Charles Sumner: “A government which denies the elective franchise on account of color, or, in other words, sets up any “qualifications”…”

“A government which denies the elective franchise on account of color, or, in other words, sets up any “qualifications” of voters in their nature insurmountable, cannot be republican; for the first principle in a republican government is Equality of Rights, according to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”