Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1860-09-07

otales, IN convention assembled, IN the dis
charge of the duty we owe to our constituents
aud our country, unite in the following declara-
| tions:
| First, That the history of the nation during
the last four years has fully established the
propriety and necessity of the organization and
| perpetuatlon of the Republican party, and that
the causes which called it into existence are
permanent in their nature. and now more than
| ever before demand its peaceful and constitu-
| tional triumph. --- a- -1-
Second, That the maintenance of the princi-
pies promulgated in the Declaration of Inde-
| pendence, and embodied in the Federal Con-
sttution, is essential to the preservation of our
republican institutions that the Federal Con-
sttution, the rights of the States, and the Union
of the States must and shall be preserved
and that we reassert - these truths to be self
evident that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain
.unalienable rights that among these are 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"
! Third, That to the Union of the States this
nation owes its unprecedented increase in pop
ulation its surprising development of material
/ resources its rapid augmentation of wealth
its happiness at home and its honor abroad
| and we hold in adherence all schemes for dis
|
and we congratulate the country that no Re-
| publican Member Of Congress has uttered or
| countenanced threat of disunon, so often
made by Democratic Members of Congress
without rebuke and with applause from
| their political associates and we denounce
those threats of disunion in case of popular
overthrow of their ascendency, as denying the
vital principles of a free Government and as
an ayowal of contemplated treason, which it is
the imperative duty of indignant people
strongly to rebuke and forever silence.
Fourth, 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 power on which the perfection and en-
durance of our political faith depends,
and we denounce the lawless invasion b. arm
ed force of any State or Territory, no matter
under what pretext, as among the graYest Of
| crimes .as-rr .-
Fifth That the present Democratic Admin
! istration has far exceeded our worst apprehen-
| sions in its measureless subserviency to the ex-
actions of a sectional interest, as is especially
| evident in its desperate exertions to force the
! infamous Lecompton constitution on the protest
ing people of Kansas, in constituting the personal
| relation between master and servant to involve
an unqualified property in persons-in its at
| tempted enforcement everywhere, on land and
|
| and the Federal Courts, of the extreme preten-
sions of purely local interest, and in its gen
eral and unvarying abuse Of the power intrust-
| ed to it by a confiding people.
Sirth That the people justly view with alarm
the reckless extravaganza which pervadcs every
| department of the Federal Government that
a return to rigid economy and accountability is
| indispensable to arrest the system of plunder of
the public treasury by favored partisans; while
the recent startling developments of fraud and
corruption at the Federal metropolis. show that
an entire change of administration is impera-
lively demanded.
| Seyenth, That the new dogma that the Con-
stitution, of its own force, carries Slavery into
any or all of the Territories of the United
States is a dangerous political heresy, at vari-
anee with the explicit provisions of that instru-
| ment itself, with contemporaneous exposition,
and with legislative and judicial precedent; is
revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive
| of the peace and harmony of the country.
Eighth, That the normal condition of all the
territory of the United States is that of Free
! dom that as our republican fathers. when
they had abolished slavery in all our national
territory, ordained that no person should be
| deprived of life, liberty. or property, without
! the process of law, it becomes our duty, by leg
| islation, whenever such legislation is necessary
! to maintain this provision of the Constitution
| against all attempts to violate it and we deny
the authority of Congress, of a Territorial leg
| islature, Of any individuals. to give legal ex-
| istence to Slavery in any territory of the Uni
| ted States
| Ninth, That we brand the recent re-opening
of the African slave-trade. under the cover of
our national flag, aided by perervsions of Judi
! cial power as crime against humanity,
| burning shame to our country and age, and
we call upon Congress to take prompt and eff
| cient measures for the total and final suppress
| sion of that execrable traffic.
Tenth, That in the recent vetoes by their Fed
| eral Governors of the acts of the Legislatures
of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery
in those territories, we find apractical illustra-
| ton of the boasted Democratic principle of
| non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty, en-
! bodied in the Kansas and Nebraska BILL and
| denunciation of the deception and fraud invol-
| we'd therein. .t&.. D. -..s-a...t s."rE.e
! Eleuenth That Kansas should of right be i'm
mediately admitted as State under the Con-
stitution recently formed and adopted by her
people, and accepted by the House of Repre-
! sentatives.
! Tpelfth, That while providing revenues for
the support of the general Government by du-
! ties upon imports, sound policy requires such
| an adjustment of those imposts as to encourage
| the development of the industrial interest of
the whole country and we commend that
policy of national exchanges which secures to
the working men liberal wages, to agriculture
facturers an adequate reward for their skill,
labor and enterprise, and to the nation COM
mercial prosperity, and independence.
Thirteenth That we protest against any sale
or alienation to others of the public lands held
by actual settlers, and against any view of the
free homestead policy which regards the settlers
as paupers or supplicants fol public bounty,
and demand the passage by Congress of the
complete and satisfactory HON estead measure
which has already passed the House
Fourteenth, That the Republican party is op-
posed to any change in our Naturalization laws,
or any State legislation by which.the rights of
citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants
from foreign lands shall be abridged or impair
ed :; and in favor of giving full and efficient pro-
lection to the rights of all classes of citizens
whether native or naturaized, both at home
or abroad.
Fifteenth, The appropriations by Congress for
River and Harbor Improvements of a national
character, required for the accommodation and
security of an existing Commerce, are author
lied by the Constitution and justified by the
obligation of the Government to protect the lives
and property of its citizens.
Sixteenth. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean
is imperatiyely demanded by the interests of
the whole country; that the Federal Govern
ment ought to render immediate and efficient
aid in its construction, and that as preliminary
thereto a daily overland mail should be estab