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This past year has seen our Grand Republic make strides in the healing process. I can now proudly look out at the House, the very same House where I sat as Speaker, and look at a full bench with each state in our Union represented. It also warms my heart to see, for the first time in the history of our country, negro representatives and negro Senators. The power to make democratic change, one of the most basic and God given rights to all free citizens, has been bestowed upon the negroes of this country. Suffrage, representatives, and now the truest form of freedom in economic freedom: the Negro Homestead Act can turn those who had to toil as slaves, masters of their own plots of land beholden to no one.

We are united as one, and now the next step is expansion. We must manifest our destiny, this Republic stretched out across the continent with liberty for all. I foresee President Lincoln's prophecy of the sleeping giant coming to pass. Our vast territories in the west will in due time will be filled with citizens and industry, railroad tracks will crisscross this land like veins, ships will carry people to our shores and our goods to the rest of the globe. Our nation shall stride the globe like a colossus. An American Colossus, one that shall go down in history as one of the all time greatest nations this world has ever seen. Our Founders predicted it, as did Lincoln. Bold words that require even bolder action. This transformation shall not occur in our lifetimes, but is our duty to start this change. This is why I will use the last remaining year of this term as president to see that this nation looks to the west, where our future and destiny lie.

-- [i]Schuyler Colfax, US President addressing Congress[/i] 

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[b]Republican National Convention Meet in Chicago
Pres. Colfax, Gen. Grant Front Runners for Nomination[/b]
[i]Washington Post[/i] Headline

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I was among General Grant's most fervent supports during the war, his style and tactics were not without their detractors, but he was the man we needed to put down the rebels. He was a great leader in war, but war is over. We need a man for peace, a man who will ruthlessly enforce that peace. General Grant, in peacetime, has shown to be lax and given to backsliding into less than desirable habits. President Colfax has shown he is more than capable of serving as chief executive, a fact that should prove more appealing to voters than military laurels. I would rather vote for a known quantity like President Colfax than an enigma like Grant. To endorse General Grant for President is to endorse the fickle nature of politics. Think of the hard work of the last few years, the amendments and hard work that we have done for the negro. We need a Radical Republican president or all that hard work shall be for nothing. I would sooner die than see those acts repealed by an uncaring and disinterested chief executive!

[i]Republican Representative Thaddeus Stevens on the Convention Floor[/i]

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[b]Grant Receives Republican Nomination
General Elected on Third Ballot, Adams Nominated VP[/b]
[i]New York Herald[/i] Headline

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[b]Stevens Dies
Penn. Congressman Was Seventy-Six[/b]
[i]New York Times[/i] Headline

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I repose in this quiet and secluded spot
Not from any natural preference for solitude
But, finding other Cemeteries limited as to Race
by Charter Rules
I have chosen this that I might illustrate
in my death
The Principles which I advocated
through a long life;
EQUALITY OF MAN BEFORE HIS CREATOR

-- [i]Thaddeus Stevens Epitaph [/i]