Whitelaw Reid: “Can’t they see that the moment Southern men get power, they’ll kick them all aside?”

Our national experience has demonstrated that public order reposes most securely on the broad base of universal suffrage.

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.

Never was there a problem more serious or difficult than that which is now before the Nation, as to this race, whose destiny has been confided to the wisdom and honor of our Government.