The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-02
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM.

l. We congratulate the country on the assured
OF the reconstruction policy OF Congress,
evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the
States lately in rebellion Of constitutions securing
equal civil and political rights to all; and 1t is the
duty of the Government to sustain those institutions
and to prevent the people of such States from being
RENTED to state of anarchy.
q The guaranty by 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.
8. We denounce all forms of reputation o
tional crime; and the national honor requires the
payment Of the public indebtedness in the utter
good faith TO all creditors at home and abroad,
not only according to letter, but the spirit of the
laws under which it was contracted.
4. 1t is due to the labor Of the nation that taxa
ton should be equalized, and reduced rapidly
the national faith will permit.
s. The national debt, contracted as 1t has been for
the preservation of the Union for all time to come,
should be extended fair period for redemption;
and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of
interest thereon whenever 1t be honestly done.
8. That the best policy to diminish our burden of
debt is improve credit that capitalists will
seek to loan money at lower rates Of interest than
we now pay, and must continue to pay long
pudiation partial or total open or covert Is threat
I. The Government Of the United States should be
administered with the strictest economy; and the
corruptions which have been 30 shamefully nursed
and fstered by Andrew johnson call loudly for radf
s. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic
| death of Abraham Lincoln and regret the accession
| to thePresden,y of Andrew johnson, who has acted
treacherously to the people who elected him and tho
| cause he was pledged to support who has usurpsd
high legislative and judicial functions; who has
| fused to execute the laws who has used HIS high
ofics to induce other officers to ignore and violate
| the laws who has employed his executive powers
to render insecure the property, the peace liberty
and life of the citizen; who has abused the pardon
ing power; who has denounced the national legsla-
turs a. unconstitutional; who has persstently and
| corruptly resisted, by every means in bis power,
every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the
| States lately in rebellion; who has perverted the
| public patronage into an engine of wholesale cor.
ruption; and who has been justly impeached for
high crimes and msdemeanors, and properly pro-
nounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty five
| Senators.
Q. The doctrine Of Great Britain and other Flu.
ropean powers, that because man is once subject
he is al ways so be resisted at every hazard by
the United States, relic of feudal times, not
thorized BY the laws of nations and atwar with our
national honor aud Independence. Naturalized cit
izens entitled to protection in all their rights Of
citizenship, as though they wore natiye-born; and
no citizen OF the United States, native natural
lied, must be liable to arrest and Imprisonment by
any foreign power for acts done words spoken In
this country; and, If arrested and imprisoned il
Ia the duty Of the Government to interfere in his be-
half.
10. or all who were faithful In the trials of the
late war, there none entitled to more especial
honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who en-
dured the hardships Of campaign and cruise and i'm
perilled their lives in the service of the country
the bounties and pensions provided by the laws fol
these brave defenders of the nation obligations
| never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans Of
the gallant dead are the wards of the people--a sa
cred legacy bequeathed to the nations protecting
| care. .
IL. Foreign immigration, which in the past hal
added so much to the wealth, developement, and re
sources and increase of power to this republic, the
asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be
fostered aud encouraged by liberal and just policy
IL. This convention declares itself In sympathy
with all oppressed peoples struggling for their rights
Is. That we highly commend the spirit of mag
| nanimity aud forbearance with which men who have
served In the rebellion but who now frankly ant
honestly cooperate with us In restoring the peac,
| of tho country and reconstructing the South
1 ern State governments upon the basis of impartia
justice and equal rights, received back into thu
communion Of the loyal people; and we favor tn
removal of the disqualihcatons and restrictions i'm
, posed upon the lsts rebels in the same measure a
the spirit Of dsloyalty will die out and may be con
sistent with the safety Of the loyal people.
ID. That we recognize the great principles la
down in the immortal Declaration of Independence
! as the true foundation Of democratic government
and we hail with giadness every effort toward max
ing these principles living reality on every poh
American Roli.