"[A]s white men we are not sorry for it, and we do not propose to apologize for anything we have done in connection with it. We took the government away from them [negroes] in 1876. We did take it. If no other Senator has come here previous to this time who would acknowledge it, more is the pity. We have had no fraud in our elections in South Carolina since 1884. There has been no organized Republican party in the State."
Benjamin Tillman

January 1, 1970