Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1868-08-06
THE PLATFORM.


as the foundation and limitation of the powers
of the Government, and the guarantee of the
liberties of the citizen; and recognising the
questions of slavery and secession as having
been settled for all time to come by the war,
or the voluntary action Of the Southern States
in Constitutional Convention assembled, and
never to be renewed or regulated, do with
the return of peace demand:
First. Immediate restoration of all the
States to their rights in the Uuion under the
Constitution, and Of civil government to the
American people.
Second. Amnesty for all past political often
ces, and the regulation of the elective franchise
in the States by the citizens.
Third. Payment Of the public debt as rapid.
ly as practicable; all moneys drawn from the
people by taxation, except so much as is re-
quisite for the necessities Of the Government,
economically administered being honestly APP
piled to such payment, and where the obiiga-
tions of the Government do not expressly state
upon their face, OR the law under which they
were issued does not provide that they shall
be paid in coin, they ought, in right and JUS
tice, be paid in the lawful money CT the Uni
ted States.
Fourth. Equal taxation of every species of
property according to its real value, including
government bonds and ether public securities.
Fifth. One currency for the government and
the people, the labOrer and the ofhce-holder
the pensioner and the soldier, the producer
and the bond-holder
Sixth. Economy in the administration of
the governments; the reduction of the stand
ing army and navy; the abolition of the Freed
mems Bureau and all political instrumental
ties designed to secure negro supremacy, sim
pllhcatlon OF the system, and discontinuance
OF the lnquisitorial modes of assessing and
collecting internal revenue, SO that the burden
of taxation may be equalized and lessened:
the credit Of the government and the currency
made good; the repeal of all enactments for
enrolling the State militia into national forces
in time of peace and tariff for revenue up
on foreign imports, and such equal taxation
under the internal revenue laws as will afford
incidental protection to domestic manufactures.
and as will, without impairing the revenue,
impose the least burden upon and best pro
mote and encourage the industrial interests
of the country.
Seventh. Reform Of abuses in the admins
tration, the expulsion of corrupt men from
office, the abrogation of useless Offices the
restoration of rightful authority TO, and the
independence Of the executive and judicial
departments of The government, the subordi-
nation Of the military to the civil power, to
the end that the usurpations OF Congress and
the despotism of the sword may cease
Eighth. Equal rights and protection to nat
uralized and native born citizens at home and
abroad, the assertion of American nationality
which shall command the respect of foreign
powers, and furnish an example and encour
agement to people struggling for national in
tegrity, constitutional liberty and mainten-
ance Of the rights of naturalized citizens
against the absolute doctrine of immutable
allegiance, and the claims Of powers to punish
them for alleged crime committed be ond
their jurisdiction.
In demanding these measures and reforms
we arraign the Republican party for its dis
regard Of right and the unparalleled oppres~
sion and tyranny which have marked its career
After the most solemn and unanimous pledge
of both Houses of Congress to prosecute the
war exclusively for the maintenance of the
Government and the preservation of the Union
under the Constitution. it has repeatedly vic
lated that most sacred pledge under which
alone we rallied that noble volunteer army
which carried our flag to victory Instead Of
restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its
power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States
In time of profound peace to military despot
ism and negro supremacy; it has nullifed
the RICH of trial by jury; it has abolish
ed the hd6eds corpuS-that most sacred writ o.
liberty; 1t has overthrow the freedom Of
speech and of the press; it has substituted ar
bitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials
and secret star chamber inquisitions for the
constitutional tribunals; it has disregarded in
time OF peace the RI ght Of the people to be free
from searches and seizures: it has entered the
post and telegraph Offices, and even the pri-
vate rooms of individuals, and seized their
private papers and letters without any spccif
ic charge or notice of affidavit, as required bv
the orUanic low II Loo ~,
can Capitol into bastile; it has established a
system Of spies and official espionage to which
no constitutional monarch of Europe would
now dare to resort; it has abolished the right
of appeal on important constitutional questions
to the supreme judicial tribunal and lhreatcns
to curtall or destroy its original jurisdiction
which is lrrevocably vested by he constitution,
while the learned Chief Justice has been sub
jected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely
because he would not prostitute his high Office
to the support Of the false and partisan charges
preferred against the President. It's corrup-
ton and extravaganza have exceeded ANYTHING
known in history, and by its frauds and mo-
nopolies it has nearly doubled the burdens Of
the debt created by The war. It has stripped
the President of his constitutional POW er Of
appointment, even of his own Cabinet Under
its repeated assaults the pillars of the govern
ment are rocking on their base, and should it
succeed in November next and inaucurate its !
President, We will meet as a subjected and
conquered people amid the ruins of liberty
and the scattered fragments of the constitution.
And we do declare and resolve that ever
since the people Of the United States threw off
all subsection to the British Crown the priv. /
lege and trust Of suffrage have belonged to
the several States, and have been granted.
regulated and controlled exclusively by the
political power of each State, respec lively, /
and that any attempt by Congress, on any I
pretext whatever to deprive any State of the /
right, or interfere with its exercise is a fla |
grant usurpation which can find no warrant in I
the Constitution, and if sanctioned by The [
people will subvert our form of government.
and can only end in a single centralized and F
consolidated government in which the separate I
existence of the States will be entirely absor
bed, and an unqualified despotsm be estab- /
lished in place OF Federal Union of coeoual /
States.
And that we regard the reconstruction acts |
(so-called) of Congress- as such, as usurpations
and unconstitutional, revolutionary and void
That our soldiers and sailors who carried /
the flag Of our country to victory against a
most gallant and determined foe must ever be
gratefully remembered, and ali the guara ntees /
given in their favor must be faithfully carried
into execution.
Thatthe public lands should be distributed
as widely as possible among the people, and
should be disposed oe either under the pre-
emptlcn of homestead lands, or sold in reason
able quantities. and to none but actual occu
pants, at the minimum price established by
the Government When Grants If Tho ,,,llio |