Whitelaw Reid: “These were great men, far-seeing, courageous, patriotic, the men of Forty-nine, who in such lofty spirit and with such…”

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.

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

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.

It is my firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization.