r^A '■<^ THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE REPUBLICAN' CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. SPEECH HON. W. M^KEE DUNN, OF INDIANA, Delivered in Independence Square, Philadelphia, May 26, 1860, before a Mass Meeting, held to ratify the nominations of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin for the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the United States. My Fellow-Citizens : I am deeply impressed with the significance of the popular enthusiasm' demonstrated here this evening. This is the inauguration of the great contest of 1860 in the city of Philadelphia and the Slate of Pennsylva- nia ; and, fellow-citizens, I am impressed with the idea that the result of the contest in Pennsylvania depends, in a great de- gree, upon the result in this city, and that the result of the contest in this State will most probably be decisive of the struggle on the battle-field of the nation. If there be not in the great movement which now possesses the hearts of the American peo- ple some great predominating principle, if there be not some sense of outraged right, if there be not some deep convic- tion of wrong and corruption in the ad- ministration of the Government, I ask you what is the meaning of this excite- ment and these popular demonstrations? The nomination made at Chicago has struck the great popular heart. The peo- ple realize that the man whom the times demand is coming. They realize that the man who, springing from the body of the people, has struggled his way up through poverty, through all the difficul- ties and privations incident to the settle- ment of a new country, to be the candi- date of the great organization in opposition to the Democratic party, must be a man of mark, must be a man of talent, must be a man of integrity, must be a man upon whom the great public trust can rest in security. [Loud applause.] If, my fellow-citizens, there is in the movement of the Republican party no high, national, constitutional, American aim ; if it be not founded in reason, in law, in patriotism; if all this is an un- meaning huzza, or is purposeless beyond acquiring early control of (he Government and its places of honor and profit, then indeed do we behold a singular spectacle, and one altogether unworthy of the intel- ligence and patriotism of the American people, in that wild enthusiasm, manifest- ing itself in cheers and shouts, by mutual congratulations, the booming of cannon, the blaze of fire-works, by illuminations and processions, by the hasty assembling of vast and excited crowds, which began at Chicago, and has already extended from extremity to extremity of the great North and Noithwest. It will, however, be my hurried effort to show that for the Republican move- ment there has been and is a necessity, growing naturally out of the progress of events, and that its aim is as free from sec- tionalism as it is possible for any concen- trated movement involving Federal action to be, in a country of personal interests so varied and delicate as they are in ours. Good and great in its purposes and in its illustrious names, as was the old Whig party, its mission in most matters of mere policy terminated with that cycle of our hrslory which closed in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. Its piiiiciples, how- eier, s^urvive, ;iml will eiidtire to ilie cud ol lilt G'.veriiiiieni, in bnid o|)|i(>sitiori to those extrenips of r.->(licali>m which have ever marked the conduct of ilie Democratic party, and of that lecklessriess winch hesi- tates not, in its eager pursuit of party tri- umphs, to imperil the peace and prosper- ity of the country. The repeal of that compromise which gave peace to a distracted couiitry was one of lliDse acts of reckless partisanship characteristic of the Detnocratic organiza- tion. That repeal, and the associated movements to suhjuyate Kansas to shivery, gave hirth to the Republican party. Here, in ISot), in this youdly city of Philadel- phia, so sanctified in our hearts by its Revolutionary associations, the represent- atives of this party first met in National Convention. So iirejjular yet so sponta- neous was that movement, that I miirhi almost say the people themselves rushed together for consultation ; for if ever there was a people's parly, eminently distin- guished from a party of jiolilicians, this was such. Like Minerva, it burst into being full ff)rmed, and ready for aciion. No lime wa< had for caucus arrangements or combinalioiis, lor the .subtleties ol pro- fessional poliiiciai's ; no opportunity for concerted, careful co-operation, but our parly lushed to the strife with the eager- ness, hopefulness, and rashness of youth. The old, well-drilled, well-appointed army of our opponents, with its hosts of office- holders, with its baggage trains and well filled military chests, could not but be suc- cessful in such a contest. James Buchan- an, " Pennsylvania's favorite son," was elected, and at his inauguration was first seen faintly shining in the horizon the baleful rays of the Dred Scott decision, since become so famous in our political controversies — a decision which claims for slavery the highest rights of property, and that it can exist in our national Ter- ritorit^s in despiie of the nation's will, and in defiance at the will of llie people iii- habiiing the Territories — a decision which, carried lo its logical results, in fact, places slavery under national protection in every Statt; and Territory o( the Union — a de- cision hf) ill<•ol)^i.'■I(•lll with tlif! tcHchiiigs of our (atliL-rs and wiih the previous uiii- futm coufbe of judicial authority, and I may say so startling to the national con- science, that it ha^ united and compacted (lieeleinenls ol' opposition to this Atiniinis- iralioii, in Stales haviiiij the constitutional power, and therefore the right, to make a President; and we stand belore the coun- try to-day, a great, powerful, well-organ- ized, disciplined party, ready to meet the enemies of our institutions and of the peace of our country at the ballot-box, and there settle these (jur.stions, which will give us no repose until the party that violates compromises and seeks to protect and advance but one interest is utterly overthrown and cast down. And here, . to-night, in the presence of this mighty assemblage, I |)roclaim that the Republi- can party, noiwiihstaiiding the imprudent zeal and crude utterances of many of its too ardent supporters — I say the Repub- lican party has proposed nothing, has threatened nothing, has shadowed forth nothing, which, in substance, has not had the sanction, both North and South, of the most eminent statesmen our coun- try has produced. Have the past four years demonstrated any necessity for the continuance and progress of thrf Republican party ? I ask the question, when its simple annuncia- tion suggests that it is the only hopeful opposition to that Democracy whose mis- conduct gave it birth, and who, in the present Administration, have so signally disturbed and disgraced the country by stirring up strife at home, by an offensive foreign policy, by attempted filibustering, by unscrupulous efforts to acquire Cuba, by degrading home and foreign appoint- ments, by a corrupt dispensation of public patronage, by defaulting ofiiceis of most conspicuous positions, by an annual ex- penditure of over $80,000,000, by treach- ery and outrage in Kansas, by its counte- nance of and yielding to tlie most ex- treme Southern demands — demands which coldly look to the alternative of the abso- lute control of the Government by a mi- nority, or a (lissolulioii of the Union. I liave no lime here to array proof of these charges. You know they are true. The country is painfully conscious of their truth. Now, i( the power of this Govern- ment is to be wrested Irora the hands that have so abused that power, I ask you what parly is to do h> What strong arm is to btreich forth and wiest from the Democratic hands its baton of authority? It is my humble bebef that Providence has raised up and ordained the Republican party for this great work, and in its good right arm is our deliverance. The wel- fare of our country demands that this party shall progress with moderation and force and will to ultimate success. That the principles and purposes of our party are misunderstood, as well as inten- tionally misrepresented, you well know. That our purposes are not extreme, but moderate and conciliatory, let the action of the Republican representation in Con- gress, during the present session, attest. We have marched steadily forward in the discharge of our public duties, notwith- standing the intemperate abuse and al- most indecency of attack to which we have been subjected. And I rejoice to bear such testimony. We pt)int to our record, it may be, with too partial pride, but we feel the proud consciousness of desiring to act with justice and fairness to all sections of our beloved country. We have no aims but for our country's good. The Republican party, in every authoritative way it could adopt, has dis- claimed all purpose or desire to interfere with the domestic institutions of any of the Stales. But we claim a constitutional right to do as our fathers did, and, like them, prevent the extension of slavery into our Territories. We claim the right to use every constitutional authority in behalf of the interests of free labor, look- ing to the welfare of our children's chil- dren, to far-off cities, commerce, schools, and all the varied enterprises of peaceful civilization to be accomplished by the la- bor of a free people. If such sentiments be treasonable, then our fathers — the men who met, and counselled, and determined, in that Hall of Independence — were trai- tors. And the South, why should she com- plain when we ask to settle this slavery question as our fathers did, and let the country again have repose? The South boasts that she has the best part of our goodly inheritance. Lei her enjoy it in peace and prosperity. She has now suf- ficient territory to supply all her demands for cultivation for perhaps a century to come. Let her be satisfied with her rich possessions. In corning years, when the present actors on the stage of public life shall have nil passed away, public senti- ment may undergo an entire revolution. The Soutli may become satisfied that sla- very is not the blessing she now claims it to be, or the North may cease to regard it as an evil, and thus this distracting ques- tion, in the peaceful progress of events, may work out its own solution. Let ua postpone to the future what belongs to the future. The honorable gentleman from Massa- chusetts, [Mr. Train,] at the commence- ment of his speech, bore you a greeting from his Stale — from Faneuil Hall to In- dependence Hall. I bring you a greeting from Indiana. I bring to you, dwellers on the banks of the Delaware and the Schuyl- kill, a greeting from the shores of the Ohio and the Wabash; and the mes- sage which I bear is, that the election of Abrahau) Lincoln is a necessity, if we ex- pect to carry on our Government in pros- perity and peace. [Applause.] A voice. "He's safe." In Mr. Lincoln we have a candidate who comes not before you as the result of party machinations and party arrange- ments. Two weeks ago he was scarcely looked upon as a possible candidate, not because he was not equal to the demands of the times, but because other names were more prominently before the public, and because in his modesty, in that sim- plicity of character which has ever distin- guished him, he stood back, knowing that when the public wanted him, the public would call for him. [Applause.] It is such men we want in this country; not the men who climb up to high position by daily struggle, with the eye always fixed upon that elevation, but the men who go bravely forward in the discharge of the daily duties of life, without reference to what may be the eifect upon their own advancement. Such a man is Abraham Lincoln, or " Old Abe," as he is familiarly and endearingly called by his neighbors and friends. Out West, fellow-citizens, we use that word old not as signifying " aged," but as a word of friendship and endearment. This man whom we com- monly call "Old Abe," is only fifty-one years of age. He is in the very prime of manly vigor, ready to take hold of the helm of State, and guide it with firmness in every emergency. [A voice. "Just like old Jackson."] Yes, he is of the Old t6 Hickory stamp. He was trained in llie same kind of school as that in which Gen. Jackson jjrpw up. He was a VVesiern pioneer. He grew up among the big trees that stood tiiick in the VVesiern torests. His early struggles were with the giant oaks. But he triumphed over those giants of the forests as he has triumphed over all the giants he has since encountered. [Ap- plause.] Here is a man who, in early life, had no opportunities of education ; who, when he was a boy, was a common hired laborer to the farmers of his neighborhood. He was the son of a poor man, and had a family early thrown upon him for support. In the woods of Indiana, he went around helping his neighbors to roll logs, to raise their houses, lo husk their corn, and took part with them in all the avocations of life. It was such an experience that made his heart big. His heart was first educated, and afterwards his head. [Applause.] He now stands an acknowledged leader, rank- ing with the first men of his State; and he will soon be recognised as among the first men of this nation and of the world. [Loud Applause. " Three cheers for ' Old Abe.' "] I heard some gentlemen inquire a while ago what kind of a stalcsmrin he was. Now, there are some men vt'ho have an idea that nobody can be a great statesman unless he has been a great brawler before the people; that no man can be a great statesman unless he has been a long while in Congress — in my judgment, not a very good school in which to train our Presi- dents. [Laughter.] I tell you that in this nation our virtues grow up strongest in the country, on the fields, and in the fihops. I have not time, nor am I disposed to- night to talk about the platform which was made at Chicago, and upon which I suppose Mr. Lincoln ^vill stand. I re- gard this platform as in most respects admirable, but I have not a very high re- gard for platforms generally. 1 have seen them so often disregarded, that I have al- most come to view them as ingenious contrivances to cheat the people. Let me give you an illustration. Don't you know that in 18.o2 the Democratic party, at Baliifiiore, resolved unaniinously and iipioarioiisly that the agitation of slavery bhi)uld cease, both in Congress and out of Congress? Don't you know that in 1856, at Cincinnati, they reiterated that resolution, and that they tried to make the same resolve again down at Charles- ton \ Yet, since the day that resolution was first adopted, that party has done nothing else in the world but agitate, agi- tate, agitate, this same irritating question of slavery. They would not let it rest. They forced it upon the country every- where and upon all occasions. This question broke up the Whig party, it broke up the American party, and at last it has struck its hard head against the Demooratic vase, and shivered it to pieces. But J beg leave, gentlemen, to refer you to the history of James Buchanan as President of the United States, as a fair answer to the question whether, after all said and done, the man who is to occupy the White House is not the main thing? [Laughter.] Fellow-citizens, I happened the other day to be in the Senate Chamber when the Hon. Mr. Benjamin, Senator from Louisi- ana, was making a speech, not very friendly in its purposes, nor very comforting, I should imagine, in its results, to the hon- orable Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Doug- las.] I was struck with one passage of that speech, which I beg leave to read to you. You know that the memorable de- bate between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lin- coln has been published in book form. I hope it will be read by the American people everywhere. Mr. Benjamin has been reading that book, he has been studying it, and he states his views of the great debate in the passage of his speech which I shall read. Mr. Benjamin, being a slaveholder, would, of course, be very sensitive upon anything in reference to the institution of slavery. He says : " In that contest the two candidates for ' the Senate of the United Slates, in the ' State of Illinois, went before their peo- ' pie. They agreed to discuss the issues; ' they put questions to each other for ' answer ; and I must say here, for I must ' be just to all, that I have l)een surprised, ' in the examination that I made again ' within the last few days of this discus- ' sion between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. ' Douglas, to find that Mr. Lincoln is a ' far more conservative man, unless lie ' has sinew changed his opinions, than I ' supposed him to be." Mr. Benjamin finds Mr. Lincoln a far more conservative man than he supposed liim to be. Yes, Mr, Lincoln has been misunderstood and misrepresented, just as the Republican party has been, as the People's party has been, as the American party has been — just as every party is mis- understood and misrepresented that does not bow down in submission to Demo- cratic domination. Mr. Benjamin continues: " There was no dodging on his part, ' Mr. Douglas started with his questions. * Here they are, with Mr. Lincoln's an- * swers : " ' Question 1. I desire to know wheth- ' er Lincoln to-day stands pledged, as he * did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional ' repeal of the fugitive slave law ? " ' Ansv}er. I do not now, nor ever did, ' stand pledged in favor of the uncondi- ' tional repeal of the fugitive slave law. " ' Question 2. I desire him to answer ' whether he stands pledged to-day, as he ' did in 1S54, against the admission of any ' more slave States into the Union, even * if the people want them. " 'Answer. I do not now, nor ever did, * stand pledged against the admission of ' any more slave States into the Union. " ' Question 3. I want to know whether ' he stands pledged against the admission * of a new State into the Union with such ' a Constitution as the people of that State ' may see fit to make ? " ' Answer. I do not stand pledged ' against the admission of a new State into ' the Union with such a Constitution as * the people of that State may see fit to * make. " ' Question 4. f want to know whether * he stands to-day pledged to the aboli- * tion of slavery in the District of Colum- 'bia? " ' Answer. I do not stand to-day pledg- ' ed to the abolition of slavery in the Dis- * trict of Columbia. " ' Question 5. I desire him to answer ' whether he stands pledged to the prohibi- * tion of the slave trade between the dif- ' ferent States.'* " ^Answer. I do not stand pledged to ' to the prohibition of the slave trade be- * tween the different States. " ' Question 6. I desire to know wheth- ' er he stands pledged to prohibit slavery ' in all the Territories of the United States, ' north as well as south of the Missouri ' compromise line ? " 'Answer. I am impliedly, if not ex- ' pressly, pledijed to a belief in the right ' and duly of Congress to prohibit slavery ' in all the United Slates Territories. " ' Question 7. I desire him to answer ' whether he is opposed to the acquisition ' of any new territory unless slavery is first ' prohibited therein .? " ' Answer. I am not generally opposed ' to honest acqiiisiiion of territory, and, in ' any given case, I would or would not ' oppose such acquisition, accordingly as ' I might think such acquisition would or ' would not aggravate the slavery (]uestion ' among ourselves.' " — Debates of Lincoln and Douglas, page 88.* Now, on these, Mr. Lincoln's answers to Mr. Douglas's questions, Senator Ben- jamin, a slaveholder, and representing a slaveholding constituency, makes this commentary : " It is impossible, Mr. President, how- ' ever we may differ in opinion with the ' man, not to admire the perfect candor ' and frankness with which these answers ' were given ; no equivocution — no eva- ' sion." That is the character of the man ; and T venture to say there is not a voter in the Slate of Pennsylvania who will not in his heart of hearts endorse every answer here given by Mr. Lincoln. What is Mr. Lincoln's position on an- other question which is regarded as a matter of great interest in Pennsylvania How does he stand in regard to the p tection of American industry ? Fellu.r- citizens, a few days ago, a friend of mine remarked to me, that in 1844 he was down in the southern part of Indiana, making a speech for Henry Clay. While he was addressing the crowd, a stranger came in, and when my friend had con- cluded, this stranger was called upon to speak; " and," said my friend, " he made one of the clearest, fullest, most conclu- sive arguments in favor of Clay's great American system, that I ever listened to." Who was that man, who, sixteen years ago, was supporting your interests? It was this same " old Abe Lincoln." He does not assume a tariff guise to-day; he does not avow such principles now, to get * See Note, page 6. votes in Pennsylvania, or in Massachu- setts, or in any oilier manufacturing Slate of the Union, but for a long period of years he lias been a tariff man from prin- ciple. He is a disciple of Henry Clay. [Loud applause.] He has borne the Hag of Clay from county to county, from dis- trict to district, all over the State of Illi- nois. In 1844, when Clay was a can- didate for ihe Presidency, Lincoln was on the State electoral ticket, and no man in that contest did better, more hearty, more etlective service, for the Sage of Ashland, than did the man whom we now proudly present lo you as our candidate i'or the Presidency. Before I conclude these hurried and in- terrupted remarks, I must call your atten- tion, gentlemen, to an important circum- stance connected with Lincoln's nomi- DHtion. It is this. Since the organiza- tion of the old Whig party, no candidate opposed by the Democracy has been elect- ed to the Presidency, unless such candi- date had been in some manner particular- ly identified with Indiana. We could not elect Clay, ue could not elect Fremont, for neither of them had ever lived in Indi- ana, or been identified vviih her history. But we elected General Harrison, for he had been the Governor of Indiana Terri- tory, and had fought the battle of Tippe- canoe on Indiana soil. We elected Gen. Taylor, for he had, as a major in the Uni- ted States service, defended our Western border, and commanded our Indiana vol- unteers in the war of 1812. And we can elect Lincoln, for we pre- pared him, in Indiana, when he was a boy, lor the high duties of that responsible po- sition. The road to the Presidency runs through Indiana, and " Old Abe " is on it, far ahead of all competitors. [Applause.] NOTE. In further explanation of his vievrs, Mr. Lin- coln, in the same speech, remarks as follows : " Now, my friends, it will be perceived, upon an examination of these questions and answers, thai so far I have only answered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. The Judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me anything more than this, and I have answered ill strict accordance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly that I am noi pLedyed at all upon any of the points to which 1 have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact J form of his interrogatory. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these questions, and state what 1 really think upon them. " As to the first one, in regard to the fugitive slave law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a Congres- sional fugitive slave law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the existing fugitive slave law, further than that I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objoctions that pertain to it, without lessening its eOiciency. And, inasmuch as we are not now in an agitation in regard to an alter- ation or modification of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a new subject of agi- tation upon the general question of slavery. " In regard to the other question, of whether r am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that ques- tion. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave State admit- ted into the Union ; but I must add that, if sla- very shall be kept out of the Territories during the territorial existence of any one given Terri- tory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field when they come to adopt the Constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave Constitution, uninflu- enced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit tbem into the Union. "The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second ; it being, as I conceive, the same as the second. " The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In rela- tion to that, I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet, as a member of Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the -District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these con- ditions : First, that the abolition should be grad- ual. Second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters in the District. And third, that compensation should be made to un- willing owners. With these three conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Con- gress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, ' sweep from our c!i|f)ital that foul blot upon our nation.' " In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here, that as to the question of the abolition of the slave trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make ine feel authorized lo state a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that question lits never been prominently enough before me to induce me to investigate •whether we really have the constitutiotiftl power to do it. I could investigate it if I had siiQicient time, to bi-iri": mjselfto a couclusiou upon that subject ; but 1 have not done so, aud 1 say so fraulv- ly to you here, and to Judge Douglas. 1 must say, however, tliat if I should be of opinion that Con- gress does possess the constitutional power to abolish the slave trade among the dillerent Stajtes, I should still not be in favor of the exer- cise of that power, unless upon some conserva- tive principle, as I conceive it, akin to what 1 have said in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. " My answer as to whether I desire that slave- ry should be prohibited in all the Territories of the United States is full aud explicit within itself, and cannot be made clearer by any comments of mine. So I suppose, in regard to the question whether 1 am opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better understood, than the answer which I have placed in writing. " Now, in all this, the Judge has me, and he has me on the record. I suppose he had flat- tered himself that I was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place and another set for another place — that I was afraid to say at one place what I uttered at another. What I am saying here I suppose I say to a vast audience as strongly tending to abolitionism as any audience la the State of Illinois, and I believe I am saying that which, if it would be offensive to any per- sons, and render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this audience." — Lin- coln and Douylas Debates, pp. 88, 89. Eepiiblican Platform adopted by the Chi- cago Convention, May 17, 1860. Resolved, That we, the delegated representa- tives of the Republican Electors of the United States, in Convention assembled, in the discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations : First. That the history of the nation during the last four years has fully established the pro- priety and necessity of the organization and per- petuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are perma- nent in their nature, aud now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph. Second. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Conrtitution, is es- sential to the preservation of our republican in- stitutions ; that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the Union of the States, must and shall be preserved ; and that we reas- sert " these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endovred by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that aftiong these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights. Govern- ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Third. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in popu- lation ; its surprising development of material resources ; its rapid augmentation of wealth ; its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they may ; and we congratulate the country that no Rep^Iicim member of Congress has uttered or countenanced Jift threat of disunion, so often made by Demo- cratic members of Congress without rebuke and with applause from their political associates ; and we denounce those threats of disunion, iu case of a popular overthrow of their ascenden- cy, as denying the vital principles of a free Gov- ernment, and as an avowal of contemplated trea- son, which it is the imperative duty of an in- dignant people strongly to rebuke and forever silence. Fourth. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own do- mestic institutions, according to its own judg- ment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political faith depends ; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. Fifth. That the present Democratic Adminis- tration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as is especially evident in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting peo- ple of Kansas — in construing the personal rela- tion between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons — in its attempted enforcement everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and the Federal courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely lo- cal interest, and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power intrusted to it by a confiding people. Sixth. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is in- dispensable to arrest the system of plunder of the public Treasury by favored partisans ; while the recent startling developments of fraud and cor- ruption at the Federal metropolis show that an entire change of Administration is imperatively demanded. Seventh. That the new dogma that the Consti- tution of its own force carries slavery into any or ail of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with cotemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and har- mony of the country. Eighth. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of Freedom ; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty, by legislation, when- ever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all at- tempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to sla- very in any Territory of the United States. It'ini.V That we brand the recent reopening of the AlTican slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity, a burningA shame to our country and age ; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efiScient measures for the total and final suppression of that exe- i crable traffic. I Tenth. That in the recent vetoes by their Fed- eral Governors of the acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those Territories, we find a practical illustration ' of the boasted Democratic principles of non-in- tervention and popular sovereigntv, embodied in ' the Kansas and iNebraska bill, and a denuncia- tion of the deception and fraud involved therein. Eleventh. That Kansas should of right be im- mediately admitted as a State under the Consti- tution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives. Twelfth. That while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an ad- justment of these duties as to encourage the de- velopment of the industrial interests of the whole country ; and we commend that policy of nation- , al exchanges, which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and ' to the nation commercial prosperity and inde- pendence. Thirteenth. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the free homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or supplicants for public bounty ; and we demand the passage by Congress of the com- plete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House. ; Fourteenth. That the Republican party is op- posed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired ; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad. Fifteenth. That the appropriations by Congress for river and hasbor improvements of a nation- al character, required for the accommodation and security of an existing commerce, are author- ized by the Constitution and justified by an ob- ligation of the Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Sixteenth. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country ; that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction ; and that, as preliminary thereto, a daily overland mail should be promptly es- tablished. Seventeenth. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles and views, we invite the co-operation of all citizens, however differing on other questions, who substantially agree with us in their aflirmance and support. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 1860. Published by the Republican Congressional Committee. Price 50 cents per hundred. LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 011 895 845 7 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011895 845 7 ^ pennulip6«