Whitelaw Reid: “Not while we remember how often and under what circumstances we have heard that cry before.”

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

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

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

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.