The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-10-14
PEOPLES PLATFORM.
A Declaration Of Principles of the
Peoples Party.

Inc eoplo party, struggling Tor |
supremacy Of constit tional law |
and the sacred privilege of local |
self-government, submit the fol ow-
ing declaration of principles:
First-We believe that the pro- |
lection Of lie, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness is the object of
free government, and that the Con
stitutiOl of the United States was
ordained and established to secure
the greatest possible liberty to
man, woman and child, consistent
with the public welfare.
Second we believe that free
government Can only exist where
the people governed participate in
the administration thereof.
Third-We believe that any party
CT faction of political community
that seeks to subVert the inStitu-
lions of local self-gOvernment, aims
q deadly thrust at the Constitution,
and that such party or faction is
unworthy the suffrages of a free
people
Fourth-We believe that any
official who attempts to stifle the
popular voice as expressed at the
ballot box is guiltYof treason against
the sovereign people.
Fifth-We believe that the right
to frame laws suited to the require
ments Of the Territory having. been
vested by Congress in the Legisla-
ture elected by its citizens, to de-
priv them of that right by substi-
tuting a commission, arbitrarily
appointed, and thus to disfran-
chise hundred and fifty thousand
people and reduce them to a condi-
ton of surfdom, would be
unprecedented in the history of the
nation-an act that could not be
justified by any actual necessity,
and that the attempt by pre-
tended political party to create such
a revolution in the government
Eof this Territory is worthy only of
consprators and political adven-
) turers.
9th. We believe in the right OF
the people of q territory as we'll as
Of a state to test IN the courts estab
J lished by the government, the
! constitutionality or construction o.
/, any enactment, legal or congress
! siOnal, and express our astonish
i. ment at the public declaration Of {
high federal official of thisTerritOry
and the enunciation by a so-calle(
political party that the people have
no rights except such as Congress!
! may grant to them, and that to diffel
with the territorial executive abou
! the construction of a statute is null
9 lifcation. We utterly repudiatt
Z such a monstrous doctrine as worth.
( alone of the most absolute despot
g ism, and claim that the UniteC
g States Constitution in its benigl
& provisions extends alike over tn
y states and territories of the Amer
y " can Union, and that it is the bound
y en- duty of the Governor as much a
n the humblest citizen to vel
ri obedience to the laws as they are cor
3. structed by the courts. We utterl
IS repudiate the unconstitutional al
e, tempt by an Executive to usurp il
80 dicial or legislative functions, an
g to hold the American citizen boun
- - by the partial, preiudlced, unfai
~ and illegal construction which b
re- may see fit to place upon any sta
ne ute.
ID Seyenth-C Citizenship is the has
y. of the right Of suffrage. While til
re elective franchise is a privilege col
ar ferred by law, the qualifications fl
m its exercise grow out of the cond
u ton Of citizenship, and as citiZel
ship is not dependent upon sex
regulated thereby, whatever rigl
of voting originates in the eitiZel
ship of men inheres also in the cit
Ah Zenship Of women. Female citizen
o. equally with male citizens a
n. amenable to the law, thereto.
w. they are entitled to an equ
voice with men in the framir
of the law. AS all iu
powers of government are derive
:. from the consent of the g0yerne
,e' and that consent is expressed
NJ the suffrage, and as women as we
nd as men are made subject to the go
ore eminent of this country, the deni
me of the suffrage TO women is inco
lr- sistent with the principles whic
he underlie our national institution
The moral and intellectual, as WE
as physical excellence of our so.
and daughters being largely Deepen
ent upon the mothers who bear al
train them, the women of the matte
ne should be endowed with full pc
teal freedom, that, being IRa
familiar with political rights al
principles they be able to inStil in
! the hearts of the rising generate,
the spirit of patriotism, the love
liberty and reverence for republic;
en- institutions. For twelve Years &
of women citizens of Utah have e
MSS ioyed the right to vote at all ele
The lions in this territory, and have e
~, ercised it with credit to- themsely
~, and to the benefit of the communit
ma ma and the Peoples party hereby d
"'0 nounces the attempts which ha
ss1 been made to deprive women vote
ter of the right of suffrage, as illibel
The and unmanly assaults upon vest
II rights and upon justice, equal
Of and the principle of popular SOW
IN eighty.
,er- Sth. We believe in an honest al
II L.