states crusade in the nineteenth century, and in | 1. Resolved, That claiming fellowship the United States of America, against with and desiring the co-operation of all Catholics and foreign-born, is neither justi- who regard the preservation of the Union fied by the past history or future prospects under the constitution as the paramount of the country, nor in unison with the issue, and repudiating all sectional parties spirit of toleration and enlightened free-and platforms concerning domestic slavery dom which peculiarly distinguishes the which seek to embroil the states and inAmerican system of popular government. cite to treason and armed resistance to law Resolved, That we reiterate with renewed in the territories, and whose avowed purenergy of purpose the well-considered pose, if consummated, must end in civil declarations of former conventions upon war and disunion, the American democracy the sectional issue of domestic slavery, recognize and adopt the principles conand concerning the reserved rights of the tained in the organic laws establishing the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, as em1. That Congress has no power under bodying the only sound and safe solution the constitution to interfere with or con- of the slavery question, upon which the trol the domestic institutions of the several great national idea of the people of this states, and that all such states are the sole whole country can repose in its determined and proper judges of everything apper- conservation of the Union, and non-intertaining to their own affairs not prohibited | ference of Congress with slavery in the by the constitution; that all efforts of the territories or in the District of Columbia. Abolitionists or others, made to induce 2. That this was the basis of the comCongress to interfere with questions of promise of 1850, confirmed by both the slavery, or to take incipient steps in rela- Democratic and Whig parties in national tion thereto, are calculated to lead to the conventions, ratified by the people in the most alarming and dangerous conse-election of 1852, and rightly applied to the quences, and that all such efforts have an organization of the territories in 1854. inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. ་ 3. That by the uniform application of the Democratic principle to the organization of territories and the admission of new states, with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect, the equal rights of 2. That the foregoing proposition covers all the states will be preserved intact, the and was intended to embrace the whole original compacts of the constitution mainsubject of slavery agitation in Congress, tained inviolate, and the perpetuity and and therefore the Democratic party of the expansion of the Union insured to its utUnion, standing on this national platform, most capacity of embracing, in peace and will abide by and adhere to a faithful exe-harmony, every future American state that cution of the acts known as the compro- may be constituted or annexed with a remise measures, settled by the Congress of publican form of government. 1850-"the act for reclaiming fugitives Resolved, That we recognize the right from service or labor" included; which of the people of all the territories, includact, being designed to carry out an expressing Kansas and Nebraska, acting through provision of the constitution, can not, with the legally and fairly expressed will of the fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency. 3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. majority of the actual residents, and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a constitution, with or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other states. Resolved, finally, That in view of the 4. That the Democratic party will faith-condition of the popular institutions in the fully abide by and uphold the principles old world (and the dangerous tendencies laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia of sectional agitation, combined with the resolutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia legislature in 1799; that it adopts these principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import. attempt to enforce civil and religious disabilities against the rights of acquiring and enjoying citizenship in our own land), a high and sacred duty is devolved, with increased responsibility, upon the Democratic party of this country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the And that we may more distinctly meet rights of every state, and thereby the the issue on which a sectional party, sub-union of the states, and to sustain and adsisting exclusively on slavery agitation, now relies to test the fidelity of the people, north and south, to the constitution and the Union vance among us constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigi lant and constant adherence to those prin- | cratic principles, and, therefore, true to the ciples and compromises of the constitution great interests of the country; in the face which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it was, the Union as it is, and the Union as it shall be, in the full expression of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive people. 1. Resolved, That there are questions connected with the foreign policy of this country which are inferior to no domestic questions whatever. The time has come for the people of the United States to declare themselves in favor of free seas and progressive free trade throughout the world, and, by solemn manifestations, to place their moral influence at the side of their successful example. 2. Resolved, That our geographical and political position with reference to the other states of this continent, no less than the interest of our commerce and the development of our growing power, requires that we should hold sacred the principles involved in the Monroe doctrine. Their bearing and import admit of no misconstruction, and should be applied with unbending rigidity. of violent opposition, he has maintained the laws at home and vindicated the rights of American citizens abroad, and, therefore, we proclaim our unqualified admiration of his measures and policy. 1856.—Republican Platform, This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory; in favor of admitting Kansas as a free state, of restoring the action of the Federal government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson; and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, do resolve as follows: Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration 3. Resolved, That the great highway of Independence, and embodied in the which nature, as well as the assent of states federal constitution, is essential to the premost immediately interested in its main-servation of our Republican institutions, tenance, has marked out for free commu- and that the federal constitution, the rights nication between the Atlantic and Pacific of the states, and the union of the states, oceans, constitutes one of the most impor- shall be preserved. tant achievements realized by the spirit of modern times, in the unconquerable energy of our people; and that result would be secured by a timely and efficient exertion of the control which we have the right to claim over it; and no power on earth should be suffered to impede or clog its progress by any interference with relations that may suit our policy to establish between our government and the governments of the states within whose dominions it lies; we can under no circumstances surrender our preponderance in the adjustment of all questions arising out of it. Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal government were, to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing slavery in any territory of the United States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States, while the present constitution shall be maintained. 4. Resolved, That in view of so commanding an interest, the people of the United States cannot but sympathize with the efforts which are being made by the people of Central America to regenerate that portion of the continent which covers the passage across the inter-oceanic isthmus. 5. Resolved, That the Democratic party will expect of the next administration that every proper effort be made to insure our ascendency in the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain permanent protection to the great Resolved, That the constitution confers outlets through which are emptied into its upon Congress sovereign power over the waters the products raised out of the soil territories of the United States for their and the commodities created by the indus-government, and that in the exercise of try of the people of our western valleys this power it is both the right and the imand of the Union at large. perative duty of Congress to prohibit in 6. Resolved, That the administration of the territories those twin relics of barbarFranklin Pierce has been true to Demo-ism-polygamy and slavery. Resolved, That appropriations of Congress for the improvement of rivers and harbors of a national character, required for the accommodation and security of our existing commerce, are authorized by the constitution, and justified by the obligation of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. of our country, guarantees liberty of conscience and equality of rights among citizens, we oppose all proscriptive legislation affecting their security. Resolved, That while the constitution of ocean, by the most central and practicable the United States was ordained and estab-route, is imperatively demanded by the inlished, in order to form a more perfect terests of the whole country, and that the union, establish justice, insure domestic Federal government ought to render imtranquillity, provide for the common de- mediate and efficient aid in its construcfense, promote the general welfare, and tion, and, as an auxiliary thereto, the imsecure the blessings of liberty, and contains mediate construction of an emigrant route ample provisions for the protection of the on the line of the railroad. life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the dearest constitutional rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and violently taken from them; their territory has been invaded by an armed force; spurious and pretended legislative, judicial, and executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the govern- Resolved, That we invite the affiliation nient, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws and co-operation of the men of all parties, have been enacted and enforced; the rights however differing from us in other respects, of the people to keep and bear arms have in support of the principles herein debeen infringed; test oaths of an extraordi-clared; and believing that the spirit of nary and entangling nature have been im- our institutions, as well as the constitution posed, as a condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office; the right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has been denied; the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, has been violated; they have been deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law; that the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged; the right to choose their representatives has been made of no effect; murders, robberies, and arsons have been instigated or encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished; that all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement of the present national administration; and that for this high crime against the constitution, the Union, and humanity, we arraign the administration, the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and acces- Resolved, That we regard with the sories, either before or after the facts, be-deepest interest and anxiety the present fore the country and before the world; and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages, and their accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment hereafter. Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a state of the Union with her present free constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they are entitled, and of ending the civil strife now raging in her territory. Resolved, That the highwayman's plea that "might makes right," embodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthy of American diplomacy, and would bring shame and dishonor upon any government or people that gave it their sanction. Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific 1856.-Whig Platform. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, now here assembled, hereby declare their reverence for the constitution of the United States, their unalterable attachment to the National Union, and a fixed determination to do all in their power to preserve them for themselves and their posterity. They have no new principles to announce; no new platform to establish; but are content to broadly restwhere their fathers rested-upon the constitution of the United States, wishing no safer guide, no higher law. disordered condition of our national affairs-a portion of the country ravaged by civil war, large sections of our population embittered by mutual recriminations; and we distinctly trace these calamities to the culpable neglect of duty by the present national administration. Resolved, That the government of the United States was formed by the conjunction in political unity of wide-spread geographical sections, materially differing, not only in climate and products, but in social and domestic institutions; and that any cause that shall permanently array the different sections of the Union in political hostility and organize partics founded only on geographical distinctions, must inevit ably prove fatal to a continuance of the National Union. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States declare, as a fundamental article of political faith, an absolute necessity for avoiding geographical parties. The danger, so clearly discerned by the Father of his Country, has now become fearfully apparent in the agitation now convulsing the nation, and must be arrested at once if we would preserve our constitution and our Union from dismemberment, and the name of America from being blotted out from the family of civilized nations. and at the same time to widen the political divisions of the country, by the creation and encouragement of geographical and sectional parties; therefore, Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognize no political principles other than THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNTRY, THE UNION OF THE STATES, AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS; and that as representatives of Resolved, That all who revere the con- the Constitutional Union men of the counstitution and the Union, must look with try, in national convention assembled, we alarm at the parties in the field in the hereby pledge ourselves to maintain, propresent presidential campaign-one claim-tect, and defend, separately and unitedly, ing only to represent sixteen northern these great principles of public liberty and states, and the other appealing mainly to national safety against all enemies at home the passions and prejudices of the southern and abroad, believing that thereby peace states; that the success of either faction may once more be restored to the country, must add fuel to the flame which now the rights of the people and of the states threatens to wrap our dearest interests in re-established, and the government again placed in that condition of justice, fraternity, and equality, which, under the example and constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the United States to maintain a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. a common ruin. Resolved, That the only remedy for an evil so appalling is to support a candidate pledged to neither of the geographical sections nor arrayed in political antagonism, but holding both in a just and equal regard. We congratulate the friends of the Union that such a candidate exists in Millard Fillmore. Resolved, That, without adopting or referring to the peculiar doctrines of the party which has already selected Mr. Fillmore as a candidate, we look to him as a well tried and faithful friend of the constitution and the Union, eminent alike for his wisdom and firmness-for his justice and moderation in our foreign relationscalm and pacific temperament, so well becoming the head of a great nation-for his devotion to the constitution in its true spirit-his inflexibility in executing the laws but, beyond all these attributes, in possessing the one transcendent merit of being a representative of neither of the two sectional parties now struggling for political supremacy. Resolved, That, in the present exigency of political affairs, we are not called upon to discuss the subordinate questions of administration in the exercising of the constitutional powers of the government. It is enough to know that civil war is raging. and that the Union is in peril; and we proclaim the conviction that the restoration of Mr. Fillmore to the presidency will furnish the best if not the only means of restoring peace. 1960.-Constitutional Union Platform. Baltimore, May 9. Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the partisan conventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, 1860.-Republican Platform, Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations: 1. That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph. 2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the federal constitution, "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our republican institutions; and that the federal constitution, the rights of the states, and the union of the states, must and shall be preserved. 3. That to the union of the states this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation | territory of the United States is that of of wealth, its happiness at home and its freedom; that as our republican fathers, honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence when they had abolished slavery in all our all schemes for disunion, come from what-national territory, ordained that no perever source they may; and we congratulate son shall be deprived of life, liberty, or the country that no Republican member of property, without due process of law," it Congress has uttered or countenanced the becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever threats of disunion so often made by De- such legislation is necessary, to maintain mocratic members, without rebuke and this provision of the constitution against with applause from their political associ- all attempts to violate it; and we deny the ates; and we denounce those threats of dis- authority of Congress, of a territorial legisunion, in case of a popular overthrow of lature, or of any individuals, to give legal their ascendency, as denying the vital existence to slavery in any territory of the principle of a free government, and as an United States. avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and forever silence. 4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially the right of each state to order and control its own domnestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless invasion, by armed force, of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. 5. That the present Democratic administration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the personal relations between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the federal courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power entrusted to it by a confiding people. 6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the federal metropolis, show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded. imp 7. That the new dogma, that the constitution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent-is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country. 8. That the normal condition of all the 9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our country and age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic. 10. That in the recent vetoes, by their federal governors, of the acts of the legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein. 11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a state under the constitution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives. 12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence. 13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House. 14. That the republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any state legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all |