"One led out of the country to a comparative wilderness; the other directed to a better land and larger opportunities." He did not see how the migration to the North would diminish the potentiality of the Negro in politics, for Massachusetts first elected Negroes to her General Court, Ohio had nominated a Negro representative and Illinois another.

He showed also that Mr.Douglass's objection on the grounds of migrating from south to north rather than from east to west was not historical.

He thought little of the advice to the Negroes to stick and fight it out, for he had evidence that the return of the unreconstructed Confederates to power in the South would for generations doom the blacks to political oppression unknown in the annals of a free country.
Greener showed foresight here in urging the Negroes to take up desirable western land before it would be preempted by foreigners.

As the Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, Hebrews and others were organizing societies and raising funds to promote the migration of their needy to these lands, why should the Negroes be debarred?
Greener had no apprehension as to the treatment the Negroes would receive in the West.

He connected the movement too with the general welfare of the blacks, considering it a promising sign that they had learned to run from persecution.