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FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CHARLES SUMNER

Rochester[, N.Y.] 6 July 1870.

HON: CHAS SUMNER.

MY DEAR SIR.

I have been deeply interested and instructed by your truly able speech
on the Franking question.^{1On 10 June 1870, Charles Sumner delivered a speech in Congress on the franking privilege. This privilege, which allowed members of Congress to send and receive mail with their signature free of postage, had been debated over the years. While some believed congressmen abused this power, others viewed the franking privilege as a way to connect directly with constituents. Sumner argued that this system brought the government and people “nearer together” by circulating knowledge through franked speeches and documents. During this lengthy speech, Sumner not only defended the franking privilege but also gave a historical review of the postal systems of the United States and Great Britain. Walter Gaston Shotwell, Life of Charles Sumner (New York, 1910), 631–33; David B. Frost, Classified: A History of Secrecy in the United States Government (Jefferson, N.C., 2017), 101; Congressional Globe, 41st Cong., 2d sess., 4291–98.} You have opened the eyes of the nation to the
highly beneficent character of the whole mail service of the country.
I rejoice also to see you in the right place upon the Chinese question.^{2Following the Civil War, there was great fear about the rising number of Chinese immigrants coming to the United States, especially in western states such as California, where Democrats attempted to sway voters by arguing that the Republican principle of “equality for all races” would lead to foreign born control of the government, and so pushed to keep strongly restrictive naturalization laws. As the chair for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles Sumner played a key role in the formation of the Burlingame-Seward Treaty of 1868, which, among other things, established some basic principles that aimed to ease immigration restrictions. In a speech entitled “Naturalization Laws: No Discrimination on Account of Color,” given over the course of 2 and 4 July, Sumner argued for the removal of the word “white” from current naturalization laws, as he had done in previous years. He argued that if any immigrant were coming to America with the intention of becoming a citizen and taking a vow of loyalty, regardless of color, that vow should be trusted to uphold “our institutions.” Sumner continued, “I simply ask you to stand by the Declaration of your fathers . . . Worse than any heathen or pagan abroad are those in our midst who are false to our institutions.” Douglass thought much the same way, as is seen in his discussion of Chinese immigration in his “Our Composite Nationality” speech. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: 250–52; New Orleans Republican, 30 August 1868; Charles Sumner, The Works of Charles Sumner, 15 vols. (Boston, 1880), 13:483, 485; Foner, Reconstruction, 313–14; “The Burlingame-Seward Treaty, 1868,” history.state.gov.}
As usual, you are in the race. The country is in the rear, and you will have