Whitelaw Reid: “We think him on our side because of what he has done, and what we know him to be.”

He who has that right will usually respect himself more, be more respected, perform more, and more productive work, and do more to increase the wealth and welfare of the community, than he who has it not.

May it not prove, moreover, in that work of reorganization, which now engages the thoughts of all patriotic men, that universal suffrage is the best reconciler of the most comprehensive lenity with the most perfect public security and the…

And it is both natural and right that colored Americans, entitled to the rights of citizens, should claim their exercise.

They should persist in this claim respectfully, but firmly, taking care to bring no discredit upon it by their own action.