They were more disposed to get angry; and the “no, noes” were sufficiently emphatic to satisfy the most devoted adherents of the old system, who used to be constantly declaring that “the slaves were the happiest people on the face of the earth.
Reid describes the strong emotional reactions of a group of formerly enslaved individuals to the idea of their past lives.
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Let me repeat, that I think it best for all men—white men, black men, and brown men, if you make that distinction, that all men of proper age and unconvicted of crime, should have the right of suffrage.
It is my firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization.
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.
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.