The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-10-24
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM


the. United States, in Convention assem-
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-
lshed 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 Ill
their nature, anil now more than ever be-
fore demand its peaceful and constitution
al triumph. -! ar-an aal4 sal
Second, That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declaration
of Independence. and embodied i'll the
Federal Constitution, is essential to the
preservation of our republican institutions,
and 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 abhorance all schemes for disunon,
come from whatever source they may !;
and we congratulate the country that no
Republican member of Congress has ut
tered or countenaneed threat of disuu-
ion, so often made by Democratic men,
lsbers of Congress without rebuke, and
with applause from their political assocl-
ates; and VIC dcuounce those threats of
disunion, in case of q popular overthrow
of their ascendency, as denying the vital
principles of a free Government, and as
an avowal of contemplated treason, which
! it is tho imperative duty of an indignant
people strongly to rebuke and forever
silence.
Fourth; That the maintenance invio-
late of the right of the States, and espec-
iaIy the right of each State to order and
control its own domestic institutions &C
cording to its own judgement exclusively,
is essential to tbst balance Of power on
which the perfection and endurance of
our political faith depends, and we de-
nounce the lawless invasion by armed
forces of any State or Territory, no mat
ter under what pretext, as among the
gravest of crimes.
Faith: That the present Democratic
Administration has far exceeded our
| worst apprehensions in It's measureless
sutseryiency to the exactions of a section
nj interest, as is especially evident in its
! desperate exertions to force the infamous
Lceolnpton Constitution upon the pro
testing people of Kansas-in constituting
the personal relation between master and
servant to involve all unqualified property
in persons-in its attempted enforcement
| everywhere, on land and sea, through
tue intervention of Congress and the Fed
eral Courts of the extreme pretensions OF
purely local interest, and in its general
and unvarying abuse Of the power IN
trusted to it by a confding people.
.Sirth: That the people justly view
with ali.TIn the reckless extravaganza
which pervades every department ofthe
Federal Government; that o return to
| rigid economy and accountability is indis-
pensabIe 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
kchange of administration in imperatiyely
| demanded.
SeveaM: 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
heresv, ut variance with the explicit pro-
visions of that instrument ITSELF with con-
temporanoous exposition, and with lpgis.
latiye and, judicial precedent, is revolu
tionary in its tendency and subversiye OF
the peace and harmony of the country.
EigtM: That the normal condition OF
| the territories of the United States is that
| of Freedom; that as our republican faith
ers, when they had 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
maintaiA this provision of the Constitu-
ton against all attempts to violate it; and
we deny the authority of Congress, of q
Territorial Legislature, or of any individ-
uals. to give legal existence to Slavery in
any Territory of the United States.
Ninth: That we brs nd the recent re-
opening of the African slave-trade, under
the cover of oVr national flag, aided by
perversions 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 execrable 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 q practical illustration of tie
boastcd Democratic principle of non-in-
tervention and Popular Sovereignty, en-
bodied in the Kansas and Nebraska bill.
and denunciation of the deception and
| fraud involved therein.
EyeDeufh That Kansoa shou1I of