St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-09-06

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IVA REPUBLICAN, PLATFORM. !
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7v Apop7kp At caIeAoo, Mar 17rH, 1860. i
RESOLVED, That we, the delegat ed represen- |
tatives' Of the Republican electors oflthej Uni
ted States, in Convention assembled, in the
dl.3A ,rys Of the duty We eve to our constitu-
ents and our country, unite in the following
declarations: .<,~.;f -:
lst 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 that the causes which called it into exis-
more than ever before, demand its peaceful
and constitutional triumph. :a4
2. That the maintenance of the principles
promulgated in the Declaration oflndependence
and embodied in the Federal Constitution, the
right 10 life liberty and the pursuit Of happi-
ness, is essential to the preservation Of eur
Republican institutions; and that the Federal
Constitution, the Rights Of the States, and the
Union of the States must and shall be preserved.
8. That to the Union Of the States this nation
ewes its unprecedented increase in population,
ces, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its hap
piness 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 no Republican
member Of Congress has uttered or countenan-
ced the threats Of Disunion so often made by
Democratic members, without rebuke and with
applause from their political associates; and
We denounce those threats Of disunion. in case
80 NJ rhoix
| as denying the vital principles Of free gsv-
eminent, and as avowal Of contemplated trea-
son, which it is the imperative duty Of an
indignant People sternly to rehuke and forever
silence u"
4. That the maintenance inviolate Of the
| Rights of the States, and especially the right
| of each State to order and control its own
domestic institutions according to Its own
Judgment exclusively, is essential to that BAL
ance Of powers on which the perfection and
endurance of our political fabric depends 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 gra-
| vest Of crimes.
! 5. That the present Democratic Administers
ton has iar exceeded our worst spprehensions,
| in its measureless subserviency to the exactions
Of sectional interest, Us especially evinced
in its desperate exertions to force the infamous
Lecompton 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, everywhere. on land
and on sea, through the Intervention Of Con-
gress and Of the Federal Courts, Of the extreme
pretensions Of purely local interest; in its
general and unyarying abuse Of the power
Entrusted to it by q confding people. l.
| ,,6. That the people justly view with alarm
the reckless extravaganza which pervades ev-
cry department of the Federal Government;
that return to rigid economy and accounta-
bility is indispensable to arrest the systematic
plumber of the public treasury by favored
partisans while the recent startling develop
ments Of frauds and corruptions at the ederal
Metropolis, show that an entire change of
administration is imperatively demanded.
7: That the new dogma that the Constitution,
Of its own force, carries slavery into any or
all of the Territories Of the United States, 10
4 dangerous political heresy, at variance with
the explicit provisions Of that instrument it.
self, with contemporaneous exposition, and
with legislative and judicial precedent; is
revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive
of the peace and harmony of the county,,
| 8. That the normal condition of all the ter
ritory Of the United States is that Of freedom
That as our Republican fathers, when they
had abolished slavery in all our national ter
ritcry, ordained that ono person should be
deprived of life, liberty or property, without
due process Of law" it becomes our duty, by
legislation, whenever such legislation Is neces
sary, to maintain this provision against all at
tempts to violate it and we deny the authori-
~ Of Congress, Of a territorial legislature, or
Of any individuals, to give legal existence to
Slavery in any Territory of the United States,
! g. 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 crime against Humanity and
a burning shame to eur Country and Age and
we call upon Congress to take prompt and ef-
fcient measures for the total and final SUD.
preston Of that execrable traffic.
II. 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 find practical illus
Nom Intervention and Popular Sovereignty
embodied in the Kansas Nebraska bill, and a
demonstration Of the deception and fraud in
volved therein,
II. That Kansas should Of right be immedi-
ately admitted as q State under the Constitu-
ton recently formed and adopted by her people
and accepted by the House Of Representatives.
IL. That while providing revenue for the
support Of the general government by duties
upon imports, sound policy requires such m
adjustment Of these imposts as TO encourage
the development Of the industrial interests Of
the whole country; and We commend that
policy of national exchanges, which secures
to the working men liberal wages, to agricul
ture remunerating prices. to mechanics and
manufacturers m adequate reward for their
skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation
commercial prosperity and independence
IL. That We protest against any sale or
alienation to others Of the Public Lands held