«we are your fellow citizens–native born and with you we must live and die. You have an interest then whether you feel it or not, in our welfare; in our being intelligent, virtuous and good citizens. We cannot be ignorant, vicious and degrade without an injury to yourselves. It is for your good as well as our own, that we should be attached to the Government and have confidence in the equity of its laws, and in the justice of its administration.»
from “Proceedings of the Connecticut State Convention of Colored Men” on “what evils would result to the State if free suffrage was granted?”