Frederick Douglass experienced a rebirth as a moral crusader in the final years of his life. His sense of outrage deepened as the federal government failed to honor its promise to help Black Americans achieve political equality. In particular, his doubts grew over whether the Republican party would continue to fight segregation and advance the interests of Black Americans.
Throughout the 1870s and most of the 1880s, Douglass had regularly praised the Republicans as “the party of Abraham Lincoln.” Douglass especially endorsed Republicans in their effort to assist formerly
