E 338 ^3e> Date Due II; "W NliVV2^tH3b"blll ■^ DEG^-^ia E338 .038"""' ""'"""''' "-"""^ The Dempcratic and Republican platforms. 3 1924 032 756 094 THE DEMOCRATiaAND REPUBLICAN • Xj A. T iF» o n. 3ia: s Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032756094 THE lemmatk mb llepMican ^tof0tiiis. [That the people of each Stale are the only source of all power in the State ; tbat the respective States are soTereign and equal ; that as equais tjiey aire the sole parties to a oompact termed the Constitution of the United States ; that it was made, as it declares, for the United States of America, and " in order to form a more perfect union, estahUsh Justice, ensure domestic tranquH- ity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure lixe blessings of liberty." Tbat the Government of the United States has no power iibhatever but that which the people of the respective States deleffcsted to it. Thus the tenth article of the Comstatution ordiains that " the power not delegated to the United States by the Oonstitdtion, not prohibited iy U to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'' These are among the well-settled principles of the Democratic party, and of Constitutional law. They are based on the fundamental principle of man's right to self-government, viz : That the people of every State and plAoe have the inherent and inalienable right to govern themselves within that {d.aee. All experience has shown that as to every institution existing witbin a, given place, the people of that place are the best judges of its fitness ox unfitness. Self-government does not rest on the power of the people, but their poorer rests on the superior ground that self-government is their right. If it were otherwise, then might would make right, the foundation of all tyranny. It vas because of this inalienable right, tjiat the people of the several States did not give to the Federal Government any power to interfere in their local or domestie affairs, but they retained or reserved that right to themselves. If then, this be an inherent ?,nd inalienable right of the people- o{ the several States, why is it not also the inherent and inalienable right of the people ot and within the several territories^ If it be assumed, in reply, that the Fede- ral Government has the merff power to govern the territories, yet it does not 4 follow that it should exercise it ; for the same experience which has shown that this power will be best exercised by the people of a State, proves also ■ that it would be best exercised by ihe people of a territory; but even if the Federal Government should exercise its power, and thus disregard the will of the people of the territories, yet they should not do it so as practically to ex- clude from them one class and section of the States and people of the Union. For as the several States are sovereign and equal, and the Federal Govern- ment is but their agent, to execute'their joint will, it should govern their common property for their common benefit. It should not establish or undu- ly favor the institutions of the Southern States, to the exclusion or prejudice in the slightest degree of the institutions of the North ; nor should it seek to propagate those of the latter to the exclusion of those of the former. In- re- ference to these domestic institutions, the one section may be right, and the other therefore wrong; but the Southern and Northern States did not delegate to the Federal Government the power" to decide that question between them. They reserved that to themselves ; and even as to their common property, they agreed that it should be held and governed only for their common good. The property of the States is to be thus administered by their agent ; but the States did not delegate to the Federal Government, nor can it find in the Con- stitution any authority to found social or political institutions for the people within the territory. The Federal Government has neither the power to es- tablish domestic institutions for the people of a territory, nor to abolish them, nor to ordain that the people themselves shall not establish or abolish them, according to their own free will and pleasure. We of Pennsylvania once instituted and maintained slavery ; but convinced that it was wrong, we gradually abolished it ; but we did not, nor would we permit any other State to dictate to us, or to interfere with our own free choice upon the subject. Other States continue to difier from us, but we shall not dictate to them, or intermeddle with their domestic concerns. The people of this State have an eqpal right with those of the other States, to emigrate to the territories of the United States. We would not sufier the citizens in any Sottthern or Northern State — no, nor the Federal Government itself — to pre- scribe to them what domestic institutions they should or shovfld not live un- der ; nor will we, therefore, do to others what we would not suffer to be done to us. Do we, then, desire to see the extension of slavery? We answer that we do not. We hope and believe that the day will yet come when those who legalize slavery now, as we once did, will themselves, and of their own free will, do as we ourselves did — abolish it. Those of us who are of one religious denomination, may not desire to see the creed or tenets of another denomination introduced or extended in any other State or territory ; but should we therefore prohibit other people from adopts ing them ? Or would our nore-interferenoe be evidence that we favored their propagation and extension? Assuredly not. Then let it not be said that we in Pennsylvania are propagandists of sla- very, because we will not prohibit people who are not of Pennsylvania from adopting it. As citizens of Pennsylvania, we wish the territories to 6e /r«« Slates. "Were we inhabitants of them, we would vote io malce them free; but neither aS| citizens of a State, or inhabitants of a territory, would we admit the right of the inhabitants of any other State or territory, nor of thp Federal or State governments, to intermeddle with our domestic concerns. These, too, are the principles of the Democracy — ^not in a few States, or in one geographical section, but of the whole thirty-one States of the Union, viz: In both States and territories, such institutions as the free choice oi their free citizens shall legally ordain and' establish, and no dictation by Congress. We publish the Democratic Platform, that it may be seen and known to maintain the equal rights of the States — whether North, or South, or East, of "West — aiid equal and exact justice among all men, without regard to their birth-place or residence.] THE DEMOGEATIC PLATTORM. Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelli- gence, the patriotism, and the discriminating justice of the American people. Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world, as the great moral element in a form of government springing from and upheld by the popular will ; and we contrast it with the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which constitutes np imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. Resolved, therefore, That, entertaining these views, the Democratic party of this Union, through their delegates assembled in a general Convention, coming together in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and re-assert before the American people the declarations of principles avowed by them when, on former occa- sions, in general Convention, they have presented their candidates for the popular suffrages. 1. That the Federal Government is one of limited power, derived solely from the Constitution ; and the grants of power made therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the General Government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improve- ments. 3. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal Govern- ment directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several States, con- tsfictedjfor local and internal improvements, or other State purposes, nor would such assumption be just or expedient'. 4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govsttiment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of any other, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the inj ury of another portion of our common country ; that every citizen and every section of the country hag a right to demand aad insist upon an equality of rights and privilegeg, and to complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggres* ■ion. 5. That, it is the duty of every branch of the Government to enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary «Kpenses of the Government, and for the gradual but certain extinction of the public debt. 6. That th« proceeds of the public lands ought to be saloredly applied to • the national objects specified in the Constitution ; and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the States, as alike inex- pedient in policy and repugnant to the Constitution. 7. That Congress has no povrer to charter a National Bank, that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of our country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a con- centrated money power, and above the laws and the will of the people ; and ^atthe result of Democratic legislation in this and all other financial measures upon which issues have been made between the two political parties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties, their soundness, safety, and utility, in all business pursuits. 8. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the Government and the rights of the people. 9. That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the President the qualified veto power, by which he is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities, amply sufficient to guard the public interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representative^, until the judgment of the people can bo obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and ^rannioal domination of the Bank. of the United States, and from a corrupt" ing system of general internal improvements. 10. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith, and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition law from our statute-books. Andwhereas, Since the foregoing, declaration was uniformily adopted by our predecessors in National Conventions, an adverse political and religious test has been seoretiy organized by a party claiming to be exclusively Ameri» can, it is proper that the American Democracy should clearly defiiie iU relations thereto, and declare its determined opposition to all secret political societies, by whatever name they may be called. " Resolved, That the foundation of this Union of States having been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and pre-eminent example in free government built upon, entire freedom in matters of religious concernment, and no respect of person in regard to rank or place of birth, no party can justly bo deemed national, constitutional, or in accordance with American principles,- which bases its exclusive organization upon religious opinions and accidental birth- place. And hence a political crusade in the -nineteenth century, and in the United States of America, against the Catholics and foreigu-born, is neither justified by the past history or the future prospects of the country, nor in unison with the spirit of toleration and enlarged freedom which peculiarly distinguishes the Ataerican system of popular government. Resolved, That toe reiterate with renewed energy of purposcy the lodl- considered declarations of former Conventions upon the sectioned issue of Domestic Slavery, and concerning the reserved rights of the States: 1. That Congress has no power under the Constitution, to interfere \oith or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that all mch States are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited hy the Constitution ; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with gues' tions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calcu^ lated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences; and that all such efforts have> an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability a/nd permanency of the Union, and ought not to.be amtena/nced by any friends of ow political institu^ tious. 2. That the foregoing proposition covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole subject of davery agitation in Congress ; and therefore, the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, wiU abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known, as the Compromise Measures, settled by the Congress, of 1850; "the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor" included, which act being designed to carry out an' express provision of the Constitution, cannot wiihfiddity thereto be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its (^hiency. 3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under what^ ever shape or color the attempt may be made. ^,[The passage and maintenance of Missouri, or other geographical lines, by Congress; necessarily involved tha right of Congress to legalise slavery on one side, and prohibit it on the other side of such lines ; and this without regard to the will of the inhabitants of the territories. To remove this agi- tating question at onoe and forever from the halls of Congress, the Compro- mise Bills of 1850 substitirted a. poliiicat principle, viz: the free choice of the people of the territories instead of a geographical line to be prescribed by the will of the members of Congress ; and by those Compromise meS-sures it was declared that this question should no longer be settled by Congress, but that thereafter, as then, the people of the territories should alone determine it for Henry Clay, introduced, and in his report thus advocated that principle : "It is high time that the wounds which it [the Wilmot Proviso) has inflicted should ,be healed up and closed ; and that to avoid in all future time the agi- tations which must be produced by the conflict of opinion on the slavery question — existing, as this institution does, in some of the States, and pro- hibited, as it is, in others — the true principle which ought to regulate the action of Congress in forming territorial governments, for each newly acquired domain, is to refrain from all legislation on the subject in the territory acquired, so long as it retains the territorial form of government, leaving it to thfi people of such territory, when they have attained to a condition which entitles them to admission as a State, to decide for themselves the question of the allowance or prohibition of domestJo slavery." — (See Congressional Globe, May 10, 1850, page 945.) Both the Democratic and Whig Conventions of 1852 affirmed and re- , solved to abide' by that principle ; and the former then resolved, that no efforts made to induce Congress to interfere should be countenanced. Of course, if Congress were not to interfere, then that duty devolved upon the people of the tmritories, and Congress was bound to provide for their right to da. 80, and when forming territorial governments for Kansas and Nebraska, they did so by the following clausie of the Kansas and Nebraska Bill of 1854 :— " It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any State or Territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the peo- ple thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their ovm way, subject only to the Constitution of the United' States." The Democratic Convention of 1856 reaffirmed the same principle, a,ni the very words jjist quoted, contain at ttiis moment, as in 1852, the true doctrine on this point, of the whole Democracy of the Union, East and "West, and North and South: — 1 " 4. That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798 and in the report of, Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature, in 1799 ■ that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import." [The Alien Act of June, 1798, authorised the President to order out of the country all Aliens whom he might consider dangerous to the peace of the 9 1 United States — that if they did not go, they should, on oonviotion, be im- prisoned three years, and never after allowed to become citizens — that, even when thus imprisoned, the President might send them out of the country, and if they returned, they should be imprisoned during the President's will. Amenoan-bbrn citizens, as well as others, complained of this act and of the conduct of President Adams and the Federal Government, and to punish them Congress declared, in July, 1798, by an actkbown as the Sedition Act, 1st, tha;t if any person should unlawfully combine to oppose any measure of the g6vernment, or counsel any unlawful assembly with that intent, they should be tried by any Court of the United States — punished by a fine of §5,000, and imprisoned for five years, and also find sureties for good beha- vior in such amount and for such time as the Court might direct. 2d, That if any person should write, utter or publish any false, scandalous and mali- cious writing against the Government, or either House, or the President, and to 1)ring them into contempt or disrepute, they should be fined and -imprisoned. Jeffekson, for Kentucky, and Mabison, for Virginia, drew resolutions pro- testing against these acts, and defining the power of the Federal Government — 1. That the States acceded to a compact, styled a Constitution, only for the purposes and with the powers therein mentioned and delegated, and that they retained all others — ^that of every infraction of the compact, each State was the judge for itself — that no power over the freedom of religion, the press, or speech, nor over alien friends, more than citizens, had been delega- ted by the States, that these acts subjected the liberties and lives of the people to the arbitrary will of one man; that they subjected the people to imprisonment and banishment without oath or warrant, or trial or oonvio- tion, or judgment, and practically suspended the habeas corpus act; and that all these things were in open violation of the Constitution of the United States, and that said acts of Congress were null afid void. These resolves Were sent to all the other States. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, returned no reply; but the re- maining States controverted these resolutions and defended the acts of Congress, upon the ground, among others, that, as the Constitution has given to the States no power to remove aliens during the period under consideration, and as it must rest somewhere, therefore. Congress possessed it. It was on this principle that the Federalists and their successors maintained, and yet maintain, the power of the Federal Government to legislate and ap- propriate money about whatever concerns Learning, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, Internal Improvements, Banks, Slavery in the Territories, and indeed, almost everything which' Congress may fancy concerns the general welfare. But to this principle, so pregnant with danger, and on which Abo- litionism now rests, and which is expressly embodied in the Fremont Plafc- fonn, Mr. Madison replied — in his report of 1799 — that the States did not obtain their power from the Constitution or General Government — but that the latter obtained its powers from the sovereign States — and that the contrary doctrine was new, and " struck radically at the political system of America." He then proceeded to vindicate the doctrine of State Rights, and that the 10 mveiai States and the people retained all power -whicli they had not eapretslf delegated.] ' "And that we tfiay more disMncily meet the issue on which a sectional party, subsisting exclusively on'Slaveri/ agitation, now relies t% test the fidelity of the North and South to the Constitution and the Union: — "1. Resolved; That claiwdng fellojjijship with, and desiring the co- ope/ration of all who regard the preservation of the Union under the Con' stitviion as the paramount issue: and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms corhcerning domestic slavery, which seek to embroil the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in the Terri- tories; and imhose avowed purposes, if consummated,, must end in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained m the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and NebrasTca as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the 'slavery question' upon whieh the great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservatism of the Union — ^NON-INTEKrERENCE BY CoJSGRESS WITH SLAVERY IN JStATE AND TeEBITORY OR IN THE DlSTRlOX OH COLUMBIA. "2. This was the basis of the Compromise of 1?>50, confirmed by both ^ Democratic and Whig parties in national conventions; ratified''hy ^people in the election of 1852, and rightly applied to the organization of Territories in 1854." [Under the Compromise aet of Septemher 9, 1850, a territorial government was provided'for Nett Mexico, (extending North as well as South of 36° SO', via: from. 32° to 38°) and it "provided further, that when admitted as a StcUe, the same shall he received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their Constitution. ms\,j prescribe atjlietime of their admission.'' By the same Compromise act of September 9, 1850, a territorial govern- ment was provided for Utah, bounded on the South by the thirty-seventh de- gree of North latitude, and therefore all' North of the Missouri Compromise line ; andi said act declared that,' " when admitted as a State, the said territo- ry, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or wiTHOtfT slavery, as theb Constitution may prescribe at the time of their ad-' mission," What is called the Missouri Compromise, prohibited slavery in territory North of'36° 30', but allowed the people to establish it er not, as they pleased, in all of the territory south of that line; but the Compromise measures of 1850, allowed slavery to be mtaUished in the free territory of Utah, which is all North of 36° 30', and also in the free territory of New Mbxico, a pari of which is North of 36°'30'. Did not these acts, therefore, conflict with, and supercede the rule prescribed by the Missouri Compro- mise ? And if it was right to permit the natives of the free territories of 11 ATfiW Mexico and XFtah to introduce or exclude slavery, why was it not right to permit American eitiee/ns, who may emigrate to the free territories of Kansas and Nebraska to do the same thing? The bill organizing these territories in , 1854 was in the very words of the bills of 1850. It reads thus: " That when admitted as a State, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received inta^he Union with or without slavery, as their Constitutions may prescribe at the time of their admission^"] "3. That by the uniform application of this Democratic principle to the or- ganizatioa of Territories, and to the admission of new States, with or with' out domestic slavery, as they may elect, the equal rights of all .the States will be preserved intact ; the original compacts of the Constitution main* tained inviolate ; and the perpetuity and expansion of this Union insured to its utmost capacity of embracing, in peace and harmony, every future Amer- ican State that may be constituted or annexed, with* a republican form of government." [In proof of this, remember that before 1848 the inhabitants of Oregon, of their free choUce prohibited slavery thereiB. So too, in 1849, did the inhabi- tants of California, SotriH as weU as North of 36° sO' — and they did it anafiimously — although the members who composed the convention 16 were natives, and had been residents, of slaveholding States. — ( Webster's Speech,, ■March 7, 1850.) Neither in New Mexico, TJtah or Nebraska, has any attempt been made to establish slavery. Under popular sovereignty they will each beoome^j'ce States, as Kansas itself would, ere this, have been and yet will fee, if it be left to the bona fide immigrants thereto. So that all the territo- ries now owned by and equal, in area, to the 31 States, will, in time, be ad- mitted as free States.] " Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally &aA fairly-expressed will of a majority of cuitiMl residents, and whenever the number of their in- habitants justifies it, to form a Constitution, with or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other States. " Ilesolved, finally. That in view of the condition of popular institutions in the Old World (aijd the dangerous tendencies of sectional agitation, combined with the attempt to enforce civil and religious disabilities against the rights of acquiring and enjoying citizenship in our own land,) a high and sacred •duty is devolved with increased responsibility upon the Democratic party of this country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the rights of flvery State, and therehy the Union of the States ; and to sustain and ad- vance among us constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies 4 and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and com- promises of the Constitution which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it was, the Union as it is, and the Union as it shall be, in the full expansion of the energies and capacities of thig .great and progressive people. 12 "1. Resolved, That there are questions connected with the foreign policy of this country which are inferior to no domestic questions whatever. The ti:)ie has come for the people of the United States to declare themselves in favor of free seas and progressive free trade throughout the world, and by solemn . manifestations, to place their moral influence at the side of their successful example. " 2. Resolved, That our geographical and political position with reference to other States of this continent, no less than the interest of our commerce and the development of our growing power, requires that we should hold as sa- cred the principles involved in the Monroe doctrine ; their bearing and im- port admit of no misconstruction, and should be applied with unbending rigidity. "3. Resolved, That the great highway which nature, as well as the assent of the States most immediately interested in its maintenance, has marked out for a free communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, con- stitutes one of the most important achievements realized by the spirit of mod- ern times and the unconquerable energy of our people. That result should be secured by a tifiiely and efficient exertion of the control which we have the right to claim over it, and no power on earth should be suffered to im- pede or clog its progress by any interference with the relations it may suit our policy to establish between our government and the government of the States within whose dominion it lies. We can, under no circumstances, surrender our preponderance in the adjustment of aU questions arising out of it. " 4. Resolved, That in view of so commanding an interest, the people of the United States cannot but sympathize with the efforts which are being made by the people of Central America to regenerate that portion of the continent which covers the passage across the Inter-oceanic Isthmus. "5. Resolved, That the Democratic party will expect of the next Adminis- tration that every proper effort will be made to insure our ascendancy in the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain a permanent protection to the great outlet through which are emptied into its waters the products raised out of the soil, and the commodities created by the industry of the people of our Vestern valleys, and of the Union at large. "Resolved, That the Democratic party recognizes the great importance in a political and commercial point of view, of a safe and speedy communication, by military and postal roads through our own territory, between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this Union, and that it is the duty of the Federal Gov- ernment to exercise promptly all "its constitutional power for the attainment of that object." [Such is the Democratic Platform. The clauses printed in italics are the only ones which relate to slavery; and there is not in them or in the whole platform a singU word, which favors the extension of slavery— there is not a word in it about the propagation of slavery— it expressly denies the right of Congress to establish or extend that institution— it takes the decision of the 13 whole matter from the Congress of the United States, where it has created nothing but agitation and mischief, and refers it to the/ree choice, of the/ree men of the territories. That choice is their right, and their right the Demo- cratic party will maintain. That, and that only, is their platform.] REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, Adopted at Philadelphia, June 18, 1856. This Convention of Delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions ;'who are opposed to — (1.) The repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; to the policy of the present administration; (2.) To the extension of slavery into free territory ; (3.) In fa,vor of the admission of Kansas as a free State ; (4.) Of restoring the action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson ; and for the purpose of presenting candidates for the offices of President and Vice President — do resolve : Besolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the De- claration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution, are essential to the preservation of our republican interests, and that the rights of the States must and shall be preserved. (5.) ' . Resolved, That, with our republican fathers, we' hold it to be a self-evi- dent truth that all men are endowed with the inalienable right of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that^the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal Government were to secure [grant] (6.) these rights to all persons under its exclusive jurisdiction'; that, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all (7.) our national territory, ordained that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, withoiit due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of their Con- stitution, (8.) against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establish- ing slavery in the Territories of the United States, by positive legislation prohibiting its existence (9.) or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial' legislature, of any individual, or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States, v)hile the present Constitution shall he main- tained. (10.) Besolved, Thatthe Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign (11.) power over the territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it ia both the right and the dtity of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism — polygamy and slavery. Besolved, That while the Constitution of the United States was ordained and established by the people, in order to form a more perfect Union, estab- 14 lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protec- tion of the life; liberty and property of every citizen, the dearest Constitu- tional rights of the people of Kansas, have been fraudulently and violently taken from them — their territory has been invaded by an armed force — spurious and pretended legislative, judicial and executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforced — the rights of the people to keep and bear arms have been in- fringed — test oaths of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed as a condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office — the right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has been denied-^the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures has been violated — ^they have been deprived of life, liberty and property, without due process of law — ^that the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged — the right to choose their representatives has been made of no effect — murders, robberies and arsons have been instigated and encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished — tHat all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction and procurement of the present ad- ministration, and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Union and humanity, we arraign the administration, the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists and accessories, either before or after the facts, before the country and before the world, and that it is our fixed [purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages and their accom- plices to a sure and condign j>unishment hereafter. Resolved, That Kansas should b8" immediately admitted as a State of the Union, with her present free constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of tiie rights and privileges to which they are entitled, and of ending the civil strife now raging in her territory. Besohed, That the highwayman's plea, that " might makes right,'' embo- died in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthv of American diplomacy, and would bring shame and dishonor upon any government or people that gave it their sanction. Resolved, That a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central and practical route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole coun- try, and. that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction ; and as an auxiliary thereto, the immediate construction of an emigrant route on the linp of the railroad. Resolved, That appropriations by Congress for the improvement of rivers and harbors, of a national character, required for the accommodation and se- curity of our existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the obligation of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Resolved, That we invite the affiliation and co-operation of the men of all parties, however different from us in other respects, in support of the prinoi- 15 pies herein declared ; and believing that the spirit of our institutiona, as well as the Oonstitation of our country, guarantees liSerfcy of oonaeience and equality of rights among citizens, we oppose all legislation impairiiig their geourity." [This platform misapplies truth and asserts untruth. It oontainsiprinciples self-contradictory and absurd, and as a rule 'of action it is disregarded by the party who made it. 1. It avows hostility to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and asserts that all our territory was made free. The latter is not true, and as to the former, this the platform contradicts itself. Ist. By that Compromise Congress legalized slavery in all our territory South of 36° 30', in considera- tion of its prohibition North of 36° 30' ; and yet this platform asserts that Congress has no authority to legalize it. If Congress lias the power, then this platform asserts a falsehood. If it has not the power, then the Act of 1820, Called a Conipromise, was always Hull and void; and its so-called repeal can be no cause of complaint. 2d. This platform asserts the power of Congress to legislate slavery out of all territory. Now this admits their power not to legislate it out, butto legislate it into the same territory. On this point, Mr. Clay said in the Senate, May 15, 1850: "Allow me to ask' him, sir, and the other Southern Senators, if with their views of what ought to be done on the subject of slavery [i. e. no power to prohibiti they can think it right that Congress by an express enactment, should authorize its introduc- tion into these territories? Does not that, power in virtue of which you would expressly provide for the introduction of slavery, imply the converse of the proposition, and the right to pass a law for the prohibition of slavery? * * The amendment of the Senator recognizes by an irresistable conclu- sion, the power of Congress to prohibit, as well as introduce, slavery into these territories." Not only do the principles of this platforiia contradict each other, but the practice of the Republicans contradict their principles. In July, 1856, Mr. Dunn (Republican) offered, and the Republicans by a vote of 109 to 102, approved of, an amendment, which, after repealing the 14th and 32d sections of the Kansas and Nabraska Act : "provided, that any person or persons lawfully held to service within either of the territories (Kansas or Nebraska) named in said Act, shall be discharged from such service, if they shall not he removM and kept out of said territories within twelve months from the passage of this Acft" That is to say, the owners of these slaves might lawfully ketp them in these territories for 12 months, and then remove them, and keep them for life out of the territories ! Mr. Dunn and his Republican friends went further, for on 'July 29, 1856, he called up his bill, section 24th of which repealed the 32d section of the Kansas and Nebraska Act, and then "provided however, that any person lawfully held to service in either of said territories, shall not be discharged from such service by reason of such repeal and revival of said eighth section if such person shall be permanently removed from Buoh Territory or Territories, prior to the 1st day of January, 1858: 16 i And any child or children horn in either oi said Territories, of any female lawfully held to «en)ice, ij^ in like manner remowetZ without said Territories before the expiration of that date, shall not be, by reason of wnyihlng in this-. Act, emancipated from any service it might have owed had this Act- never been passed." ( FicZe Greeley's History of Slavery, pages 147, 162.) This Aet of Congress, legalized slavery m the Territories, and even made legal and valid the title to slaves when taken out of the Territories. If Congress has no power to legalize slavery, then these Republicans voluntarily and knowingly, in violation of the Constitution, and of their oath to support it, assumed that pow6r, and for the purpose of enslaving men otherwise free; but if Congress has the power, then what becomes of their platform ? In . either case, their piactice, contradicts their principles ; they say one thing, ■ aud do its opposite. Observe, too, that in thair platform they do not propose to restore the Missouri Compromise ; neither do they pledge themselves to maintain that clause of the Ordinance of 1787, which provides far the return oi fugitive slaves ; nov ihe like provision, in the Constitution of the United States, nor the fugitive slave law of 1850. They alike, disregard Ordinance, Constitution, Act of Congress, Compact and Compromise. The Democratic party denies the power of Congress to establish slavery, and also its converse — ^that they can prohibit it; the Republican party, admit, nay invoke, the power of Congress to prohibit it, aad hence, admit also the power of Congress to establish it, and therefore on their own principle, the South may invoke Congress to establish it. 3d. It is not true as this plat- form implies, that the Abolitionists maintained the Missouri Compromise. On the contrary, Whigs and Democrats only maintained it, till driven by Abolitionists to substitue for it another principle. These are the facts respecting free Territory and that Compromise. In 1783, slaveholding Virginia' gave to the Old Confederation, the whole Territory Northwest of the Ohio, and being all North of 36° 30', for the «om- mon benefit of all the States ; and in 1787 they unanimously engaged to exclude slavery therefrom. By Article V. of the Constitution of the United States, all engagements entered into by the old States were made valid, hence the 1st Congress continued this compact, excluding slavery. They made no new prohibition, or law on that subject. On August 9, 1787, South Carolina ceded to Congress, and they accepted for the common baiefit of the Union, the territory within the river Mississippi and a line at that part thereof intersected by the Southern boundary of North Carolina, thence along said line till it intersects the ridge of mountains dividing the Eastern from the Western waters, thence along said ridge till it intersects a line, drawn due West from the head of the Southern branch of the Tugoloo river to said mountains, thence due West to the Mississippi. (1 Bioreu and Duane's Laws, p. 487.) In this territory slavery existed in 1787,and yet it was never abolished therein. 2. In 1190, North Carolina ceded to the United States, and the First Con- gress, on April 2, 1790, accepted the territory, since admitted as the State of Tennessee, imder this express agreement : " Provided always, that no regula- 17 iions.piade, or che ma,d0 by Congriss, shall tend to emancipate slaves.",'^ ItJ. S. Statute 'p. 108. " ' ' , ,3, May 26, 1790, Coiigress passed an act for the government of, ",%.^^terri- to-y of the .United States ;SoM/!^ of tlie river Ohio," similar to that for, the government of the Northwe8|,,&c. "except .so far &s\6 otherwise provi^d'm^^a condition's expressed in an act , of Congress of .the present session, entitled " An act to accept a session of the claims of .the State of North Carolina to a certain district of Western territory," viz : that no act of Congress should tend to emancipate slaves .in thi^ territory. — (1 XJ. S, Statute^ p. 12S.) February 12,. 1793, Congress passed, and Washington appnaved an act requiring tliat fugitive slaves held in and escaping from any Sfcife'i)! Territory, Northvsesi or South of the Ohio, should be surrendered and returned tot tljeir owners. ' , April 7, ,1798, Congress passed an act for the government of the Jlfisais«jjpi Territory, (that south of theOhio) similar to that for the Northwest, "except- ing and excluding the last article ofi the ordinance (of 1787,)- made for the government tfiereof." (1 tJ. Statute, p. 549.) Thus they expressly refused tj). prohibit slavery' in this territory. April 24, 1802, (leorgia, ceded to the tJnited States, certain territory' south of Tennesse, for the common benefit of the Union, and extending thereto the Ordinance of 1787 — "that Aiticle only excited -vyhich forbids slavery." (1 Bioren and Duane's Lav?s, p. 490. i ... March 26, 1804, Congress passed an act,dividingtheterritory they acquired from Franc^.in 1803, int,p two territorial governments. In the one. called Orleans, since admitted as the State of Louisiana, they expressly legalized the introduction of slaves from any place not out of the United ' States. In the other called £oMisia»a, they cowfo'iiMed the laws then in force, (which legalized slavery.)— 2 U. S. Statute, p. 283. March 2, 1SD5, Congress. passed an act, the 5th section of which declared that "the sixth article pi compact (that prohibiting slavery,) which is annexed to, and makes part of said ordinance (of 1787,) are hereby declared nc/tia extend to, but are excluded from all operation withiuthe said territory ofOrleans."— 2 U..S. Statute,?. 322.. .,,;,'- . * . June 4, 1812, by an abt of Congress, the territory named Louisiana, was then named and was afterwards , called , Missouri Territory. Section 15, «K,pressly continued the laws then in force, (and which legalized slavery,) tiU altered by. the Genetal Assembly of the j)eopZe. . !i • •- This Missouri Territory included the. future State of 'Missouri and, the present territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and waS' then slave ^nd not free territory. Thus matters continued till 1820, when the people of Missouri, being North of 36° 30', made a Constitution vvhich allowed slavery, and applied for admission as a Statfi. The Jffouse, agreed to admit her, as a State, but by « purely iVort^rra vote, struck out thj6. clause . allowing .slavery ; the, &na*e reinstated this clause, but on motion of Senator Thomas, ;Qf Illinois, inserted the 8th Section, prohibiting slavery in, all the offiere,^aiad the same isberebj declared to, exten* to' the Pacific Ooeju ;' arid the saiti eighth section, together with' the Compro- mise therein effected, is hereby revived, and declared to, be in fall force, and, . biti'ding for the future organization of the Territories.of the' United States, in the same serise and Tsfith the' same undei;Standing with whiQli it was ori^- natly, adppted." . ' '?* , , . _ :• 'In August, 1848,' the feouse rejected 'ttiia amendmlent;, 82 voted for it, ali^_ being 'from the Sputh except four, viz: Birds^li, of ,Ne;w. 'toris, Cji^rles BrOwn, C. J. Ingersoll, and .Brodliead, of ^Pennsylvania ; and 121 [and 'g,}l from' the North,) Yoiei against: it. In the Senate, too, it recedyed every, , Sya'therii yote— ^ven including Mr. Calhoun, who thereby conceded^ a prinoi- pl4 he disapprove^-— while every j^orthern Senator {except five) V9^d agaijj^t it.' Thij^ the 'North again voted out this amendment, repudiated this lyiissouri line, and passed the bill without it. 'Presideht Polk signed the bill, though , he diapproved of jts principle, pti March 7, 18S0, Mr. Webster said this— "Mr. Polk was known. to be, in opinion. decidedly adverse to il/.e Wilip.oi Proviso; but he felt the necessity of estab- lishing 'a GoverDinent for ijie Territory of CJregon, and, though the proviso was there, ha knev^ it would be entirely nugatory; and since it maet be nuga- tory — since it took away no right,, n,o describdble, no esJAmable^iio w^gKahk or tangible right of iA^ iSoMiA— he said he would sign the bill /oy the sake, of enacting a law toforin a government, in ikai territory." Had this bill taken , away any "tangible" right of the South in that Terrttory, Mr. 'Webster .ad- mitted that Mr. Polk would noi have signed the bill. General Taylor, in his first message in 1849, recommended the admissioi^ of California, without any clause prohibiting slavery ; and New Mexico and Utah, (without mixing the slavery question with their territorial govern- ments,) were reconjmended to be left to ripen into States, and then to settle ■ timt question for themselpfs in their Constitutions. t-{2 Benton, p. 741.) This the Abolitionist members of Congress opposed. The South desired to extend ike Missouri Contpremise line to the Pacifip, and thus close the whole fliatter. In 1847, Judge Dargan, a member from , Alabama, said : — " He hs^d noj! met. with the first Southern man who was not willing to renew and continue that Compromise. They did not , ask it , from any wi^ ,to obtain political ascendancy over the North, (as the la,tter did,, says, Mr.. Benton, o'^er the South,) or hope, to, control here, but from the condition. , of things around them. Tliey ask their brethren of the North to renew, the Basae agreement now, fl,nd.they of the South would scj-upulously fulfil it." ' ' -..,,■'" :^ ,', ' ■: :V . On January 29, 1850, Senator Davis, of Mississippi, sai*, (in speaking of the equal rights of the South to take their property into the territories :) " It is a partial recognition of a right we claim .to be oorextenslve with, the territories of the. Ignited States ; , but which we are willing in a spirit of Ccm- promisewHh tlie past acquiescence of the. South, to restrict by the parallel of 36" 30' North." ' , , ' ' ' ' ■ ' ' ' M still further proof of tl^is spirit of the South, , Mr. Atphison, on the 3rd. 21 of January, 185Q, read to tlie Senate the following solemn jreaolve of ,the Le- .^slature of the State of Missouri : — , , ■ ,,, ' ".^Resolved, That the Gfeneral Asf embl/ regard thQ., oonduet of the North- em States on the subject of slavery, as releasing the, slaveholding States from all farther adherence to the bagis of Comprpmise, fixed, by the act of Congress of the 6th of Marohj 1820, even if such act ever did impose any •bli^tionupon the. glayeholding States, and authorize them, to insist upto their rights under the Constitution j -but for the sake of harmony, and for the preservation ef our Federal Union, they will still sanction the application; qf the Misspuri Compromise to the recent territorial acquisitions, if, by such concessions, future aggressions upon the equal rights of the ..States may bo arrested, an(J. the spiijit of anti-slavery fanaticism be extinguished." The Abolitionists of the North again rejected this Compromise. In 1850, the contest provoked by the Abolitionists in Congress, became sectional and alarming. ;Yet the South, anxious to. adhere to, and settle it upon the Mis- souri; Compromise line, again, for ttw last time, offered it in the House on June 13, 1850, in these words :— » " Provided, hovreyer, that it shall be no objection to the admission into the Union of.iany State, which may hereafter be forined out of the territory lying south of the.iPJxaUel :of latitude of 36° 30^ that the Constitution of said State may .authorize or, estabEsh Afrioaji slavery therein." This the Aboli- tionists rejected by 89 to 78, ajidtwo days after, a similar proposition was re. jected ill the Senate, , That the Free-Spilers in the North never asscitted to, but always repudiated this Compromise, is expressly adnjitted hy their leader, Senator Hale. In 1850, Mr. Douglas proposed to vary the boundary of Utah, so. as to. include the Mormen settlements, and for that purpose to fix 36°. 30' as its southern boundary,, not with a view at aU to the question of slavery or tp run that line to the. Pacific, but simply for a local purpose; but even this Sgnator Hale and his coadjutors;resi^ted, and he ^id: — :■.. " I wi^h to say a wor4 as a reason -yvhy I , shall vote against the amend- .ment. I shall vote against 36° 30' hecause 1 think there is an implication in it. .[Laughter.J ,1 vrill v6te for 37° or 36°eithey,.just as it, is convenient ; l^ut , it is idle to shut our eyes, to the fact that'here is an attempt in this bill — I will not .sp,y it is .the intentior^, of . the mover— to pledge this Senate an.d Congress,, to the imaginary lineo;? .36° SC, because there are some historical recollections connected [with-it in regard, to this controversy about slavertf,. I vfill content myself with saying., that, i neper ipiU, by vote or speech, admit or mbrnit to anything tjhat may bind ihe^ctiqnef W tTiebqunda/ry. line, between, slave. and ftee'.territory. And when I say that, I, explain the; reason why I go against the aijiend- ment."; , , ,.■ ,.,j.._ ,, .,;,, ■-,. ■, .,, ■^~, ^ The Nprththus hjiving repudiated the ^sspuri Cpmpromise, th? ,qiiiestio:Di fallen became an open one. As early as 1848, President Pol^ warned the Northern advocates' of the WUmot Proviso,, that if. thse Missouri .Qompromige was not carried out. .in good faith, and accordiag- to the original understand- ing, it would soon become an open and original question ; these were his words in his last message to Congress : " But if Congress shall now reverse the decision, by which the Missouri Compromise was effected, and shall 'propose to extend the restriction over the whole territory south as well as north of the parallel of 36° 30'', it will cease to he & compromise, and must be.kegardbd as an ORIGIN AL QUESTION." ' 'I' The North did then reverse and finally and forever repudiate the Mis- souri Compromise line. The iVertA refused to make.arey with 4ue sacrifices, I think it might be. But as it is, we have ,the wolf by the ear^, and we cap.peitherhold him nor safely let him go. Justice is, in one, scale, and -self-preservation in tj^e. other. Or one thing I am cbb- tain: that as the passage, of slaves from one State to another would not make a slave of a single human being .who would not be so without it, so their diffosip;! over a greater surface .would ma,ke them individually happier, and proportionally facilita;tie the aooomplishBient of .their emancipation, by divid- ing the nuDiber on a greatef number of coadjutors. An abstinence, too, from this act of power would remove the jealousy excited by the, undertaking of Congress to regulate the condition of the difierent descriptions of men. com- posing a State. ,, Thiscert&inly is the exelosive .right of every State, which nothing , in the Constitution has taken ffipm them and given to , the general government. Cou^ Congress, for example, say that the non-freemen of Connecticut shall be freemen, or that th^y shall not -emigrate into any other State? , ■ ' • " I regret that I am now to die in the .belief that the useless saerifice oif themselves by the generation pi 1776, to acquire self-government and happi- ness to, their couptry, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy PASSIONS OF TDEiB SONS, and that my consolation is to be, that I live not to weep over it. If they would bvft dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw; away , against AN abstkact principle, more likely to he efie.cted by union than ,by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicihe on themselves, and of treason against the hopes of the vvoridr To yourself, as the faithful advocate of the Union, I tender the offering of my high esteem and respect." In a letter to Mr. Pinekney, (September 30, 1820,) Mr. Jefferson said, "The Missouri Question is a mere paett trick. The leaders of Federalism, defeated in tjieir schemes of obtainigig power by rallying partisans to the principle of monarchism--a principle of personal, not of local division; — have changed their tack, and thrown out another barrel to the whale. They, are taking advantage of the virtuous feelings of the people to effect a division of parties by a geographical line : they expect that, this will insure them, on local principles, the -majority they could never pbtain on principles of Fede- ralism ; but they are still putting theirshoulder to the wrong wheel ; they are wasting Jeremia4s on the miseries of slavery, as if we were advocates for it." — (Jefferson Paper?, Vol. VII.''p. 180.) Again, in a letter to Lafayette^ (Dec. 26, 1820,)' he §aid, "The boisterous sea of liberty, indeed, is never without a wave, and that from Missouri is now rolling towards us, but we shall ride over it, as we have over all others. . It is not a moral question, but one merely of power. Its object is to raise a geographical principle for the choice of a President ; and the noise will be kept up till that is efiected." 5-6. la'some sections of the Union, and among certain classes of the peo- 27 pie, the Republicans are circulating their platform printed in Boston, hy John J. Jewett & Co. ; in Cleveland, Ohio, by Sewell, Proctor & Worthington, with the word "grant," instead of the word "secure." Thus they adopt the old Federal principle, that all power is granted by Congress to the people; there they assume that it is the first object of the Federal Government not to secure, but to grant liberty to all persons under its jurisdiction, and, of course, to slaves, as no others are deprived of liberty. Observe in connection with this, that there is no clause in the platform which denies the power of Congress to abolish-slavery in the States, and it will be seen to involve the most radical abolitionism. 7. It is not true that slavery was abolished in all our territories. It was not abolished in that South of the Ohio, ceded by South Carolina August 9, 1787, and out of which and of that ceded by Georgia in 1802j the States of Alabama and Mississippi have been formed. - 10. The Republicans in Philadelphia, and doubtless elsewhere, are circu- lating their platform with the whole of this clause omitted. Thus they make a platform of principles — then circulate some with a word fraudulently in- terpolated, in ' others they omit a whole clause ; and, as by Mr. Dunn's bills, violate them all whenever it suits them. 11. The word "sovereign" is not to be found in the Constitution of the United States. Its framers reserved that to the States — they did not intend to delegate the power, and therefore did not use the word. To justify the power of Congress to control the domestic institutions of the people in the territories, the Abolitionists add this word to the Constitution, and hence attributed sovereignty to Congress and not to the people, and thus as Mr. Madison said, subvert the most fundaimental basis of political libei'ty. But as they concede that Congress has no power to legalise slavery, it can- not have sovereign power, which, in its very nature, is absolute.