The national Republican., 1861-01-12
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

"
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 established the pro-
priety and necessity Of the organization and per-
petuaton Of the Republican party, and that the
causes which called II into existence are perma-
nent in their nature, and now, more than ever
before, demand Its peaceful and constitutional
triumph.
Second. That the maintenance of the principles
promulgated in the Declaration of Independence,
and embodied in the Federal Constitution, "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 pur-
suit of happiness that to secure these rights
their just powers from the consent ofthe governed"
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 increase in popu-
lation its surprising development of material
resources its rapid augmentation of wealth
its happiness at home and its honor abroad; aud
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 countenanced
q threat Of disunion, so often made by Demo-
cratic members without rebuke and with ap-
plause from their political associates |; and we
q r
popular overthrow of their ascendency, as de-
nying the VITAL principles of free Government,
and as an avowal Of contemplated treason, which
1t is the imperative duty of an indignant people
sternly 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 do
mestic institutions, according to its own judg-
ment exclusively, is essential to that balance of
power 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 gravest Of crimes.
Fifth. That the present Democratic Admins
tration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions
in its measureless subserviency to the exactions
in its desperate exertions to force the infamous
Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting peo-
pie of Kansas-in constituting the personal rea-
ton between master and servant to involve an
unqualified property in persons-in its attempted
enforcement everywhere, on land and sea, through
the intervention of Congress and of the Federal
courts, of the extreme pretensions of purely To-
cainterest and in its general and unvarying abuse
of the power intrusted to it by confding people.
g.rth Thatt uotlv xr,;t ,Iar,,
the reckless extravaganza which pervades every
department of the Federal Government that a
return to rigid economy and accountability is in
dispensabe to arrest the systematic plunder Of the
public Treasury by favored partisans; while the
recent startling developments of frauds and cor
ruptions at the Federal metropolis show that an
entire change of Administration Is imperatively
demanded.
Seventh. That the new dogma that the Consti-
tuition of its own force carries slavery into any
or all of the Territories of the United States is
dangerous political heresy, at variance with the
explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with
cotempOraneous exposition, and with legislative
and judicial precedent; Is revolutionary in its
tendency, and subversive of the peace and har-
mony of the country.
Eighth. That the normal condition of all the
territory of the United States is that of Freedom;
that as our republican fathers, when they had
dUOlSntu elaNeEy III our nhUOnal terrltOry,
ordained that "no person should be deprived Of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law" 1t becomes our duty, by legislation, when
ever such legislation is necessary, to maintain
this provision of the Constitution against all at
tempts to violate II; and we deny the authority
of Congress, of Territorial Legislature, or Of
any individuals, to give legal existence to sla-
very in any Territory Of the United States.
Ninth. That we brand the recent reopening of
the African slave trade, under the cover of our
national flag, aided by perversions of judicial
power, as crime against humanity, and burning
shame to our country and age and we call upon
Congress to take prompt and efficient measures
for the total and final suppression of that exc
cradle 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 practical illustration
of the boasted Democratic principle of non-in.
tervention and popular sovereignty embodied in
the Kansas Nebraska bill, and a demonstration
of the deception and fraud involved therein.
Eleventh. That Kansas should of right be i'm
mediatey admitted as a State under the Consti-
tuition recently formed and adopted by her people,
and accepted by the House of Representatives.
TWe!M. That while providing revenue for the
support of the General Government by duties
upon imports, sound policy requires such an ad-
Justment OF tnese lmposts as 10 encourage the de-
velopment of the industrial interests of the whole
country and we commend that policy of nation
al exchanges, which secures to the working men
liberal wages, to agriculture remuneratng prices,
to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate
reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and
to the nation commercial prosperity and inde-
pendence.
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 for public bounty and
we demand the passage by Congress of the COM
pete and satisfactory homestead measure which
has already passed the House.
Fourteenth. That the Republican party is op-
| posed to any change in our naturalization laws,