Whitelaw Reid: “Give them that, and they would work better than the average of uneducated white laborers.”

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.

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

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.

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