(There were some liberal Republicans who did believe in racial equality.)
"The Springfield Republican praised Grant’s nomination of two blacks as ambassadors to Haiti and Liberia in April 1869, prophesizing that ‘‘the time will come when color will cease to be a test of fitness or a reason for distinction, either for or against the children of Africa.’’ The newspaper declared that until such time ‘‘when the races will be so blended that it will cease to be a distinction . . . this people have still a long credit against us which we must spend years, if not centuries, in paying. School houses, homestead grants, postoffices, senatorships and a good many other valuables must be turned in to clear off the score, and it is a satisfaction to see Grant acknowledging the debt.’’"