Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-08-05
THE TRIBUNE.
MINERAL POINT.
WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 5, 1868.
National Republican Platform.
ADOPTED AT CHICAGO. MAY % 1855

ADOPIED Al thlCAGO, MAY 1865.
The National Union Republican party of
the United States, assembled in National
Convention, in the city of Chicago, on the
20th day of May, 1868, make the following
declaration of principles:
l. We congratulate the country on the as
sured success of the reconstruction policy oi
/ Congress as evidenced by the adoption, in a
majority of the States lately in rebellion, OF
constitutions securing equal civil and polit
/ ical rights TO all, and regard it as the duty
of the Government to sustain these Consti
I tutions, and thus prevent the people of such
/ States from being remitted TO q state of an
/ archy and misrule.
| 2. The guarantee by Congress of equal
| suffrage to all loyal men in the South, was
| demanded by every consideration of public
safety, of gratitude and of Justice, and must
/ be maintained, while the question OF suf-
/ frage in all the loyal States properly belongs
/ to the people of those States.
3. That we recognize the great principles
| laid down in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence as the true foundation of democratic
government. and we hail with gladness every
effort toward making these principles a liv-
ing reality on every inch of American soil.
4. That we highly commend the spirit OF
magnanimity and forgiveness with which the
men who have served the rebellion, and who
are now frankly and honestly cooperating
with us in reconstructing the Southern State
Governments upon the basis of impartial
Justice and equal rights, are received back
into the communion of the loyal people, and
that we are in favor of the removal of the
disquaifcations and restrictions imposed
upon the late rebels in the same measure as
the spirit of disloyalty dies out and as may
be consistent with the safety of the loyal
people.
3. We denounce all forms of reputation
as 8 national crime; and national honor re-
quires the payment of the national indebt-
edness in the utmost good faith to our cred
itors at home and abroad, not only accord
ing to the letter, but the spirit of the laws
under which ii was contracted.
s. 1t is due to the labor of the nation
that taxation should be equalized and re-
duced as rapidly as the national faith will
permit.
7. 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 Congr ess to reduce the rate of in
terest thereon whenever it can be honestly
done.
s. That the best policy to diminish our
burden of debt is to improve our credit, so
that capitalists will seek to lend US money
r,
and must continue to pay, as long as repudi-
alton, partial or total, open or covert, is
threatened or suspected.
Q. The Government Of the United States
should be administered with the strictest
economy. The corruptions which have been
so shamefulv nursed and fostered by Andrew
Johnson, call loudly for radical reform.
10. We profoundly deplore the untimely
and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and
IL.
the Presidency who has acted treacherous-
" to the people who elected him and the
cause he was pledged to support has usurp-
ed high legislative and judicial functions :;
has refused to execute the laws; has used
his high Office to induce other officers to vio-
late the laws; has employed his executive
power to render insecure the lives, proper
ty, peace, liberty and life of the citizen !;
has abused the pard0ning power; has de-
nounced the National Legislature Uncon-
stitutional has persistently and habitually
resisted, by every means in his power, every
proper attempt at the reconstruction of the
States lately in rebellion; has perverted
the public patronage into an engine of
Wholesale corruption, and has been justly
mpeached Tor high crimes and miSdemean-
ors and properly pronounced guilty thereof
by the votes of thirty-fve Senators
II. The doctrine of Great Britain and
other European powers, tnat because a man
is once a subject he is always so, must be re-
sisted at every hazard by the United States
as a relic of the feudal times, not authorized
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
thev were native born. No citizen of the
United States, native or naturalized, must
Ga liable to arrest or Imprisonment by any
fore ign power, for acts done or words spo-
ken in ,his country and if so arrested and
imprisoned. i is the duty OF the Government
TO interfere in his behalf.
L. OF all wlo we're faithful in the trial of
the late war there were none more entitled
to special honor than the brave soldiers and
seamen who endured the hardships of the
camp and cruise, and imperiled their lives
in the service of the country. The bounties
and pensions provided by law for these brave
defenders of the Union are obligations new
er to be forgotten. The widows and orphans
of the gallant dead are the wards of the peo-
plea sacred legacy, bequeathed to the na-
tion's protecting care.
13 As immi grafton has in the past added
to the wealth of the country, the develop
ment of our resources, and the increase of
our power as a nation, the coming of the
oppressed of all nations should be fostered
and encouraged by An impartial and just
policy.
Il. This Convention tenders its sympathy
TO all the oppressed people which are strug-
Cling for their rights