At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

You have to take power. No one gives it.

A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual enslavement of colored men, calls logically and loudly for colored men to help suppress it.

A government, founded on impartial liberty, where all have a voice and a vote, irrespective of color or of sex--what is there to hinder such a government from standing firm.

Civil war was not a mere strife for territory and dominion, but a contest of civilization against barbarism.

Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.