Elizabeth Thompson to Frederick Douglass, June 11, 1880

ELIZABETH THOMPSON TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

New York[, N.Y.]^{1Thompson added the following information to her address: “Four Seasons 149 West 41st.”} 11 June [1880.]

DEAR MR DOUGLAS,

I seams a very long time since I saw your hand-writing— I know—, I said in my last—do not write me until you cant help it—but, Oh dear! I did not think it would be so long before I should hear a word from you—so now I am forced to pocket my pride, and cry aloud for a real good old fassioned letter such as you used to write me—Perhaps

you think I did not appreciate them or you—but you know how easily we decived or mistaken—

I have thought often of you in these days of political excitement.

Are you pleased with Garfields nomination?^{2James Abram Garfield (1831–81) lost his father at an early age and worked at numerous jobs to finance an education that culminated with his graduation from Williams College in 1856. Three years later, while principal of Hiram Institute in Ohio, he won election to the state senate as a Republican. During the Civil War, Garfield received a rapid series of promotions but resigned from the Union army in December 1863 with the rank of major general in order to accept election to the first of eight terms in Congress. Initially aligned with Radical Republicans on Reconstruction issues, his views moderated after passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. At the 1880 Republican convention, Garfield was serving as John Sherman’s floor manager when the deadlocked gathering turned to him as their presidential nominee on the thirty-sixth ballot. Garfield triumphed over Winfield Scott Hancock in the general election. Garfield’s administration suffered from heated disputes over patronage with supporters of former president Grant, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. Charles Guiteau, a delusional, disappointed office seeker, shot Garfield on 2 July 1881 in Washington, D.C., and the president died after lingering for eleven weeks. As a Stalwart, Douglass had preferred that Grant be nominated for a third term in 1880, but he loyally campaigned for Garfield. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: 566–81; Margaret Leech and Harry J. Brown, The Garfield Orbit (New York, 1978); Allan Peskin, Garfield: A Biography (Kent, Ohio, 1978); ACAB, 2: 599–605; DAB, 7: 145–51.}

I hope you & he are friends—I should like to propose your name for Vice President—next to your Bruces^{3Blanche Kelso Bruce.}—this is due to your people and to the country now keep this in your mind and in the right time, place & way get this idea before the world and into the minds of the people.

You know all things must start in a thought and then have time to take root—

I suppose you should like me better if I never did foolish things, such as wasting my money on things you do not approve—Well! I am not so perfect as some smart little creatures who believes that the end and aim of life is to “have a cent worth worth of yeast and something to love” but I think I am a very true loyal friend, who love little and long after others have burned out—

I often read your letters—they always give me new courage to work, wait and hope

So now good by with all my hearts best wishes for your self and all your intrests

Now sit right down and write me an old fassion letter

As Ever

E THOMPSON

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 9, frames 244–46, FD Papers, DLC.