The marriage institution cannot exist among slaves, and one sixth of the population of democratic America is denied it's privileges by the law of the land. What is to be thought of a nation boasting of its liberty, boasting of it's humanity, boasting of its Christianity, boasting of its love of justice and purity, and yet having within its own borders three millions of persons denied by law the right of marriage?

A great man, tender of heart, strong of nerve, boundless patience and broadest sympathy, with no motive apart from his country.

Poverty, ignorance and degradation are the combined evils, these constitute the social disease of the free colored people of the US.

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 slave is someone who sits down, and waits for someone to free them.

...I recognize the widest possible difference-so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.