PLATFORM 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 
 The following Platform, reported by the 
 Coinmittee on Resolutions, was unanimously 
 adopted by the National Republican Conven¬ 
 tion at Chicago: 
 
 First. We congratulate the country on the 
 assured success of the reconstruction policy of 
 Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in a ma¬ 
 jority of the States lately in rebellion, of con¬ 
 stitutions securing equal civil and political 
 rights to all, and regard it as the duty of the 
 Government to sustain those constitutions, and 
 to prevent the people of such States from be¬ 
 ing remitted to a state of anarchy or military 
 rule. 
 
 Second. The guarantee by Congress of equal 
 suffrage to alb loyal men at the South was de¬ 
 manded by every consideration of public safe¬ 
 ty, oi gratitude, and of justice, and must be 
 maintained ; while the question of suffrage in 
 ail the loyal States properly belongs to the 
 people ot those States. 
 
 Third. We denounce all forms of repudia¬ 
 tion as a national crime, and national honor 
 requires the payment of the public indebted¬ 
 ness in the utmost good faith to all creditors 
 at home and abroad not only according to the 
 letter, but the spirit of the laws under which 
 it was contracted. 
 
 Fourth. It is due to the labor of the nation 
 that taxation should be equalized and reduced 
 afi rapidly as the national faith will permit. 
 
 Fifth. The national debt, contracted as it 
 has been for the preservation of the Union for 
 all time to come, should be extended over a 
 
 fair period for redemption ,* and it is the duty 
 of Congress to reduce the rate of interest 
 thereon, whenever it can honestly be done. 
 
 Sixth. That the best policy to diminish our 
 burden of debt is to so improve our credit that 
 capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower 
 rates of interest than we now pay, and must 
 continue to pay so long as repudiation, partial 
 or total, open or covert, is threatened or sus¬ 
 pected. 
 
 Seventh. The Government of the United 
 States should be administered with the strict¬ 
 est economy; and the corruptions which have 
 been so shamefully nursed and fostered by An¬ 
 drew Johnson call loudly for radical reform. 
 
 Eighth. We profoundly deplore the untime¬ 
 ly and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and 
 regret the accession of Andrew Johnson to the 
 Presidency , who has acted treacherously to the 
 people who elected him and the cause he was 
 pledged to support; has usurped high legisla¬ 
 tive and judicial functions ; has refused to exe¬ 
 cute the laws; has used his high office to induce 
 other officers to ignore and violate the laws; 
 has employed his executive powers to render 
 insecure the property, peace, liberty, and life 
 of the citizen; has abused the pardoning 
 power; has denounced the National Legisla¬ 
 ture as unconstitutional; has persistently and 
 corruptly resisted, by every means in his 
 power, every proper attempt at the reconstruc¬ 
 tion of the States lately in rebellion ; has per¬ 
 verted the public patronage into an engine of 
 wholesale corruption, and has been justly im¬ 
 peached for high, crimes and misdemeanors, 
 
16 
 
 and properly pronounced guilty thereof by 
 the votes of thirty-five Senators. 
 
 Ninth. The doctrine of Great Britain and 
 other European powers, that because a man is 
 once a subject he is always so, must be resisted 
 at every hazard by the United States as a relic 
 of the feudal times not authorized by the law 
 of nations and at war with our national honor 
 and independence. Naturalized citizens are 
 entitled to be protected in all their rights of 
 citizenship as though they were native born, 
 and no citizen of the United States, native or 
 naturalized, must be liable to arrest and im¬ 
 prisonment by any foreign power for acts done 
 or words spoken in this country. And if so 
 arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the 
 Government to interfere in his behalf. 
 
 Tenth. Of all who were faithful in the trials 
 of the late war, there were none entitled to 
 more especial honor than the brave soldiers 
 and seamen w r ho endured the hardships of 
 campaign and cruize, and imperiled their 
 lives in the service of the country. The boun¬ 
 ties and pensions provided by law for these 
 brave defenders of the nation are obligations 
 never to be forgotten. The widows and or¬ 
 phans of the gallant dead are the wards of the 
 people, a sacred legacy bequeathed to the na¬ 
 tion’s protecting care. 
 
 Eleventh. Foreign emigration, which in the 
 past has added so much to the wealth, develop¬ 
 
 ment of resources, and increase of power of 
 this nation, “ the asylum of the oppressed of all 
 nations,” should be fostered and encouraged by 
 a liberal and just policy. 
 
 Twelfth. This Convention declares its sym¬ 
 pathy with all the oppressed peoples who arc 
 struggling for their rights. 
 
 On motion of General Carl Schurz, the fol¬ 
 lowing additional resolutions were unanimous¬ 
 ly adopted as part of the platform : 
 
 Resolved, That we highly commend the spirit 
 of magnanimity and forbearance with which 
 the men who have served in the rebellion, but 
 now frankly and honestly cooperate with us in 
 restoring the peace of the country and recon 
 structing the Southern State governments 
 upon the basis of impartial justice and equal 
 rights, are received back into the communion 
 of the loyal people; and we favor the removal 
 of the disqualifications and restrictions im¬ 
 posed upon the late rebels in the same measure 
 as the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as 
 may be consistent with the safety of the loyal 
 people. 
 
 Resolved, That we recognize the great prin¬ 
 ciples laid down in the immortal Declaration 
 of Independence as the true foundation of de¬ 
 mocratic government, and we hail with glad¬ 
 ness every effort toward making these prim 
 ciples a living reality on every inch of Ameri¬ 
 can soil.