Year: 1868

Ihls Is the platform OF the National Union
Republican party, adopted at Chicago May
81, 1868:


First-We congratulate the country on
the assured success of the reconstruction pol
icy of Congress as evidenced by the adoption
in a majority of the States lately in rebellion
Of Constitution securing equal civil and po-
litical rights to all: and we regard 1t as the
duty Of the Government to sustain these
Constitutions and prevent the people of such
States from being remtted to a state of anar-
chy or military rule.


Second-The guaranty by Congress of
equal suffrage to all loyal men in the South
was demanded by every consideration OF
public safety, gratitude and justice. and
must be maintained; while the question of
suffrage in all the loyal States properly be-
longs to the people O. those States.


Third-We denounce all forms of re-
pudiaton a national crime. and declare
that the national honor requires the pay
ment of the public Indebtedness in the utmost
good faith to creditors at home and
abroad, not only according to the letter. but
according to the spirit of the laws under
which it was contracted.


Fourth-lt is due to the labor of the ma
tion that taxation should be equalized and
reduced as rapidly as the national faith will
permit.


Fifth-The national debt, contracted as
1t has been for the preservation of the Union
for all time to come, should be extended over
fair period to reduce the rate of interest
thereon, whenever it can honestly be done.


Sixth-That the best policy to diminish
our burden of debt is so to improve our credit
that capitalists will seek to lend us money
at lower rates of interest than we now pay,
and must continue to pay SO long as repu-
diation, partial or total, open or cover, is
threatened or suspected.


Seventh-The Government of the United
States should be administered with the strict
est economy. The corruptions which have
been so shamefully nursed and fostered by
Andrew johnson call loudly for radical re-
form


Eghth-We profoundly deplore the un.
timely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln,
and regret the accession of Andrew johnson
TO the Presidential chair. who has acted
treacherously to the ople who elected him
and the cause he was pledged to support
has usurped high legislative and judicial
functions has refused to execute laws has
used his high Office to induce other officers
10 violate laws has employed his executive
power to render insecure the lives, property,
peace. liberty, and life of citizens; has abus-
ed the pardoning power has denounced the
national legislative a unconstitutional has
persistently and habitualy resisted by every
means in his power every proper attempt at
the reconstruction of the States lately in re-
bellon has perverted the public patronage
into an engine OF wholesale corruption and
has been justly impeached for high crimes
and mlsdemeanors, and pronounced guilty
thereof by the votes of thirty FIVE Senators


Nlnth-The doctrine of Great Britain and
other European Powers, that because man
is once a subject he is always so, must be
resisted at every hazard by the United States
as n relic of feudal times, not authorized by
the law of nations, and at war with our ma
tIonal honor and Independence and natural
ized citizens are entitled to be protected in
all their rights of citizenship as though they
were native born ) no citizen of the United
States, native or naturalized. must be liable
to arrest or imprisonment by any foreign
Power Tor acts done or words spoken in this
country, and if so arrested and imprisoned,
1t is the duty of Government to interfere in
his behalf


Tenth-0f all who were faithful in their
trials of the late war there were none more
fitted for especial honor than the brave SOL
diers and seamen who endured the hardships
Of camp and cruise and imperiled their lives
IN the service of their country. The boun-
ties and pensions appropriated by law for
these brave defenders of the Union are obi
cations never tn be forgotten. The widows
and orphans of the gallant dead are the
wards of the people-a sacred legacy be-
queathed to the United States for its protect
ing care.


Eieventh-Foreign immigration in the past
hGs added so much to the wealth and increas-
cd so much the resources of this nation. the
asylum of all nations, that it should lie fos-
tered by a liberal and just policy.


Twelfth-This Convention declares its
sympathy with all oppressed people who are
struggling for their rights


Resolved, That we highly commend the
spirit of magnanimity and forgiveness with
which the men who have served in the re-
belllon and who are now frankly and honestly
cooperating with US in restoring the course
of the country and in reeonstrueting the
Southern States on a basis of impartial
justice and equal rights, are received back
into communion with the loyal people, and
that we are in favor of the removal of the
disqualihcations and restrictions imposed
upon the late rebels in the same measure and
spirit of loyalty as may be consistent with the
safety of the loval people.


Resolved, That we recognize the great
principles laid down in the Declaration of
Independence as the foundation of democratic
government, and we hail with gadness every
effort toward making these principles a
living reality on every inch of American soil.


Resolved. That the adjournment of this
Convention shall not work the dissolution of
the same. but it shall remain as organized,
subject to be called together at any time and
place that the Executive Committee shall
designate.