“In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.  When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.  Ths note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights “ of Life, LIberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.  Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’.”

“The farm worker has been abandoned to his own fate -- without representation, without power -- subject to mercy and caprice (change of moods) of the rancher.  We are tired of words, of betrayals, of indifference.  To the politicians we say that the years are gone when the farm worker said nothing and did nothing to help himself. From this movement shall spring leaders who shall understand us, lead us, be faithful to us, and we shall elect them to represent us.  WE SHALL BE HEARD.”

“They [the petitioners] therefore humbly beseech your honor to give this petition its due weight and consideration and cause on act of the legislature to be passed whereby they may be restored to the enjoyments of that which is the natural right of all men, and their children who were born in this land of liberty may not be held as slaves after they arrive as the age of 21 years.” 

“He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither.  The piratical warfare, the opprobrium (harsh criticism) of infidel powers is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain."  

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . . The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. . . He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns”

“From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the Portion, & is still the Birthright of all men, & influenced by their strong ties of Humanity & the Principles of their Institution, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of Slavery and promote a general Enjoyment of the blessing of Freedom. 

“Were we to inquire by what law  or authority you set up a claim, I answer none!  Your laws extend not into our country, nor ever did.  You talk of the law or nature and the law of nations, and they are both against you ….The great God of Nature has placed us in different situations.  It is true that he has endowed you with many superior advantages, but he has not created us to be your slaves.  We are a separate people!” 

“Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today?  What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?  Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?” 

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”