The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1860-06-07
The Republican Platform.


our constituents and our country, unite in
the following declarations:
FWst.-That the history Of the nation
during the last four years has fully estab-
lished the propriety and necessity of the
organization and perpetuation of the Re
| publican party and that the causes which
called 1t into existence. are permanent in
| their nature, and now more than ever be-
fore, demand its peaceful and constitutional
| triumph.
.Second-That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declaration
of Independence, and embodied in the
! Federal Constitution, that all men are Gre
ated equal; that they are endowed by their
| Creator with certain inalienable rights
that among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness that, to secure these
! rights, governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; is essential to the
preservation of our Republican institutions;
that the Federal Constitution, the rights
of the States, and the Union of the States,
must and shall be preserved
Ih1d.--That to the Union of the States
this nation owes its unprecedented increase
| IN population, its surprising development
of material resources, rapid augmentation
of wealth, its happiness at home and its
honor abroad and we hold in adherence
all schemes for disunion, come from what
ever source they may. And we congratu-
late the country that no Republican mem
Der Of Congress has uttered or countenanced
threat Of disunion so often made bv Dem
ocratic members of Congress without re-
buke, and with applause from their politi-
cal associates. And we denounce those
threats of dlsuniOn, in case of popular
overthrow Of their ascendency, as denying
the vital principles Of free Government,
and as an avowal of contemp plated treason,
which 1t Is the imperative duty of an in
dlgnant people strongly to rcbuke and for
ever silence
FO1U'th.-That the maintenance inviolate
OF the rights Of the States, and especially
the rights Of each State, to order and con
troll It's own domestic institutions according
to It's own judgment exclusively, is essen |
tlal to that balance Of power on which the |
perfection and endurance Of her political |
faith depends. And we denouncc the |
lawless invasion by armed force, of any |
State or territory, no matter under what |
preteXt, as among the gravest of crimes. |
Ftth.-That the present Democratic |
administration has far exceeded our worst !
apprehensions in its measureless subseryi |
ency to the eXactiOns of a sectional inter |
est, as is especially evident in It's desperate
eXertlOns to force the infamous Lecompton
Constitution upon the protesting people Of
Kansas; IN constituting the personal relation
betweeE master and servant to involve an
unqualified property i'll persons; in It's at
tempted enforcement everywhere, on land
and sea, through the intervention of Con-
gress and the Federal Courts, of the ex-
treme pretentions of purely local interest:
and IN It's general and unvarying abuse of
the power entrusted to it by confdino
people.
SIch.-Thst the people justly view
with alarm the reckless extravaganza
which pervades every department of the
Federal Government; that return to rig
id economy and accountability is indispen-
sable, to arrest the system of pIunder of
the public treasury by favored partisans:
while the recent startling developments of
fraud and corruption at the federal me-
tropolis, show that an entire change of
is imperatively demanded.
Serenh.-That the new dogma that the
Constitution, of It's own force, carries sla-
very into any or all the Territories of the
United States, Is a dangerous political
heresy, at varience with the explicit pro-
visions OF that instrument itself, with con-
temporaneous exposition, and with legis- :
latlVe aud judicial precedent is revolution
lry IN its tendency and subversive of the
peace and harmony Of the country.
Eighth.-That the normal condition of
all the Territory Of the United States is
hat OF freedom That as our Republican
fathers, when they had abolished slavery !
n all our national territory, ordained that
40 person should be deprived of life, lib
srty or property without the process of a
aw, 1t becomes our duty by legislation -,
whenever such legislation is necessary ~ L
maintain this provision of the Constitu- a
ION against attempts to violate it. And /
We deny the authority of Congress. of Q
territorial Legislature, or of any individ- I
lals, to give legal existence to slavery in +
ny Territory of the United States h
Nanh.-That we brand the reccnt-rc. t
penInG OF the African slave trade, under q
he covering of our national flar. aided "
y perversions of judicial power, as a crime q
Sainst humanity, a burning shame to our o
ountry and age. and we call upon CONGRESS- a
take prompt and efficient measures for Il
ne total and final suppression of that eve Il
rable traffic. eAe
1enth-That in the vetoes by their
ederai Governors, of the acts Of the Loo. m
iatures of Kansas and Nebraska. prob;hh- in
ing slavery IN these Territories. se fp5 AZ