The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-10-02

Adopted at the Organization of the FREE
STATE PARTY, at Big Springs, Septem-
Der 5th, 1856:
Whereas, The Free State Party of the
Territory of Kansas, about to originate
an organization Cor concert of political
action, in electing our own officers and
moulding our institutions; and, tulereas,
it is expedient and necessary that
platform Of principles be adopted and
proclaimed to make known the charac-
ter OF our organization-and to test the
qualifications of candidates and the fdel-
ity Of our members and, phereas, we find
ourselves in an unparalleled and critical
condition-deprived by superior force Of
the rights guaranteed by the Declaration
Of Independence, the Constitution Of the
United States, and the Kansas Bill and,
phereas, the great and oyershadowing
question, whether Kansas shall become
Free or a Slave State, rnust inevitably
absorb all other issues except those in
separately connected with it; and, tchereas,
the crisis demands the concert and har-
monious action of all those who, from
principle or interest, prefer free labor to
slave labor, as well as of those who value
the preservation Of the Union and the
guarantees of republican institutions by
the Constitution, therefore;
Resclved, That, setting aside all the
minor issues Of partisan politics, it is in
cumbent upon US to proffer an organiza-
ton calculated to recover our dearest
rights, and into which Democrats and
Wings, Native and Naturalized citizens
may freely enter without any sacrifice of
their respective political creeds, but with
out forcing them as a test upon Others.
And that When zoe shall have achieved our
political freedom, vindicated our rights of
self-government, and become an Independent
State Of the Union, WHEN THOSE ISSUES
MAY BECOME VITAL as they are no,O DOR
Dsant, IL ,0iH be time enough to diUide our
organization by these tests, the importance
of which we fully recognize in their ap-
propriate sphere.
Resolved, That our true interests, social
ly, morally and pecuniarily, require that
Kansas should be a FREE STATE that
free labor will best promote the happi-
ness, the rapid population, the prosperity
and the wealth Of our people that slave
labor is a curse to the master and the COM
nrunity, if not to the slave; that our coun-
try is unsuited to it, and that we will
devote our energies, as party, to exclude
the institution and to secure for Kansas
the Constitution of FREE STATE.
RESOLVED, That the best interests of Kan
sas require population of free white
men, and that in the State organization
we are in favor Of stringent laws exclud-
ing all negroes, bond or free, from the
Territory. That, nevertheless, such meas
ures shall not be regarded as test of
party orthodoxy.
Resolved, That the stale and ridiculous
charge of abolitionism, so industriously
imputed to the Free State Party, and so
pertinaciously adhered to, in spite of all
the evidence to the contrary, is without a
shadow of truth to support it +; and that it
is not more apparent to ourselves than it
is to our opponents who use it as term
of reproach to bring odium upon us, pre-
tending to believe in its truth and hoping
to frighten from our ranks the weak and
timid who are more willing to desert theii
principles than they are to stand up under
persecution and abuse with conscious.
ness of right.