The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-04-05
4saple's 9epartmsnt.
REPUBLICAN PARTY IN MAINE.

AUGUSTA, Me-, March 10, 1855.
Permit me to call your attention to the res
olutions adopted at our State Convention, on
the 22d ult.
What gives them special Importance is the
fact that the Convention represented large
majority of the people of this State Hon. A.
Z. Morrill,, who was re-nominated as candidate
for Governor, has long been prominent Dem
ocrat. Hon. Franklin Clark, formerly a Demo
cratic member of Congress, was one of the Vice
Presidents, and many other Democrats of like
standing took part in the Convention.
| Ex-Governor Kent, twice elected by the
Wings, years ago, and Consul at Rio, under
| President Taylor, presided, and every Wing
paper in the State supports the movement.
awe, the people of Maine, members of the
Republican Party, assembled in State Conven-
ton, believing the question of Human Freedom
TO be paramount to all other political questions
now agitatlng our country hereby declare the
principles which have brought us together, and
for which we will contend until they shall be
| adopted as a controlling element in the admin
istration of our National Government.
81. That the Constitution of the United
States was designed by the people who adopted
it, to be law of impartial liberty, to the full
extent of the powers granted to the Federal
Government.
"2. That by the Constitution, Congress is
made the special guardian of the Liberties of
the people inhabiting the District of Columbia
and the Territories of the United States; and
until it shall abolish Slavery in the former, and
forever prohibit it in the latter it remains false
to the solemn trust committed to its charge.
"3 That the Constitution, while it prohibits
the several States from enacting any 'law or
regulation discharging fugitives from service
or labor from their obligations, confers no
power whatever upon Congress to legisate on
this subject. The act of 1850, called the Fugi-
tive Slave Law, is, therefore, not only inhuman
but unconstitutional in its provisions and should
be Immediately and Internationally repealed.
"A. That it is the right and duty of Congress,
in all acts for the admission of new States into
the Union, to prohibit forever the introduction
of Slavery therein.
"Resolrcd, That in the Ordinance of 1887,
coeval with the Constitution, and freely acqui-
esced in, both North and South, for more than
half century, we have practical assertion, by
the whole people, of the right and the duty of
Congress to exclude Slavery from the Terrific
ries. We now reassert that right, and demand
the discharge of that duty.
"ReSOlUed, That the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, by Congress and the present Ma
tional Administration, has been accomplished
for the sole purpose of extending Slavery
over the fertile regions Of the Northwest, and
strengthening the power of shareholders in our
Government and those Northern men who
voted for that measure, basely betrayed the
rights of the people whom they were chosen to
represent.
"ResolUed, That the inhabitants Of this State,
without distinction of color, are at all times en-
titled to its projections; and that to deprive any
one of his liberty, without due process of law,
embracing jury trial, under whatever disguise
it may be attempted, is a manifest violation of
right and should therefore be made penal
offence.
"ResolUed, That while the policy Of our IA
theirs and the spirit of our institutions urge us
to give the hand of welcome to the oppressed
people of other nations, who seek freedom and
homes on our shores, yet the debasement of the
right of suffrage, by persons recentyacquired
citizenship, has grown to be such alarming
evil as to demonstrate the necessity Of rigid
enforcement of the long established law of the
nation, if not an alteration of the law itself.
"Resotced, That the existence and execution
of the Maine Temperance Law is vital element
in the organization and life of the Republican
Party Of this State, and is one of the chief
safeguards of the lives, reputation, property, and
homes of our people"
"The debasemcnt of the right of suffrage, by
persons of recently-acquired citizenship, has
grown TO be such an alarming evil as to dem
onstrate the necessity of rigid enforcement
of the long established law of the nation, if not