Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1860-11-23
The Republican Platform.

representatives or the kcpnDlic;n cree
tiers of the United States. in Convention
assembled, in the discharge of the duty
we owe to our constituents and our
country, unite in the following declar-
atoms:
FIRST, That the history of the nation
during the last four years fully cstab-
fishes the propricty and necessity OF the
organization and perpetuation of the
Republican party; and that the causes
which called it into existence arc per-
mancnt in their nature, and now, more
than ever before, demand its peaceful
and constitutional triumph.
SECOND, That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declara-
ton of independence, and embodied III
the federal constitution, "That all men
are created equal that they arc endow-
cd bv their Creator with certain inalien-
able rights; that among these arc 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 lis essential to the pre-
scrvation of ourrcpublican institutions,
and 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 unprcccdcnt-
ed increase in population, its surprising
development of natural resources. its
rapid augmentation of wealth, its hap
pincss at home and honor abroad; and
we hold in adherence all schemes of
disunion, come from whatever source
they may; and we congratulate the
country that no Republican member of
Congress has uttered or countcnanccd
the thoughts of disunion, in case OF a
popular overthrow Of their asccndcncy,
as denying the vital principles of Il free
government, as an avowal OF contcmpla-
ted treason, which it is the imperative
duty of an indignant people stcrnly to
rebukc and forever silence.
FOURTH, That the maintenance invi-
olatc of the rights Of the States, and
especially of the right of each State, to
order and control its domestic institu-
tons according to its own Judgment cx-
clusivcly is essential to that balance of
power on which the perfection and en-
durancc of our political fabric depends;
and we dcnouncc the lawlcss invasion
by armed force of the soil OF any State
or Territory, no matter under whatever
prctcXt, as among the gravcst of crimes.
FIFTH, That the present Democratic
administration has far exceeded our
worst apprchcnsions in its mcasurclcss
subservicncy to the cNactions of Il sec
tional interest. as especially cvinccd IN
its desperate cXertons to force the lnfa-
nous Lccompton Constitution upon the
protesting people of Kansas; in con-
structing the personal relation between
master and servant is involved an I'M
qualified property in persons; in its at
tempted enforcement, everywhere, on
land and sea, through the intervention
of Congress, and the federal courts, of
the extreme prctensions of Il purely
local interest and it's general and I'M
varying abuse of the power cntraste!
to it by confding people.
SIXTH, That the people justly view
with alarm the reckless extravaganza
which pervadcs every department of the
federal government; that return to
rigid economy and accountability is in
dispcnsable to arrest the systematic
plumber of the public treasury by favor
ed partisans; while the recent startling
developments of fraud and corruption
ut the federal metropolis, show that an
entire change of administration is I'M
pcrativcly demanded.
SEVENTH, That the new dogma that
the constitution, Of its own force, carries
slavery into any or all of the Territories
of the United States, is a dangerous po-
litical heresy, at variance with the cX-
plicit provisions ofthat instrument itself,
with the cotcmporancous exposition,
and with Legislative and judicial precc-
dent, is revolutionary in its tendency,
and subvcrsivc Of the peace and harmo-
ny of the country.
EIGHTH, That the normal condition
of all the territory Of the United States
is that of freedom. That as our Rcpub-
lican fathers, when they abolished sla-
very in all our national territory, or
dained that "No person should he de-
prvcd of liberty, life, or property, with
out due process of law" it becomes our
duty, by legislation, whenever such leg
islation is necessary, to maintain this
provision of the constitution against all
attempts to violate it; and we deny the
authority of Congress, ola Territorial!
Legislature, or of any individual, tc
give legal existence to slavery in any
Territory of the United States.