The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1876-07-20

" ~
NATIONAL REPUBucANPLATFoRM.
| When, in the economy ofPrOvidence, this land
| WAS to be purged Of human slavery, and when
| the strength of the government Of the people, by
the people, and for the people, was TO be demon.
| strated, the Republican party came into power.
| Its deeds have passed into history, and we look
| back to them with pride. Incited by their mem.
| ories high aims for the good Of our country and
mankind and looking to tho future with unfal.
| tering courage, hope and purpose, we, the repre-
| sentatiyes OF the party, in National Convention
| assembled, make the following declaration Of
/. The United States of America is nation.
not league. By the combined workings of the
National and State Governments, under their re.
spectiye constitutions, the rights of every citizen
is secured at home, and protected abroad and
the common welfare promoted.
| 2. The Republican party has preserved these
governments TO the one hundredth anniversary
| of the nations birth, and they are now embodi-
ments of the great truths spoken at its cradle
that all men are created equal; that they are en-
| dOwed by their creator with certain inalienable
rights, among which are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness; that for the attainment of
| these ends Governments have been instituted,
| among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. Until these truths are
cheerfully obeyed or, if need be, vigorously en-.
| forced, the work Of the Republican party is un.
| finished.
| 3. The permanent pacification of the South.
| ern section OF the Union. and the complete pro-
lection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of
all their rights and duties, to which the Republi.
| can party stands sacredly pledged.
| The power to provide for the enforcement of
| the principles embodied in the recent COnstitu-
| tional Amendments, is vested by those amend
ments in the Congress of the United states, and
we declare il to be the solemn obligation of the
| legislative and executive departments Of the gov
| ernment to put into immediate and vigorous exer-
| else all their constitutional powers for removing
any Just causes of discomfort on the part of any
| class and for securing to every American cit-
zen complete liberty and equality in the exercise
| of all civil political and public rights. To this
| end we imperatively demand Congress and
| Chief Executive whose courage and fidelity to
| these duties shall not falter until these results
| are placed beyond dispute or recall.
4. In the first act of Congress signed by Presi-
| dent Grant, the National Government assumed
to remove any doubt as to its purpose to dis
| charge all just obligations to the public cred-
| tors, and "solemnly pledged its faith to make
| provision at the earliest practicable period for
the resumption Of the United States notes in
| coin" Commercial prosperity, public, moral,
| and national credit demand that the promise be
fulfilled by continuous and steady progress to
specie payment.
| S. Under the Constitution, the President and
| heads of departments are to make nominations
for office; the Senate is to advise and consent to
| appointments, and the House Of Representatives
is to accuse and prosecute tathless officers. The
| best interest of the public service demands that
| these distinctions be respected; that Senators
| and Representatives who may be judges and ac-
cusers, should not dictate appointments to office.
The invaTiable rule in appointments should
have reference to honesty, fidelity, and capacity
|
those places where harmony and vigor of ad-
| ministratiOu require its policy to be represen-
ted, but permitting all others TO be filed by
| persons selected with reference to the efficiency
TO the public service. and the right Of all citizens
to share in the honor of rendering public SER
| vice to the country.
| 6. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of
the people concerning political affairs, and will
hold ali public officers to rigid responsibility,
| and engage that the prosecution and punishment
of all who betray official trusts shall be swift,
| thorough and unsparng
I. The public school system of the several
| States is the bulWark of the American Republic.
| and with view to its security and permanence,
| we recommend an amendment to the Constitution
ofthe United States forbidding the appropria-
| ton of any public funds or property for the ben
eft of any schools or institution under sectarian
control.
8. The revenue necessary for current expendi-
lures and the obligations OF the public debt must
| be elargcly derived from duties upon importa-
tions which so far as possible should be adjusted
| to promote the interests of American labor, and
| advance the prosperity of the whole country.
| .. We reaffrm our opposition to further
grants Of the public lands to corporations, and
| mOnOpOlics, and demand that the national do.
main be devoted to free homes for the people.
| TO- tits the imperative duty of the Govern
ment so to modify existing treaties with Europe
an governments, that the same protection shall
| be afforded to the adopted American citizens
that is given to the native born; and that all
necessary laws should be passed TO protect emf
| grants in the absence of power in the States for
Ii. 1t is the immediate duty of Congress to
|
importation of MongolIans upon the moral and
material interests of the country.
12. The Republican party recognizes with APP
proval the substantial advances recently made
towards the establishment of equal rights for the
| women by the many important amendments eff.
fected by Republican Legislatures in the laws
| which concern the personal and property rela-
tions of wives, mothers and widows, and by the
appointment and election of women to the super
intendence Ofeducation, charities, and other pub.
lie trusts. The honest demand of this class Of
citizens for additional rights, privileges. and i'm
munities should be treated with respectful con-
| sideration.
| I8 The Constitution confers upon Congress
| sovereign power over the Territories O. the Uni
| ted States for their government and in the exer
else of this power it is the right and duty Oi Con-
gress to prohibit and extirpate, in the Territor
| les, that relic of barbarism-polygamy; and we
| demand such legislation as shall secure this end
and the supremacy of American institutions in
| all the Territories.
| IA. The pledges which the nation has given to
| her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and
| grateful people will always hold those who i'm.
periled their lives for the countrys preservation
| in the kIndest remembrance.
10. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feel
| ing and and tendencies. We therefore note with
deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts
as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral
vote of united South, secured through the et-
1 the nation, and invoke the earnest attention OF
the country to the grave truth that a success
/ thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and
1 imperil National honor and human rights.
| is. We charge the Democratic party with be-
ing the same in character and spirit, as when it
| sympathzed with treason, with making its con.
/ troll Of the House of Representatives the triumph
| and opportunity of the Nations recent foes;
with reasserting and applaudng in the National
captal the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion;
| with sending Union soldiers to the rear and pro-
/ noting Confederate soldiers to the front; with
| deliberately proposing to repudiate the plighted
4 faith of the Government; with being equally
J false and imbecileupon the overshadowing tnan-
! cial questions; with thwarting the ends of jus.
| tice by its partisan mismanagement and obstruc.
ton of Investigation with proving itself through
| the period of its ascendancy in the Lower House
| of Congress, utterly incompetent to administer
the Government, and we warn the country
| against trusting party thus alike unworthy,
recreant and incapable.
| II. The National Administration merits for
! its honorable work in the management Of domes
tic and for eign affairs, and President Grant de-
| serves the continued hearty gratitude of the
American people for his patriotism and his emf
| nent services in war and in peace.