Whitelaw Reid: “The difference between Savannah and Port Royal negroes is the difference between the child and the man.”

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

They should strive for distinction by economy, by industry, by sobriety, by patient perseverance in well-doing, by constant improvement of religious instruction, and by the constant practice of Christian virtues.

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…

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