This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless.

They came in darkness and they came in chains.

Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield.

The time for failure is gone.

I intend to act with equal dispatch in enforcing this act.

Today we strike away the last major shackle of those fierce and ancient bonds.

It is difficult to fight for freedom.

The time for injustice has gone.

The time for waiting is gone.

This is a rather remarkable and rather splendid achievement.

The bill passed by the Senate will redeem our long neglect.

For much too long this nation has tolerated in the District of Columbia conditions that our ancestors fought a revolution to eliminate.

Yes, this is a new day in America.

We want change.

It does not have to be loose in order to be liberal.

So thank you for coming here to the White House.

For much too long we have imposed on many hundreds of thousands of citizens who live in the District a badge of inferiority--the stigma of unworthiness to guide their own affairs.

I feel confident that Members of the House, given the opportunity, will join with Members of the Senate to afford their fellow-citizens the flail blessings of democracy and liberty.