental officials on Lewis’s behalf. Other black leaders and groups likewise spoke out on Lewis’s behalf, but he was never granted membership in the typographer’s union. Chicago Workingman’s Advocate, 5, 19 June 1869; San Francisco Elevator, 11 June 1869; NASS, 12, 19, 26 June, 3, 10 July, 25 September, 30 October 1869; Washington National Republican, 20 August 1869; EAAH, 1: 424.} Lewis is creating a great deal of excitement here among newspapermen and typos,^{5While residing in Denver after the Civil War, Lewis H. Douglass was trained in typography by his father’s longtime friend Henry O. Wagoner. When Lewis returned east, he took a position in Washington with the Government Printing Office. In June 1869 the Columbia Typographical Union No. 161 condemned Lewis as a scab for working for lower wages. At the same time, the union refused to accept him as a member, because it claimed he was inadequately trained. Lewis had support inside the union, and the dispute was referred to the union’s national president. The elder Douglass entered the controversy, arguing that the opposition Lewis faced was solely on account of his color, not his skill as a compositor. Frederick Douglass visited Washington in August 1869 to lobby governmental officials on Lewis’s behalf. Other black leaders and groups likewise spoke out on Lewis’s behalf, but he was never granted membership in the typographer’s union. Chicago Workingman’s Advocate, 5, 19 June 1869; San Francisco Elevator, 11 June 1869; NASS, 12, 19, 26 June, 3, 10 July, 25 September, 30 October 1869; Washington National Republican, 20 August 1869; EAAH, 1: 424.} and the comments of the press are very interesting. Col. Clapp^{6During the dispute between Radical Republicans and President Andrew Johnson, Congress took back the power to appoint the head of the Government Printing Office. A Connecticut native named Almon Mason Clapp (1811–99) had been a printer and editor of the Buffalo Express, a Whig-turned-Republican newspaper. Lincoln appointed him U.S. postmaster in Buffalo, but Johnson replaced him. Under the Grant administrations, Clapp served as “Congressional Printer” from 1869 until 1876, when Congress returned the appointment power for his position to the executive branch. President Grant then appointed Clapp the “Public Printer of the United States.” When the next president, Rutherford B. Hayes, replaced Clapp in 1877, he bought the Washington National Republican and operated it until 1880. San Francisco Call, 10 April 1899; Ebenezer Clapp, The Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp Family in America (Boston, 1876), 188–91; NCAB, 1: 359–60.} does not propose to be ruled by the Typographical Union and has assured Lew. that he need have no fears of being reviewed.

Lewis’ case will be an opening for other young colored men should he be accepted as a member in the Union.

All are well & send love

Aff. Your Son

CHAS. R. DOUGLASS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 481–83, FD Papers, DLC.

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