The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-12-12
TIE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.


bed, 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 estab-
Iished the propriety and necessity of the
organization and perpetuation of the Re-
publican party, aud that tue causes which
saleI it into existence are permanent in
thair nature, and how more than ever be-
fore demand its peaceful and constitution
al triumph.
Second: That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declaration
Of independence. and embodied in the
Federal Constitution, is ess entail to the
preservation of our republican institutions,
and that the Federal Constitution, the
rights of the States and the Union of
the States, must and shall be preserved.
Third: That to the Union of the States
this nation owes its unprecedented in
crsase in population; its surprising devel-
opment of material resources; its rapid
augmentation of wealth; its happiness at
home and its honor abroad; and We hold
in abhoranec all schemes for disunion,
come from whatever source they may:
and we congratulate tho country that no
Republican member OF Congress has ut
tered or countenanced threat of disuH-
ion, so often made By Democratic men,
bsrs of Congress without rebuke, and
with applause from their political associ-
.tes; and we deuounce those threats of
disuaion, in case of popular overthrow
of their ascendency, as DENYING the vital
principles Of free Government, and as
all avowal ofcontemplated treason, which
it is the imperative duty of an indignant
people strongly to rsbuke and forever
silence.
Fourth; That the maintenance inyio-
late of the right of the States, and espec-
ia'Iy the right Of each State to order and
control its own domestic institutions &C
eording to its own judgement exclusively,
is essential to that balance OF power on
which the perfection and endurance OF
our political faith depends, and we de-
nouuce the lawless invasion by armed
forces of any State or Territory, no mat
ter under what pretext, as among the
gravcst of crimes.
Fitch: That the present Democratic
Administration has far exceeded our
worst apprehensions in its measureiess
subseryiency to the exactions Of a section
al interest, as is especially evident in its
desperate exertions to fo:ce the infamous
Lecompton Constitution upon the pro-
testing people of KanSas-in constituting
the personal relation between master apd
servant to involve ia unqualified property
in persons in It's attempted enforcement
everywhere, on land and sea, through
the intervention of Congress and the Fed
xral Courts Gf the extreme pretensions of
purely local interest, and in its general
AVID unvarying abuse of the power iu-
trusted to it by confding people.
Sirth: That the people justly view
witL alarm the reckless extravaganza
which pervades every department of the
Federal Government; that return to
rigid economy and accountability is indis
pensabie to arrest the system Of plumber
of the public treasury by favored parti-
sans; while the recent startling develop
ments of fraud and corruption at the
Federal metropolis, shows that an entire
change of administration in imperatiyely
demanded.
Seventh: That the new dogma that
Constitution of its own force carries Sla-
very into any or all the Territories of the
United States, is n dangerous political
heresy, at variance with the explicit pro
visions of that instrument itself, with con-
temporaneous exposition, and with lcgis.
lative and judicial precedent, is revolu
ticnAry in its tendency and subyersive OF
the peace and harmony of the country.
Eighth: That the normal condition OF
tho territories of the United States is that
ofFrecdom; that as our republican faith
err. when they had abolished Slavery in
oil our national territory, ordained that
ns person should he deprived of life, lib
srty, or property, without the process of
law, it becomes cur duty, by legislation,
whenever such legislation is necessary, to
maintain this provision of tho Constitu-
ton against all attempts TO violate it; and
We deny the authority of Congress, of
Territorial Legislature, or of any indvid-
sals, to give legal existence to Slavery in
any Territory of tho United States.
Ninth: That we br; I'D the recent re-
opening of tho African slave-trale, under
the cover of our nationsi flag, aided by
Perrersions of judicial power, as crime
against humanity, burning shame to
our country and age, and we call upon
Congress to tax" prompt and eficitn
measures for the total and final suppress
ion of that execrable traffic.
Tenth: That in the recent vetoes by
their Federal Governors of the acts of the
Legislatures of Kansas aud Nebraska,
prohibiting Slavery in those Territories,
We find practical illustration of the
bosstcd Democratic principle of non-in-
tervention and Popular Sovereignty, en-
bodied in the Kansas and Nebraska bill.
aud remuneration Of the deception and
fraud involved therein.
Eeuenh: That Kansas should of
right be Immediately admitted as a State
under the Constitution recently formed
I'D fa1 hsr h.. l. 4