I've been listening to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates on CD and so far it has been very interesting and insightful. However, Douglas keeps using the phrase "Black Republicans" or "Black Republican Party" and I'm confused about its meaning.
Is he speaking specifically to and about freed black men who are members of the Republican Party? Or is he using "Black" as a label for certain Republicans who advocate emancipation? Or is he using "Black" as a pejorative, similar to the idiom, "black sheep?"
Maybe I'm misunderstanding Douglas completely. Any input would be appreciated.
In the political culture of the time "Black Republican party" was used more or less as a race-baiting pejorative synonym for the Republican party, almost universally so in the Southern press. It suggested that the party consisted of abolitionist "fanatics" who favored "negro equality" and all its attendant horrors. Douglas repeatedly returns to this theme throughout the debates.