The American patriot., 1856-01-05
The New Phases Of Party,


mnating Convention, eight from the several
Congressional Districts, and two from the State
at large As matter of course, a PLATFORM
was promulgated, for a platform is as essentia /
an incident ola political convention, as Is tn, !
election Of officers, President and Secretaries
to its organization This is one ofthe pecllliari +
lies oe the parties Of the present day, Upon
every occasion Of a meeting Of any kind large
or small platform must be reconstructed !
which rather conveys the idea that the prn-
ciplcs of the party, whatever it may be, are
not fixed and immutable, but adopted to the
change in public sentiment, and TO the tluctua
tions Of time and circumstances It would be
well TO have a standing Committee on Flat
orms with power to sit during the recess, to
add new plank or remove an old one, To stop
a knot hole here, or fill up crack there, as
the public eye may detect any offensive defect
In former days when the country was divided
Into two great parties, and every man was eth
er Wing or Democrat it was not deemed nee
essary on every occasion of town county,
State or National s@tertug, TO rciterate lheil
princt;,,ss aud normally mah~ a confession Of
faith in other words, constreata platform =
1t was assumed that their principles ben Z as
yersal, permanent and distinctive, were well
known, and did not require to be published at
frequent intervals SO as to be conned over as 4
lesson from primer or horn book, and kept
fresh in the memory. But nowadays, 50 nu-
merous are the subdivisions ofparty, that some
such expediency is deemed necessary to pre-
vent confusion and awkward n}i@a{iaaees.--
Democrats, (lIards and Soits } Wings, Straight
and Fusonists) Know Nothiugs, (Northern
and Southern and Black Republican, as an
act of necessity, have to keep their platforms
always before the people, that thay may, from
time to time, be posted up in the frequent
changes that circumstances require.
However varying and conflicting may he the
creeds, emblems and devices Of these several
parties, there is one maxim common to all, and
which may be inscribed upon the banner oI
each and any of them, and it is this, tsmPora
mutatur ct nos mutan5u5 IN ilis "Times
change and We change with them;' or by &
frcer rendition, circumstances alter cases"
The last platform of the Georgia American
party possesses one signal merit--there is NO
thing novel or original in H. There is not
plank in it that 4 good patriot, at least south
ern patriot, will refuse to stand upon.
1t regards the maintenance of the Union 3
The paramount political good The Union i
: to be maintained by obedience to the Constitu
ton and the laws.
The doctrines ofreligious liberty, aud tn
separation Of Church and State, ale cardiu;
principles Of our Government
& material modification Of our naturalization
laws, and radical revision Of the immigratio
laws are loudly demanded There is this ms
terial, and in our opinion wise and iast quaif
cation, annexed to this resolutions by til
. we do not seek to disturb in any manner, tn
privileges Of those of our own citizens who ~
naturazed under our existing laws, and "
wish all of them who agree to ourprinciples,
become members of the American party"
This is a magnaninous admission, and cree
liable to the liberal spirit and good sense oftl
Georgia Know. .Nothings.
They deny the right of Congress, or the Tc
ritorial Legislature, or the people of the Tcu
tory, while territory, to exclude from settl
ment in any territory any portion of the cit
zens of this republic with their prop rty ;
other words, they repndiate the doctrine co,
I Il
They ignore the right of voting in tcrritol
to foreign cmigrants before they are naturali
ed.
The rights of the South are not to be CO..
sidered as open questions andthc eontinuol
agitation of the Slavery question is dcprecatt
as hurtful to southern interests and the perm
nency of the Union. They re-aliirm the Geo
gia Platform and pledge themselves to star
by it.
;! The time originally fixed for the meeting
the National Convention, 22d of February,
i, objected to, and they have resolved not to
represented in the Convention should it me
at that time Some time after the lst of NJ;
is recommended.
We quote the last resolution at length:
Resolved, That we instruct our delegates
the National Convention to insist upon the a
option of the foregoing principles in spirit Al
substance, before going into a nomination al
that the nominees be pledged to carry out Il
;, same in good faith in the administration of Il
government and the appointments to Office.
Taking number of circumstances into co
sidcration we regard the condition upon whi'
the Georgia delegation will unite with t
Conyenton as stated in the above resolut
as most significant and pregnant with mea