DEMOCRATIC. mence and carry on a general system of internal improvements. [Plank 2. 1860-Reaffirmed. 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880-Plank 2 of 1856 reaffirmed. authorized by the 1868 Payment of Constitution and the public debt of justified by the obligation of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. the United States as rapidly as practicable; all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, ex[Plank 7. cept so much as is 1860 That ap-requisite for the nepropriations by Con- cessities of the Govgress for river and ernment, economiharbor improve- cally administered, ments of a national being honestly apcharacter, required plied to such payfor the accommoda-ment, and where the tion and security of obligations of the an existing com Government do not merce, are author-expressly state upon ized by the Constitu- their face, or the law tion and justified by under which they the obligation of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. [Plank 15. 1864 1868 were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and in justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the United States. [Plank 3. Equal taxation of 1880— * * * That every species of prowe deem it the duty perty according to of Congress to de- its real value, invelop and improve cluding Government our seacoast and bonds and other harbors, but insist public securities. 1872 1876 [Plank 4. REPUBLICAN. 1864-That the National faith, pledged for the redemption of the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recommend economy and rigid re- 1872 We desponsibility in the mand a system of public expenditures, Federal taxation and a vigorous and which shall not unjust system of taxa- necessarily interfere tion; and that it is with the industries the duty of every of the people, and REPUBLICAN, loyal State to sustain the credit and pro mote the use of the National currency. [Plank 10. 1868 We denounce all forms of repudiation as a National crime; and the National honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted. [Plank 8. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit. [Plank 4. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honestly done. [Plank 5. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay and must continue to pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected. [Plank 6. 1872-*** A uniform national currency has been provided, repudiation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the DEMOCRATIC. the which shall provide the means necessary to pay the expenses of the Government, economically administered, pensions, the interest on the public debt, and a moderate reduction annually of the principal thereof. * * * The public credit must be sacredly maintained, and we denounce repudiation in every form and guise. Plank 7. 1876-Reform is Recessary to establish a sound currency, restore the public credit, and maintain the national honor. 1880-*** Honest money-the strict maintenance of the public faith -consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith, State and national. [Plank 3. 1876-In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the National Government as sumed to remove any doubts of its 1876 We denounce the financial imbecility and immorality of that party, which, during eleven years of peace, has made no advance toward re purpose to discharge sumption, no prepa- REPUBLICAN. 1872-*** Our excellent national currency will be perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payment. [Plank 13. national credit demand that this prothereto. As such mise be fulfilled by hindrance we dea continuous and nounce the resump- steady progress to tion clause of the act specie payment. 1880- * of 1875, and we here 1880 * * * Hon** Honest money, * * * consisting of gold, 1880-It [the Re-demand its repeal. ** It [the Republican party] has restored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin of all National obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in every part of qur extended country. Capital and Labor. DEMOCRATIC. REPUBLICAN. 1868 DEMOCRATIC. 1860 Reafirmed. age REPUBLICAN. 1860-That, while providing revenue for the support of the general Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence. 1864 [Plank 12. 1868 an 1856-The time 1856— has come for the [Plank 4. 1864 A 1868 * ** A tariff for for revenue upon foreign imports, and such equal taxation under the Internal Revenue laws as will afford incidental protection to domestic manufactures, and as will, without impairing the revenue, impose the least burden upon and best promote and encourage the great industrial interests of the country. [Plank 6. 1872-**** Recognizing that there are in our midst honest but irreconcilable differences of opinion with regard to the respective systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the people in their Congressional districts, and to the decision of the Congress thereon, wholly free from executive in Duty to Union Soldiers and Sailors. sympathy of the De- 1868—******* That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country to victory, against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution. REPUBLICAN. 1864-That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy, who have periled their lives in defense of the country and in vindication of the honor of its flag; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defence shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance. [Plank 4. 1868-Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise and imperiled their lives in the service of their country ; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation are obligations never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people-a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's care. [Plank 10. DEMOCRATIC. 1872-* We remember with gratitude the heroism and sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and no act of ours shall ever detract from their justly earned fame for the full reward of their patriotism [Plank 9. 1876— *** The soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in battle, have a just claim upon the care, protection, and gratitude of their fellowcitizens. [Last resolution. 1872-We hold in duty of this Governundying honor the ment to protect the soldiers and sailors naturalized citizen whose valor saved in all his rights, the Union. Their whether at home or pensions are a sacred in foreign lands, to debt of the nation, the same extent as and the widows and its native-born ciorphans of those tizens. [Plank 6. who died for their country are entitled to the care of a generous and grateful people. We favor such additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the Government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged, and who in the line of duty became disabled, without regard to the length of service or the cause of such discharge. 1864 1868 Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born citizens at home and abroad, the assertion of American nationality which shall command the re[Plank 8. spect of foreign 1876-The pledges powers, and furnish which the nation an example and enhas given to her couragement to peosoldiers and sailors ple struggling for must be fulfilled, national integrity, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives for the country's preservation, in the kindest remembrance. constitutional liberty, and individual rights and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrine of [Plank 14. immutable allegi1880-That theance, and the claims obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory. To do them honor is and shall forever be the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people. of foreign powers to punish them for alleged crime committed beyond their jurisdiction. 1872 [Plank 8. REPUBLICAN, turalization 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 right of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both home and abroad. [Plank 14. 18641868-The doctrine of Great Britain and other European Powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to protection in all their rights of citizenship as though they were native-born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf. [Plank 9. 1872-The doctrine of Great Britain and other European Powers concerning allegiance once a subject always a subject"having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been aban |