Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-05-28
The National Republican Platform.

The National Republican party of the
United States, assembled in National Con-
vention in the city of Chicago, on the goth
day of May, 1868, make the following dec
laration of principles:-
First. We congratulate the country on
the assured success of the reconstruction
projects of Congress, as evinced by the
adoption in a majority of the States lately
in rebellion of constitutions securing equal
civil and political rights to all, and regard it
as the duty of the Government to sustain
these institutions and TO prevent the people
of such States from being remitted to state
of anarchy.
second The guarantee of Congress of
equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South
was demanded by every consideration of
public safety, OF gratitude, and of justice,
and must be maintained, while the question
of suffrage in all the loyal States properly
belongs TO the people of those States.
Ihird We denounce all forms of repudia-
tion as II national crime, and national honor
requires the payment of the public indebted
ness in the utmost good faith to all creditors,
at home and abroad, not only according to
the letter but the spirit of the laws under
which il was contracted.
EOatrth. 1t is due TO the labor of the ma
reduced as rapidly as the national faith will
permit.
Ftth. The national debt, contracted as it
has been for the preservation of the Union
for all time to come, should be extended
over a fair period for redemption, and it is
the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of
interest thereon whenever it can possibly
be done.
hi.,h. That the best policy to diminish
our burden of debt is to so improve our
credit that capitalists will seek to loan us
money at lowerrates ofinterest than we now
pay, and must continue to pay so long as re-
pudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is
threatened or suspected.
teUenth. The Government of the United
States should be administered with the
strictest economy, and the corruptions which
have been so shamcfully hursed and fostered
| by Andrew johnson call loudly for radical
| reform.
Ejghth. We profoundly deplore the un-
| timely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln,
and regret the accession of Andrew johnson
| to the Presidency, who has acted treacher-
ously to the people who elected him, and the
cause he was pledged to support; has
usurped legislative and Judicial funclions
has refused TO execute the laws; has used
| his high office to induce other officers to ig-
| more and violate the laws has employed his
| executive power to render insecure the
prosperity, peace, liberty, and life of the
cilizens; has abused the pardonng power;
has denounced the National Legislature as
| Unconstitutional has persstenlly and cor
ruptly resisted, by every measure in his
| power every proper attempt at the recon-
struction of the States lately in rebellion;
has perverted the public patronage into an
engine OF wholesale corruption, and has been
justly impeached for high crimes and mis-
demeanors, and properly pronounced guilty
by the votes of thirty-five Senators.
Ninth. The doctrine of Great Britain and
other European powers, that because man
is once a subject he lis always so, must be
resisted at every hazard by the United States
as a relic of the Federal times, not authoriz-
I'd by the law of nations and at war with our
national honor and independence. Natural
lied citizens are entitled to be protected in
all their rights of citizenship as though they
were native born, and no citizen of the
United States, native or naturalized, must be
liable 10 arrest and Imprisonment by any
foreign power for acts done rwords spoken
in this country. And il so arrested and i'm
prisoned, il is the duty Of the Government
to interfere in his behalf.
Tenth. OF all who were faithful in the
trials OF the late war, there were none enti-
tied to more especial honor than the brave
soldiers and seamen who endured the hard
ships of campaign and cruise, and imperilled
their lives in the service of the country
The bounties and pensions provided by law
for these brave defenders of The nation arc
obligations never to be forgotten. The
widows and orphans Of the gallant dead arc
the wards of the people, u sacred legacy be-
queathed to the nations protecting care.
Ett0ah. Foreign immigration, which in
the past has added so much to the wealth
and development Of the resources and in
crease of power TO this nation, ''the asylum
of the oppressed Of all nations" should b.
fostered and encouraged by a liberal ant
just policy.
10eih. This Convention declares it,
sympathy with all the oppressed peopl,
who are struggling for their rights.