Year: 1866

41lyHty important OOcuHtcHL


To the people Of the United States: Hay
ing met in convention, at the City of Phila-
delphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, this
10th day Of August, 1866, as the represen-
tatives of the people in all sections and all
the States and Territories of the Union, to
consult upon the condition and the wants of
our common country, we address to you this
declaration of our principles, and of the pO-
itcal purposes we seek to promote.


Since the meeting of the last National
Convention, IN the year 1860, events have
occurred which have changed the character
Of our internal politics and given the United
States new place among the nations of the
earth. Our Government has passed through
the vicssitudes and the perils of civil war
n war which, though mainly sectional in its
character, has nevertheless decided political
differences that from the very beginning of
the Government had threatened the unity Of
our national existence, and has left its i'm
press deep and inefaceable upon all the in
terests, the sentiments, and the destiny of
the republic While it has inflicted upon the
whole country severe losses in life and in
property, and has imposed burdens which
must weigh on its resources for generations
to come 1t has developed degree of national
| dangers-a capacity for military Organiza-
| ton and achievement, and a devotion on the
| part of the people to the form of government
| which they have ordained, and to the prin-
! ciples of liberty which that Government was
! designed to promote, which must confirm
! the confidence of the nation in the perpetuity
! of its republican Institutions and command
! the respect of the civilized world.


| Like all great contests which rouse the pas
| sions and test the endurance of nations, this
| war has given new scope to the ambition of
! political parties, and fresh impulse to plans
| of innovation and reform Amid the chaos
| Of conflicting sentiments inseperable from
such an era, while the public heart is keenly
alive to all the passions that can sway the
public judgment and affect the public action
while the wounds Of war are still fresh and
bleeding on either side, and fears for the fa-
| ture take unjust proportions from the memo
rles and resentments Of the past it is a diff
fcult but imperative duty which on your be-
] half we who are here assembled have under
taken to perform.


For the first time after six long years of
| alienation and Of conflict, which have come
together from every State and every section
of our land, as citizens of a common coun-
try, under that flag, the symbol again Of a
common glory, to consult together how best
to cement and perpetuate that Union which
is again the object of our common love, and
thus secure the blessings Of liberty to our
selves and our prosperity.


In the first place we invoke you to remem-
Der, always and everywhere, that the war is
ended and the nation is again at peace. The
shock of cOntending arms no longer assails
the shudderiDg heart Of the Republic. The
insurreetion against the supreme authority
OF the nation has been suppressed, and that
authority has been again acknowledged. bv
word and act, in every State, and bv every
citizen within It's jurisdiction. We are no
longer required or permitted to regard or
treat each other as enemies. Not onlv have
the acts of war been discontinued. and the
weapons of war laid aside, but the state OF
war no longer exists, and the sentiments. the
passions, the relations of war have no longer
lawful or rightful place anywhere through


out our broad domain. We are again people


of the United States, fellOw-eitiZens of one
t common country, bound by the duties and


obligations OF a common patriotism and hav


ing neither rights nor interests apart from &


common destiny The duties that devolye


upon US now are again the duties of peace


and no longer the duties of war We have


assembled here to take counsel eoncernins


the interests of peace, to decide how we NAV
, most wisely and effectually heal the wound,


the war has made, and perpetuate the bene


fits it has secured, and the BLESSINGS which


under a wise and benign Providence. hav,


sprung up IN its fiery track This is th,


work, not Of passion, but of calm and sobe


judgement, not of resentment for past often


ses prolonged beyond the limits which jus


tlce and reason prescribe, but of a libera


craftsmanship which tolerates what it canno


prevent, and builds its plans and its hope


for the future rather moon community O


interest and ambition than upon distrust an,
the weapons of force.


= In the next place, we call upon you to re


cognize in their full significance, and TO &C


cept with all their legitimate consequences