The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-07-18
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.


bled, 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
lshcd the propriety and necessity Of the
organization and perpetuation Of the Re
publican party, aud that the causes which
called it into existence are permanent in
their nature, and now more than ever be-
fore demand It's peaceful ana constitution
al triumph.
SECOND: That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declaration
Of independence, and embodied in the
Federal Constitution, is essential to the
preservation of our republican institutions,
aud 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
erase 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 abhorancc all schemes for disunion,
come from whatever source they may;
and We congratulate the country that no
Republican member of Congress has ut
tered or countenanced threat of disun-
lou, so eften made by Democratic mem
bcrs Of Congress without rebuke, and
with applause from their political assoei-
ates; aud we dcuounce those threats of
disunidn, in case of a popular overthrow
Of their ascendency, us denying the vital
principles of free Government, and as
ali avowaI ofcontemplatod treason, which
it is the imperative duty OF an indignant
people strongly to rebuke and forever
silence.
Fourth; That the maintenance inyio.
late of the right of the States, and espec-
iaIy the right Of each State to order and
control its own domestic institutions ac-
cordirg to its own judgement exclusively,
is essential to TINT balance Of power OH
which the perfection and endurance of
our political faith depends, and we de-
nounce the lawiess Invasion by armed
forces of any State or Territory, no mat
ter under what preteXt, rs among the
gravest ofcrimes.
filA: That the present Democratic
Administration has far exceeded our
worst apprehensions in its measureIoss
subseryiency to the exactions of a section
al interest, as is especially evident in It's
desperate exertions to force the infamous
Lecompton Constitution upon the pro-
testing people of kansas-in constituting
the personal relation between master and
servant to involve al unqualified property
in persons--in its attempted enforcement
everywhere, on land and sen, through
the intervention of Congress and tho Fed
eral Courts CT the extreme pretensions Of
purely local interest, and in its general
and unvarying abuse OF the power in-
trusted to it by a confling people.
,Sirih: That tho people Justly view
with alarm the reckless extravaganza
which pervadcs every department of the
Federal Government; that return to
rigid economy and accountability is indis-
pensable 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.
tSerenth: That the new dogma that
Constitution of its own force carries Sla-
very into any or all the Territories Of the
United States, is dangerous political
hercsy, at variance with the explicit pro
visions of that instrument itself, with con
temporaneous exposition, and with legi;-
Iatiye and judicial precedent, is reyolu-
ticnary in its tendency and subversive of
the peace and harmony of the country.
EigRth: That the normal condition OF
the territories Of the United States is that
of Freedom; that rs our republican faith
crs. when they hs abolished Slavery in
all our national territory, ordained that
no person should be deprived Of life, lib
erty, or property, without the process of
law, it becomes our duty, by legislation,
whenever such legislation is necessary, to
maintain this provision of the Constitu-
ZION d8diiiSt it q tS!IIp tS " fIOi'ttc IL dtiCt
We deny the authority of Congress, of
Territorial Legislature, or of any indiyiG-
ual$, to give legal existence to Slavery in
any Territory of the United States.
Ninth: That we bri nd the recent re-
opening of the African slare-trale, under
the cover Of oGr national flag, aided by
porversions Of judicial power, as crime
against humanity, burning shame to
our country and age, and we call upon
Congress to take prompt and efficient
measures for The total and final suppress
ion of that execrab!e traffic.
Tenth. That in the recent vetoes by
their Federal Governors Of the acts of the
Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska
prohibiting Slavery in those Territories,
we find a practical illustration of the
boastcd Democratic principle of non-in
tervention and Popular Sovereignty, en-
bodied in the Kansas and Nebraska bill.
and Remuneration of the deception and
fraud involved therein.
n