Whitelaw Reid: “If a man who has been shut up for a long time, in a dark room, is suddenly brought into the light, it dazzles his eyes…”

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

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.

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.

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