Scope and Contents:
In this June 12, 1864, letter to John C. Frémont, Frederick A. Aiken acknowledged Frémont’s nomination as the Radical Democracy Party’s candidate for the presidency in the upcoming election. The letter references the “Cleveland Convention,” which was held in Cleveland, Ohio on May 31, 1864, and attended by a group of abolitionist Radical Republicans who were critical of Abraham Lincoln and his administration. At the Cleveland Convention, the Radical Republicans formed the Radical Democracy Party and nominated well-known abolitionist John C. Frémont as their presidential candidate. Aiken described Democrats’ support of Frémont and the Radical Democracy Party’s attempt to challenge Lincoln for the Republican nomination in his letter, as he wrote that “I have not heard from any democrat in this city an unkind word concerning yourself since the action of the Cleveland Convention” and “the democrats are willing to help you all they can as against Mr. Lincoln.”
Biographical/Historical Context:
Frederick A. Aiken (1832-1878) began his career as a journalist in Vermont, though he later left journalism to study law under his father-in-law, Judge Edmund Weston. After he was admitted to the Vermont Bar in 1859, Aiken moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued to practice law and became involved in politics. Aiken served as the Secretary of the Democratic National Convention in 1860, which nominated John C. Breckinridge as the party’s presidential candidate. During the Civil War, Aiken enlisted in the Union Army, though little is known about his service record. In the wake of Lincoln’s assassination, Aiken served as a defense attorney for assassination conspirator Mary Surratt. Aiken later returned to journalism and worked for The Washington Post until his death in 1878.
John C. Frémont (1813-1890) was an explorer and politician who completed several expeditions of the American West. Frémont was a staunch abolitionist and served as the Republican Party’s first presidential nominee in 1856, an election which he lost to James Buchanan. During the Civil War, Frémont served as a Union Army Major General in the Department of the West but was later dismissed from this position in 1862 due to his attempt to declare martial law in Missouri. In 1864, John C. Frémont became the presidential nominee of the short-lived Radical Democratic Party, which supported Frémont for his abolitionist views. After the war, Frémont served as the territorial governor of Arizona, then later retired on Staten Island, New York, where he lived until his death in 1890.
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