The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-30
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM

The National Republican party of the United
States assembled in National Convention in the city
of Chicago, on the 2lst day of May, 1885, make tho
following declaration of principles;
l. We congratulate the country the assured
success 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 al and it is the
duty of the Government to sustain those institutions
and to prevent the people of such States from being
RENTED to q state OF anarchy.
2 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 as ma
tionsl crime; and the national honor requires the
payment of the public Indebtedness In the utter
most 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.
a. 1t is due to the labor of the nation that taxa
ton should be equalized, and reduced rapidly as
the national faith will permit.
s. Tho national debt, contracted as it has been for
the preservation of the Union for all time to come,
should be extended fair period for redemption
and IL Ia the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of
interest thereon whenever it BIO honestly done.
9. That the best policy to diminish our burden of
debt is to 80 improve credit that capitalists will
seek to loan money at lower rates of interest than
we now pay and must continue to pay long as re-
pudaton, partial or tota open or covert IL threat
ened or suspected.
r. The Government of the United States should be
administered with the strictest economy; and the
corruptions which have been so shametully nursed
and fostered by Andrew johnson call loudly for rad-
cal reform.
s. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic
death of Abraham Lincoln and regret the accession
to the Presidency of Andrew johnson, who has acted
treacherously the people who elected him and the
cause he was pledged to support; who has usurped
high legislative and judicial functions; who has
fused to execute the laws who has used his high
Office 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 legisla-
ture as unconstitutional who has persistently and
corruptly resisted, by every means in his 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
rupton and who has been justly impeached for
high crimes and msdemeanors, and properly pro-
nounoed guilty thereof by the vote of thirty. five
Senator'S
o. The doctrine of Great Britain and other Eu.
ropean powers, that because man is once subject
he is always So must be resisted at every hazard by
the United States q relic of feudal times, not
thorized by the laws of nations and at war with
national honor and independence. Naturalized cit
liens entitled to protection in all their rights OF
citizenship, as though they were native-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 or words spoken in
this country and if so arrested and imprisoned it
is the duty of the Government to interfere in his be-
half
TO- OF all who we're 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 for
these brave defenders of the nation are obligations
never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of
the gallant dead are the wards of the people-a
cred legacy bequeathed to the nations protecting
care.
IL. Foreign immigration, which in the past has
added SO much to the wealth, Development and
sources and increase of power to this republic the
asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be
fostered and 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 and forbearance with which men who have
served in the rebellion, but who now frankly and
honestly cooperate with us in restoring the peace
of tho country and reconstructing the South
err State governments upon the basis of impartial
justice and equal rights, received back into the
communion Of the loyal people; and we favor the
removal of the disquafcations and restrictions i'm
posed upon the late rebels in the same measure as
the spirit of disloyalty will die out and as may DO con-
sistent with the safety of the loyal people.
a. That We recognize the great principles laid
down in the immortal Declaration of Independence,
as the true foundation of democratic government
and hail with gladneas every effort toward MAKE
ing these principles living reality on every inch of
American soil.