Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1860-11-30
The Republican Platform.

tcrs 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 dccar-
atoms:
FIRST, That the history of the nation
during the last four years fully estab-
fishes the propricty and necessity OF the
organization and perpctuatlon OF the
Republican party; and that the causes
which called it into existence are per-
mancnt in their nature, and now, more
than ever before, demand its peaceful
and constitutional triumph.
SECOND, That the maintenance of the
principles promul gated in the DeclaIa-
ton of Independence, and embodied i'll
the federal constitution, "That all men
arc created equal that they arc endow-
ed by their Creator with certain inalien-
able rights; that among these are life,
liberty and the pursuit Of happiness :;
that to secure these rights governments
arc instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent OF
the governed lis essential to the pre-
scrvation of our republican 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 unprccedent-
cd 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 conntcnanccd
the thoughts of disunion, in case OF Il
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 sternly to
rcbukc and forever silence.
FOURTH, That the maintenance invi-
oatc of the ri gifts 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 apprehcnsions in its measurcless
| sui,sctvitfity III the eNattieHss 81, 2 500
tional interest, as especially evinced in
its desperate eXertions to force the infa-
nous Lccompton Constitution upon the
protesting people of Kansas; in con-
structing the personal relation between
master and servant is involved an UNI
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 purely
local interest; and it's general and un-
varying abuse Of the power entrusted
to it by contiding 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
dispensabIe to arrest the systematic
plumber of the public treasury by favor
ed partisans while the recent startling
developments of fraud and corruption
at the federal metropolis, show that an
entire change of administration is i'm.
pcratively 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 dangerous pc.
litical hcrcsy, at variance with the OK.
plicit provisions Ofthat instrument itself
with the cOtempOraneous exposition,
and with legislative and judicial precc.
dent, is revolutionary in its tendency,
and subvcrsive 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 be dc.
prvcd of liberty, fife, or property, with.
out due process of law" it becomes oul
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, to
give legal existence to slavery in any
Territory of the United States.