I make them my profound acknowledgments for the honor they have done me in assigning me a share in the work of this day of days, and shall best deserve their trust by going with absolute candor straight to my theme.
Reid expresses gratitude for the opportunity to speak and emphasizes the importance of honesty in addressing his topic.
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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.
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.
It is my firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization.