..remember that under our institutions there was no middle ground for the negro race between slavery and equal citizenship.

..remember that under our institutions there was no middle ground for the negro race between slavery and equal citizenship.

For honest merit to succeed amid the tricks and intrigues which are now so lamentably common, I know is difficult; but the honor of success is increased by the obstacles which are to be surmounted. Let me triumph as a man or not at all.

Individuals may wear for a time the glory of our institutions, but they carry it not to the grave with them. Like raindrops from heaven, they may pass through the circle of the shining bow and add to its luster; but when they have sunk in the earth again, the proud arch still spans the sky and shines gloriously on.

We are apt to be deluded into false security by political catch-words, devised to flatter rather than instruct.

The sin of slavery is one of which it may be said that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.

Honesty is the best policy, says the familiar axiom; but people who are honest on that principle defraud no one but themselves.