The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1860-06-05
TIE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM,
AS EXPoUSDED BY
HON. A BRA N lin g o L ",
n Speech Delivered at the Cooper Institute,
tebIuafy. 1850.

Ina Speech Delivered at the cooper Institute
/ FEBRUARY, 1850.
The announcement that the lion. Abra.
ham Lincoln, OF Illinois. would speak at the
Cooper Institute. New York city, drew to
getler Ia ge aud highly intellectual Assem-.
blage on the evening Of February %, 1860.
Ex-Governor King and other distinguished
Republicans were on the platform. " .lliam
Cullen Bryant, editor Of the EV ming Post,
presided. On taking the Chair, Mr.. Bryant
spoke as follows:
at is grateful office that perform in in
PRODUCING to you an eminent citizen Of the
West, hitherto known cnlv to vOu hy rcputa.
ton, who has consented to address New
York assembly this evening. A powerful
auxiliary, my friends, Is the great West In
that battle which we are fighting in that bat.
tie which wo are fighting in behalf of free
dom against slavery, and in behalf Of civil
cation against barbarsm, for the &C upation
OF some of the fairest regions OF our conti-
nent now open TO colonization Applause
/ recognize an agency higher and wiser than
that OF man in causing the broad and fertile
region which forms the northern part Of the
valley OF the Mississippi to be filed with
population Of hardy freemcn who till their
own acres with their own hands, and who
would ho ashamed 10 suhsst by the labor Of
slaves Appause.| These children Of the
West form living bulwark against the ad,
vance Of slavery, and from them is recruited
the vanguard Of the armies of liberty. Loud
applause. One of them | present to you
this evening, a gallant soldier Of the political
campaign Of 1856, applause, in which he
rendered goJd service to the Republic n cause.
and the great champion of that cause in Hi.
nois two years later, when he and his friends
would have won the victory but for the unjust
sppcrtionment law, by which n minority Of
the population are allowed to elect Il majority
Of the legislature. l need only to pronounce
the name Of Abraham Lincoln of Ilino,s---
loud cheers II have only to pronounce his
name, to secure your profoundcst attention"
ADDRESS BY non. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
When the prolonged applause which greet
ed Mr.. Lincoln had subsidized, he said:
Mn. PRESIDENT AND FELLow-CIrIzENs OF
New YORK The facts with whicn shall
deal this evening are mainly old and familiar;
nor is there anything now in the general Use
shall make Of ,hem. If there shall he any
novelty, it will be in the mode Of presenting
the facts. and the inference and observations
following tat presentation.
In his speech last autumn, AT Columbus,
Ohio, as reported in the New York TINES,
Senator Douglas said:
"Our fathers. wher they frarnol III gov
ernmsut undar which We live, unio,s ODD this
question Just as well, and even b,tter than
we DO now"
I fay endorse this, and slopt it as my
text for this discourse. 50 adopt /, because
il furnishes precise and an agreed starting
point between Republicans and that wing Of
the Democracy HEADED by Senator Douglas.
1t simply leaves the uquiry: "What was
tho understanding those fathers had Of the
question mentioned T.
What is the frame of government under
which we liver
The answer must be- The Consr,u,ipn of
the United States" That Constitution con.
sls,s OF the original framed in 1878, (aud un-
der which the present government first went
into operation and twelve subs qurntly
frame amendments, the first tel OF which
were framed in 1850.
THE FATHERS OF THE roxsTtTrTIoE