- Fillmore denies that he helped Black Americans escape to Canada. Do you believe him? If so, why did someone make the false assertion? If not, why did Fillmore deny the truth?
- What do the campaign assertion and Fillmore’s denial suggest about voters’ attitudes toward slavery, Black Americans, and the Underground Railroad?
- Are Fillmore’s opinions in this letter consistent with those in his letter to Abraham J. Lyon et al. in 1844? Does this letter from 1848 either help you to interpret or change your interpretation of any of the letters from 1844–45?
- What other sources might help you to answer these questions or to understand the events discussed in the letters?