Year: 1859

The popular sovereignty
which | believe in and maintain is the
sovereign right Of the American peo-
ple--of the thirty millions of our coun-
trymen, acting through their chosen
: representatives in Congress, to ex-
: clude human slavery from every
/ square inch Of their common domain.
t and pass such laws as they shall find
: necessary to enforce and perpetuate
, such exclusion thus preserving and
consecrating this magnificent domain
to free men and free labor evermore.
To render such exclusion perfect and
enduring, / ask, | entreat, the sympa-
thy and cooperation of the settlers in
the territories, whose interest in the
exclusion of this enormous evil aud
scourge is more immediate, but no
more real, than that of their fellow
citizens yet residing in the States. I
trust that cooperation will not be here
withheld but even where they falter,
| still insist on the right of the thirty
millions to stand firm.


The public lands are the property
Of the nation and deny the right
of any mere segment of that nation to
destroy their value by fastening the
blight Of slavery upon them They
are the pre-destined home of millions,
of my children and those of my neigh
bors, as well as of yours. deny
your right Of shutting US out by fix
ing upon them, for your supposed per-
Isnnnl aIvnnfn n 90 "a yvI,i.h ;rt,,
ally excludes us and our descendants
therefrom. | would not trespass upon
the rights of thousands and tens Of
thousands. | insist that they shall
not encroach on the rights of the mill
lions and tens of millions. Of tiose
rights the Republican party of the
Union is the providential advocate and
guardian and it will not consent to
abandon them


That party is based on great funda.
mental principles, which principles
are concisely and lucidly set forth in
it's National Platform, framed and
adopted by its convention which was
held at Philadelphia in June, 1856.
That platform embodies essentially
three propositions, namely: l. That
every innocent man has right to
himself : 2. That he has right to the
fair and just recompense of his own
labor 3. That, if he be landlesS, he
has a right to occupy and use moii-
cum of the public domain, as long as
any part Of that domain shall remain
common and unappropriated, for his
! md tlnt e ~,
and children. The Republican plat
form, moreover, condemns the pro-
scription of any citizen because of his
creed and birthplace, and thus COM
mends itself to the regard of large
class who would otherwise cherish APP
prehensions which circumstances have
shown to be not altogether nnfound-
ed. Because Of these principles, thus
terscly set forth, | ask for the Repub-
Iican party your hearty sympathy aud
support.


The slave power has discovered
what some of us had perceived before
it-that the free allotment of the pub
lie lands in quarter sections to actual
settlers, is most effective barrier and
impediment to the further spread of
the peculiar institution'--th it can
not grasp territories and organize
states where the free land principle
has full play. If | could have but
one of the two measures-either a di-
rect congressional inhibition of slave
ry in the territories, or free home-
steads and land limitation--I should
greatly prefer the latter, for | consid-
er it the more effective and enduring
barrier to the spread of slavery. And
it is because the slavery propaganda
lists have at length discerned this, that
we find those among them who once
advocated the free land principle now
steadily resisting it.


The Republican party, on the con-
trary, stands before you in q consist
ent and commanding attitude 1t is
unit on the land question--righ on
principle, with no dividing affection or
distracting interest--and right on the
record. 1t proclaimed its devotion to
free homes in its infancy, and will not
allure it in its manhood. Its nation
al triumph, now | trust near at hand,
will deliver the pioneers forever from
the dread of being elected from their
improvements by the land monopolist,
and from the degrading necessity Of
sending agents to Washington to beg
the President not to drive them from
) the humble homes created by their
J own sweat and toll


l commend the republican party of
the Union to your sympathy and coop
Grafton because its principles are iden-
titled with your interests, as its past
efforts have closely paralleled your
J struggles. 1t is emphatically and hui
namely right on all the great living
issues of the day. ! recommend it
because its platform and its general
instincts alike commit it to the MAIN
tenance of the rights of the adopted
citizens as well as those of the native
4 born, and to a perpetual resistance to
all prescription based on caste, or
creed, or place of birth. commend
it because its instincts and aims are
essentially and nobly conservative
conservative Of liberty rather than
slavery--of good rather than evil
of the rights of the many rather than
the privileges of the few. | commend
it as the only great party likely, if in
power, to commence and press On that
great enterprise, the Pacific railroad,
a measure which, while beneGcent to
every section would prove especially
a new dayspring of prosperity to the
vast and teeming West, that Graded
Hercules destined to eclipse the wild.
est anticipations of its coming great
ness and power. l commend it be-
cause its faith and work respecting
the great disturbing element in our
politics, the slavery question, is that
OF the revolutionary fathers--the only
faith which blends respect for exsist-
ing rights with steady and effective