Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-27
THE pLATFoRM.

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TIE PLATFoRM
Resolved, That we, the delegated represen-
tatives Of the Republican electors Of the Uni
| ted States, in Convention assembled, in the
| discharge OF the duty we owe 70 our constit-
uents and our country, unite in the following
/ declarations:
/. That the history Of the nation during
/ the last four years, has fully established the
propriety and necessity Of the organization
and perpetuation Of the Republican party /;
| and thatthe causes which called il into exist
4 ence are permanent in their nature, and now,
more than ever before, demand its peaceful
and constitutional triumph.
.. That the maintenance Of the principles
promulgated in the Declaration Of Independ-
ence and embodied in the federal constitution
-~That all men are created equal atthey
are endowed by their Creator with certain
inaliensble rights; that among these are life,
liberty andthe pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights governments are institu-
ted among men, deriving their Just powers
from the consent of the governed are es-
sential TO the preservation Of our republican
1 institutions: and that the federal constitu-
ton, the rights Of the States, and the Union
of the States, must and shall be preserved.
,. That to the Union Of the States this ma
ton owes its unprecedented increase in pop
ul,ltiOn, its surprising development Of mate
rial resources, its rapid augmentation of
wealth, its happiness at home and its honor
abroad; and we hold in adherence all
schemes for disunion, come from whatever
source they may; and we congratulate the
country that mo Republican member Of Con-
gress has uttered or countenRnced the threats
/ of disunion so often made by Democratic
members, without rebUke and with applause
/ from their political associates; and we de-
nOunce those threats Of disunion, in case Of a
popular overthrow Of their ascendancy, as
denying the vital principle of a free govern
ment, and as an avowat of contemplated trea-
son, which it is the imperative duty Of an
indignant peoply sternly to rebuke and for
ever silence.
4. 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 inttitutiOns according to ITS own 'judg-
ment exclusively, is essential to that balance
Of power on which the perfection and endur-
ance Of our political fabric depend, and we
! denounce the lawless invasion by armed
/ force Of the soil Of any State or Territory, no
matter under what pretext, as among the
| graYest Of crimes.
5. That the present Democratic admins
/ tration has far exceeded our worst apprehen-
sions in its measweless subserviency to the
exaetions of a sectional interest, as especially
/ eViuced in its desperate eXertions to force the
infamous LecomptoB Constitution upon the
protesting people of Kansas; in constituting
the personal relation between master and
| servant to involve an unqualified property in
persons; in its attempted enforcement every
where, on land and sea, through the inter-
vention Of Congress and Of the federal courts,
/ Of the extreme pretensions Of a purely local
I interest and in its general and unvarying
abuse of the power entrusted toit by a con-
fding people.
6. That the people justly view with alarm
/ the reckless exTavagance- which pervades
every department of the federal government
that a return to rigid economy and accounta-
bility is indispensable to arrest the systematic
plunder of the public treasury by favored
I partisans, while the recent startling develop
ments of frauds and corruptions at the fed
/ eral metropolis show that an entire change
/ of administration is imperatively demanded
Z. That the new dogma that the Constitu-
ton, Of its own force, carries slavery into
any or all Of the Territories of the United
States, is a dangerous political heresy, at va
rance with the explicit provisions Of that
instrument itself with contemporpneous ex-
position, and with legislative and judicial
precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency,
and subveTsive Of the peace and harmony OF
the country.
8. That the normal condition of all the
territory of the United States is that of free
dom; 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 with
out due process of law, it becomes our duty
by legislation, whenever such legislation is
necessary, to maintain this provision OF the
I Constitution against all attempts to violate
! it; and we deny the authority Of Congress,
Of Territorial Legislature, or of any indi-
viduals, to give legal existence to slavery in
any Territory of the United States.
9. That we brand the recent re-Opening Of
the African slave trade, under the cover OF
our national flag, aided by perversions Of ju-
/ dicial power, as a crime against humanity
and burning shame to our country and age;
and we call upon Congress to take prompt
and efficient measures for the total and final
suppression of that exeerable traffic.
10. That in the recent vetoes, by their fed
eral Governors, of the acts of the Legislature:
of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery
in those Territories, we fnd practical illus
tration of the boasted Democratic princi
ple of non-intervention and POPULAR sover
eighty. embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill
and a demonstration Of the deception anC
fraud involved therein.
II. That Kansas should Of right, be imme
diately admitted as q State under the Consti
tuition recently formed and adopted by he
people, and accepted by the House of Repre-
sentatives.
II. That while providing revenue for th
support Of the General Government by du
ties upon imports, sound policy requires tn
adjustment of those imports as to encourage
the development of the whole country; AM
we commend that policy Of national ex
changes which secures to the working mel
liberal wages, to agriculture remuneratinl
prices, to mechanics and manufacturers Al
adequate reward for their skill, labor and en-
terprise, and to the nation commercial pros
perity and independence.
l3. That we protest against any sale 0
alienation to others of the public lands he'll
by actual settlers, and against any view ofth
. free homestead policy which regards tn
( settlers as paupers or suppliants for publ
bounty; and we demand the passage b
Congress of the complete and satisfactor
homestead measure which has already passe
the House.
Il. That the Republican party is oppose
to any change in our naturalization laws, o
any State Legislation by which the rights o
citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrant
+ from foreign lands shall be abridged or i'm
. paired; and in favor Of giving a full an
efficient protection to the rights of all classe
Of citizens, whether native or naturalized
both at home and abroad.
Is. The appropriations by Congress 70
? river and harbor improvements Of a nations