Whitelaw Reid: “Whatever the verdict of the men of Massachusetts to-day, I contentedly await the verdict of their sons.”

They should persist in this claim respectfully, but firmly, taking care to bring no discredit upon it by their own action.

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

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.

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