The names Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln are synonymous with abolition and emancipation. However, what few people may know is that these two great American statesmen led remarkably similar lives in their early years, and actually held great respect for one another, even to the point of being characterized as friends.
Both Douglass and Lincoln were born poor: Douglass in his grandmother’s slave shack in Talbot County, Maryland, and Lincoln in the one-room cabin in Harding County, Kentucky. Both lost their mothers when they were very young. Although Douglass lost his mother at the age of seven, he had been separated from her since he was an infant. He lived with his maternal grandmother. Lincoln lost his mother to milk sickness (poisoning by drinking toxic milk) at the age of nine. Both men were born in February, Lincoln in 1809, and Douglass in 1818.
Physically, the men were similar as well with both standing at least 6 inches taller than most men of the day. Both had extensive physical prowess and could hold their own in fight, which often meant the difference between life and death. Douglass freed himself from further beatings at the hands of his master by besting the man in a fight, while Lincoln often found himself in fights for a number of reasons, which was not at all uncommon on the frontier.
Both men refrained from drinking and smoking, which in the early 19th Century was a common thing for men. Both Lincoln and Douglass spent their youth performing manual labor.
Douglass was a slave under American law, being a black person born to a slave in a slave holding state. But Lincoln also considered himself a slave. In the 19th Century and earlier, frontier lawyers and courts often deferred to Blackstone’s opinions of laws of England for guidance. At the time, it was the law in England that until the age of 21 sons were required to relinquish any wages they earned to their fathers.
Lincoln’s father often hired him out for manual labor to earn money for the family. Douglass was often hired out for his master’s profit as well, and slaves were seldom permitted to keep any of the wages they earned.
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass both had little formal education. Frederick Douglass began learning to read when he was sent to serve Hugh Auld in Baltimore. Auld’s wife, Sophia, began teaching Douglass the alphabet, but Auld forced her to stop when he found out. Lincoln only attended 18 months of formal schooling from itinerate teachers at frontier schools.
Both Lincoln and Douglass came to be known as “self made men.” They shared the same basic reading skills and read voraciously, even using the same books as the core of their education, including the Bible, The Columbian Orator, the many works of Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Robert Burns, and Aesop’s Fables.
Lincoln and Douglass were fond of Hamlet and often quoted the same line in explaining their individual destinies, “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.” Both men believed that education was of the utmost importance if a man was going to succeed.
They both married women above their social status, and this likely helped them with their success. Douglass married his first wife, Anna Murray on September 15, 1838. She was a free black woman of some means, five years older, and responsible for providing him with the means for his escape.
Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842. She was the daughter of a wealthy slaveholder from Lexington, KY, and accustomed to a life of privilege, something she did not have with Lincoln. After marrying Lincoln, she learned to do for herself many of the things she’d previously had servants do for her.
Both men were gifted orators in a day when speakers were regarded in much the way that many regard sports or movie stars today. Speeches were a form of entertainment as well as education, so the best orators were often highly sought after. Douglass supported his family by traveling and speaking out against slavery. He was so talented and well spoken that some began to question if he had actually been a slave at all. Lincoln used his gift for oratory to win elections and gain pubic support of policies. Both would hold several public offices throughout their lives.
From the beginning of the Civil War, Douglass urged Lincoln in his public speeches, and newspaper to allow blacks the right to enlist and fight for their own freedom. In 1863, blacks finally won the right to enlist in military service, and Douglass actively encouraged them to do so. However, after learning that blacks were not paid as much as whites by half, he stopped recruiting.
On August 10, 1863, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln met for the first time. Douglass arrived in Washington, D.C. in the wee hours of the morning with the hope of meeting the President to seek redress for his grievances, as guaranteed in the Constitution.
After meeting Senator Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Secretary of the Interior John Usher, and Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Douglass arrived at the Soldier’s Home where Lincoln was spending the summer. He gave his calling card to the steward and prepared for a long wait, as it was well known that visitors could wait for a week before seeing the President. Much to his surprise, he was shown into the President’s office in less than two minutes.
Lincoln greeted Douglass by saying, “Mr. Douglass, I know you; I have read about you… sit down, I am glad to see you.” Douglass recounted later that the President put him “quite at ease at once.”
Douglass, impressed by the President’s candor, said, “I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.” Douglass would have several meetings with the President during his remaining years in office, including a time when Governor Buckingham of Connecticut had to wait, after being announced twice. Lincoln stated, “Tell Governor Buckingham to wait, for I want to have a long talk with my friend, Frederick Douglass.”
Douglass and Lincoln forged a friendship that would last the rest of Lincoln’s brief life. Upon Lincoln’s death, Douglass was implored to speak at a gathering of mourners at the Rochester Courthouse. Of his speech, one attendee said, “I never heard truer eloquence. I never saw profounder impression.”
After Lincoln’s death, his wife sent special mementos to his closest friends and aides. To Frederick Douglass, she sent Lincoln’s favorite walking stick, which remains on display today at Cedar Hill, the final home of Douglass in Washington, D.C. In his reply to Mrs. Lincoln, Douglass said he would keep the walking stick forever as an “object of sacred interest,” because of his love for Lincoln and Lincoln’s “humane interest in the welfare of my whole race.”
Lincoln did not initially set out to end slavery; he only meant to preserve the Union. He said, “If I could save the Union without freeing the slaves, I would do it. If I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it would help to save the Union.”
While they didn’t always see eye to eye on slavery, Lincoln and Douglass did find common ground on some issues through mutual respect and civil debate. Perhaps the most valuable lesson that America can learn from these two great men is that you can disagree without being disagreeable. Simple respect for one another goes a long way, and you never know, like Lincoln and Douglass, you might just make a new friend.
Sources:
http://www.rense.com/general63/friend.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=AGMWAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA427&ots=1asrUL9N_y&dq=fathers%20entitled%20to%20son’s%20earnings%20until%2021&pg=PA427#v=onepage&q&f=false
Stauffer, John. Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass & Abraham Lincoln. New York: Twelve, 2008. Print.