The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-08-22
Address OF the Philadelphia Conven.

L
| Having met in convention at the city
of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsyl-
vania, the 10th day of August, 1864, as
the representatives of the people in all Sec
tons and from all the States and Terrific
| ries of the Union, to consult upon the con-
dition and the wants of our common coun-
! try, we address to you this declaration of
our principles, and of the political princi-
pies, we seek to promote.
Since the meeting of the last National
Convention, in the year 1860, events have
occurred which have changed the character
OF our internal politics, and given the U.
States a new place among tho nations of
the earth. Our government has passed
through the vicisitudes and the perils of
civil war--a war which. though mainly
sectional in its character, has nevertheless
decided political influences that from the
very beginning of the government had
threatened the unity of our national ex-
istence and has left its impress deep and
timents and the destiny of the Republic.
country severe losses in life and property
and has imposed burdens which must
weigh on its resources for generations to
come, it has developed degree of national
courage in the presence of national DAN
gers, capacity for military organization
and achievement, and a devotion on the
part of the people in the form of govern
ment which they have ordained and to the
principles of liberty which the government
was designed to promote, which must con-
firm the confidence of the nation in the
perpetuity of its republican institutions,
and command the respect Of the civilized
world. Like all great contests which rouse
the passions and test the endurance of ma
tons, this war has given new scope to the
ambition of political parties, and fresh i'm
pulse to plan of innovation and reform.
Amid the chaos of conflicting sentiments
inseperable from such an era; while the
public heart is kccnly alive to all the pas
sions that can sway the public Judgment
and affect the public action; while the
wounds of war are still fresh and bleeding
on either side, and fears for the future take
unjust proportions from the memories and
resentments of the past, it is difficult but
an imperative duty which, on your behalf,
We, who are here assembled, have underta-
ken to perform.
For the first time, after six long years
of alienation and of conflict, we have come
together from every state and every section
Of our land as citizens of common coun
try under that flag, the symbol again of
common glory, to consult together how best
to cement and perpetuate that Union which
is again the object of our common love,
and thus secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our party. I'D
In the first place we invoke you to re-
member, always and everywhere, that the
war is ended, and the nation is again at
peace. The shock of contending arms no
longer assails the shuddering heart of the
republic. The instruction against the
supreme authority of the nation has been
suppressed, and that authority has been
again acknowledged by word and act, in
every State, and by every citizen within
its jurisdiction. We are no longer reauir-
ed or permitted to regard or treat each
other as enemies. Not only have the acts
of war been discontinued, and the weapons
Of war laid aside, but the state of war no
longer exists, and the sentiments, the pas
sions, the relations of war have no longer
lawful or rightful place anywhere through
out our broad domain.
We are again people of the United States.
fellow-citizens of one country, bound by
the duties and obligations of common
patriotism, and having neither rights nor
interests apart from a common destiny
The duties that devolve upon us now are
again the duties of peace and no longer
the duties of war. We have assembled
here to take counsel concerning the inter-
ests of peace, to decide how We may most
wisely and effectually heal the wounds the
war has made, and to perfect and perpetu-
ate the benefits it has secured, and the bles-
sings which, under wise and benign Prov
idence, have sprung up in it's track. This
is the work, not0f passion, but of calm and
sober judgment, not of resentment for past
offences prolonged beyond the limits which
justice and reason prescribe, but. of liber-
al craftsmanship which tolerates what it
cannot present, and builds its plans and
its hopes for the future, rather upon
community of interest and ambition than
upon distrust, and the weapons of force.
In the next place, we call upon you to
recognize in their full significance, and to
accept with all their legitimate consequent
ces, the political results of the war Just
closed. In twomost important particulars,
the victory achieved by the National Gov
eminent has been final and decisive First,
it has established beyond all further con-
troversy, and by the highest of all human
sanctions, the absolute supremacy of all
the National Government as defined and
limited by the constitution of the United
States, and the permanent integrity and
indissolubility Of the Federal Union as
necessary consequence; and second, it has
put an end, finally and forever, to the ex-
istence of slavery upon the soil or within
the jurisdiction Of the United States. Both
these points became directly involved in
the contest and controversy Upon both
depended, absolutely and finally the re-
suit.
In the third place, we deem it of the ut
most importance that the real character,
and the victory by which it was closed,
should be accurately understood. The
war was carried on by the government of
the United States in a maintenance of its
own existence; both of which were mena-
ced by the insurrection which it sought
to suppress, The suppression of the insur-
rection accomplished that result. The
government of the United States maintain
ed by force of arms the supreme authority
over all the territory and over all the States
and people within it's jurisdiction which
the constitution confers upon it; but it &C.
quired thereby no new power, no enlarged
jurisdiction, no rights, either of territorial
possession or of civil authority, which it
did not possess before the rebellion broke
out. All the rightful power it can ever
possess is that which is conferred upon it,
either in express brms or by fair and nee
essary implication, by the constitution of
the United States. 1t was that, however,
and that authority which the rebellion
sought to overthrow; and that victory of
the Federal arms was simply the defeat of
that attempt.
The government of the United States
acted throughout the war on the defensive
1t sought only to hold possession of
what was already its own. Neither the
war nor the victory by which it was closed