Whitelaw Reid: “Withal, they work less, and have more time for self-improvement, or for society, than when slaves.”

Ordinarily the simple performance of duty is so blessed of God, that men who live in the doing of it, are the best off, in all respects, even in this world.

It is my firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization.

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

It has proved, also, that universal suffrage is the surest guarantee and most powerful stimulus of individual, social and political progress.