The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-04-20
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 the
following declaration of principles
l. We congratulate the country on the assured
success of the reconstruction policy OF Congress- as
evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the
States lately in rebellion, of constitutions securing
equal civil and political rights to all and it is the
duty of the Government to sustain those institutions
and to prevent the people of such States from being
RENTED to a 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 tho people of those States.
g. We denounce all forms of reputation as O ma
tional crime; and the national honor requires tho
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 1t was contracted.
A. 1t is due to the labor of the nation that taxa
tion should be equalized and reduced rapidly as
the national faith will permit.
8. The national debt, contracte Ii has been for
the preservation of the Union for all time to come
should be extended fair period for redemption
and is the duty of Congress to reduce the OF
interest thereon, whenever it be honestly done.
9. That the best policy to diminish our burden of
debt is to improve credit that capitalists will
seek loan money at lower rates of interest than
pay, and must continue te pay long as re-
pudiati0n partial or total open covert, s threat
ened or suspected.
Z. The Government of the United States should be
administered with the strctest economy; and the
corruptions which have been shamefuly nursed
and fostered by Andrew johnson call loudly for radi-
Cal reform.
8. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic
death of Abraham Lincoln and regret the accession
to the Presidency of Andrew Johnson who has acted
treacherousy to 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 tho citizen who has abused the pardon
ing power; who has denounced the national legisla-
ture as unconstitutional; who has persistenty 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
ruption; and who has been justly impeached for
high crimes and misdemeanors and properly pro-
nounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty. five
Senators.
o. The doctrine of Great Britain and other Eu.
ropean powers. that because man is once subject
he is al ways So be resisted at every hazard by
the United States, as relic of feudal times not au
thorized by the laws of nations and atwar with our
national honor and independence. Naturalized cit
izens entitled to protection in all their rights OF
citizenship, as though they were natve-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, it
is the duty of the Government to interfere in his be-
half.
TO- or all who were faithful In the trials of the
late war, there entitled to more especial
honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who en-
dured the hardships of campaign and cruise and i'm
perled their lives In the service Of the country
the bounties and pensions provided by tho laws for
these brave defenders OF the nation are obligations
never to be forgotten the widows and orphans of
the gallant dead the wards of the peope-a sa-
cred legacy bequeathed to the nations protecting
| care.
IL. Foreign immigration, which in the past has
added much to the wealth, deyelopement and re-
sources, and increase of power to this republic, the
asylum of the oppressed of all nations should be
fosered 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 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 peoples aud we favor the
removal of the disquafcations and restrictions i'm
posed upon the late rebels in the same measure as
the spirit of disoyalty will die out and as may be con-
sstent with the safety of the loyal people.
H. That recognize the great principles laid
down in the immortal Declaration of Independence
as the true foundation of democratic government
and we hail with gladness every effort toward max
ing these principles living reality on every inch of
American soil.