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President of the United States, JOHN P. HALE, of New-person should be deprived of life, liberty or property
Hampshire, and as a candidate for the office of Vice-
President of the United States, GEORGE W. JULIAN, of
Indiana, and earnestly commend them to the support
of all Freemen and all parties.

The result of this contest was an overwhelming triumph of the regular Democracy: Pierce and King carrying every State except Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which cast their votes for Gen. Scott. The Free Democratic vote in several States would have given those States to Scott, had it been cast for him.

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 legisla ture, 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.

Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism -Polygamy and Slavery.

Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION- States was ordained and established by the people in

1856.

This Convention met at Philadelphia on the 17th of June, and chose Col. Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, as presiding officer. An informal ballot for President resulted as follows:

Fremont.

McLean.

Fremont.

McLean.

States.

States.

Maine,

13 11 Indiana..

New-Hampshire.. 15

Illinois..

18
14

Vermont

15

Michigan..

18

Massachusetts.... 39

Wisconsin...

15

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19

8

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order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protection of the 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 Government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforcedthe rights of the people to keep and bear arms have been infringed-test oaths of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed, 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 and 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 Administration, and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Union and HuWilliam L. Dayton was nominated for Vice-manity, we arraign the Administration, the President, his President, receiving, on the informal ballot, advisers, agents, supporters, apologists and accessories, 259 votes to 43 for David Wilmot; 110 for either before or after the facts, before the country and Abraham Lincoln; 7 for Thomas Ford; 35 for bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages, before the world, and that it is our fixed purpose to Charles Sumner; 4 for Cassius M. Clay; 15 for and their accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment Jacob Collamer; 2 for J. R. Giddings; 2 for hereafter. W. F. Johnston; 46 for N. P. Banks; 1 for A. C. M. Pennington; 5 for Henry Wilson; 9 for John A. King; 3 for Henry C. Carey; and 8 for Gen. S. C. Pomeroy of Kansas. A formal ballot was then taken, when Mr. Dayton was nominated unanimously.

Maryland...
Ohio.......

80

196

New-York also gave two votes for Sumner and one for Seward.

Col. John C. Fremont was thereupon unanimously nominated.

The Convention adopted the following

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 VicePresident, do resolve as follows:

Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitntion 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, shall be preserved.

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 designs 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 nc

ted as a State of the Union, with her present free ConstiResolved, That Kansas should be immediately admittution, 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 Ocean, by the most central and practicable route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country, and that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and, as an auxiliary thereto, the immediate construction of an emigrant route on the line of the railroad.

Resolved, That appropriations by 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.

This contest resulted in the election of the Democratic nominees, Buchanan and Breckinridge, who received the electoral votes of

New-Jersey, 7; Pennsylvania, 27; Delaware, 8; Virginia, 15; North Carolina, 10; South Carolina, 8; Georgia, 10; Alabama, 9; Mississippi, 7; Louisiana, 6; Tennessee, 12; Kentucky, 12; Indiana, 18; Illinois, 11; Missouri, 9; Arkansas, 4; Florida, 3; Texas, 4; Califor nia, 4.-174.

For Fremont and Dayton: Maine, 8; New-Hampshire, 5; Vermont, 5; Massachusetts, 13; Rhode Island, 4;

Connecticut, 6; New-York, 85; Ohio, 23; Michigan, 6; | viency to the stronger, and an insolent and cowardly Iowa, 4; Wisconsin, 5-114.

Fillmore and Donelson, Maryland, 8.

AMERICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

1856.

The American National Council met in Philadelphia February 19, 1856. All the States except four or five were represented. E. B. Bartlett, of Ky., President of the National Council presided, and, after a rather stormy session of three days, devoted mainly to the discussion of a Party Platform, the following, on the 21st, was adopted:

AMERICAN PLATFORM.

bravado toward the weaker powers; as shown in reopening sectional agitation, by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; as shown in granting to unnaturalized foreigners the right of suffrage in Kansas and Nebraska; as shown in its vacillating course on the Kansas and Nebraska question; as shown in the corruptions which per vade some of the Departments of the Government; as shown in disgracing meriterious naval officers through prejudice or caprice: and as shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign relations.

14. Therefore, to remedy existing evils, and prevent the disastrous consequences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build up the " American Party" upon the principles herein before stated.

15. That each State Council shall have authority to amend their several constitutions, so as to abolish the several degrees and substitute a pledge of honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the party.

16. A free and open discussion of all political princi ples embraced in our Platform.

1. An humble acknowledgment to the Supreme Being, for his protecting care vouchsafed to our fathers in their On the following day (Feb. 22,) the America successful Revolutionary struggle, and hitherto mani- National Nominating Convention, composed fested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of mostly of the same gentlemen who had deliberthe liberties, the independence, and the union of theseated as the National Council, organized at Phila

States.

dence.

2. The perpetuation of the Federal Union and Constitution, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberties, and the only sure bulwarks of American Indepen 3. Americans must rule America; and to this end native-born citizens should be selected for all State, Federal and municipal offices of government employment, in preference to all others. Nevertheless,

delphia, with 227 delegates in attendance, Maine, Vermont, Georgia, and South Carolina, being the only States not represented. Ephraim Marsh, of New-Jersey, was chosen to preside, and the Convention remained in session till the 25th, and, after disposing of several cases of 4. Persons born of American parents residing tempo- contested seats, discussed at considerable length, rarily abroad, should be entitled to all the rights of and with great warmth, the question of the 5. No person should be selected for political station Power of the National Council to establish a (whether of native or foreign birth), who recognizes any Platform for the Convention, which should be allegiance or obligation of any description to any foreign of binding force upon that body. Finally, Mr. prince, potentate or power, or who refuses to recognize Killinger, of Pennsylvania, proposed the folthe Federal and State Constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws, as rules of polit-lowing:

native-born citizens.

ical action.

6. The unqualified recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of the several States, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternal good will between the citizens of the several States, and to this end, non-interference by Congress with questions appertaining solely to the individual States, and non-intervention by each State with the affairs of any other State.

Resolved, That the National Council has no authority to prescribe a Platform of principles for this Nominating Convention, and that we will nominate for President and Vice-President no man who is not in favor of interdicting the introduction of Slavery into Territory north 36" 30' by congressional action.

A motion to lay this resolution on the table 7. The recognition of the right of native-born and was adopted, 141 to 59. A motion was then naturalized citizens of the United States, permanently made to proceed to the nomination of a candiresiding in any territory thereof, to frame their constitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social date for President, which was carried, 151 to affairs in their own mode, subject only to the provisions 51, the Anti-Slavery delegates, or North Ameriof the Federal Constitution, with the privilege of admission into the Union whenever they have the requisite population for one Representative in Congress: Procided, always, that none but those who are citizens of the United States, under the Constitution and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Territory, ought to participate in the formation of the Constitution, or in the enactment of laws for said Terri

tory or State.

8. An enforcement of the principles that no State or Territory ought to admit others than citizens to the right of suffrage, or of holding political offices of the United States.

9. A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence of twenty-one years, of all not heretofore provided for, an indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers, and persons convicted of crime, from landing upon our shores; but no interference with the vested rights of foreigners.

10. Opposition to any union between Church and State; no interference with religious faith or worship, and no test oaths for office.

11. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of public functionaries, and a strict economy in public expenditures.

12. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally enacted until said laws shall be repealed, or shall be declared null and void by competent judicial authority.

18. Opposition to the reckless and unwise policy of the present Administration in the general management of our national affairs, and more especially as shown in removing "Americans" (by designation) and Conservatives in principle, from office, and placing foreigners and

aits in their places; as shown in a truckling subser

cans, as they were called, voting in the nega
tive, and desiring to postpone the nomination.
But being beaten at all points, they (to the num-
ber of about 50) either withdrew or refused to
take any further part in the proceedings of the
Convention, and many of them subsequently
supported Col. Fremont for President.

An informal ballot was then taken for Presi
dent, which resulted as follows:
M. Fillmore, of N. Y..... 71 |
George Law, N. Y....... 27
Garrett Davis, Ky...... 13
John McLean, Ohio.... 7
R. F. Stockton, N. J..... 8
Sam. Houston, Texas... 6

John Bell, Tennessee... 5
Kenneth Raynor, N. C.. 2
Erastus Brooks, N. Y.... 2
Lewis D. Campbell, Ohio. 1
John M. Clayton, Del.... 1

A formal ballot was then taken, when Mr.
Fillmore was nominated as follows:
Fillmore, 179; Law, 24; Raynor, 14; McLean, 18,
Davis, 10; Houston, 8.

Necessary to a choice, 122.

Millard Fillmore was then declared to be the nominee.

A ballot was then taken for Vice-President, and Andrew Jackson Donelson, of Tennessee, was nominated as follows:

A. J. Donelson, Ten., 181; Percy Walker, Ala., 8 Henry J. Gardner, Mass., 8; Kenneth Raynor, N. C., 8

Mr. Donelson was then declared to be unani.

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mously nominated, and the Convention ad- [and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence and foreign aggression. journed.

5. That it is the duty of every branch of the Government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION-ought to be raised than is required to defray the neces

1856.

This Convention met at Cincinnati on the 2d of June, and chose John E. Ward, of Georgia, to preside, and nominated James Buchanan on the 17th ballot, as follows:

Ballots. Buchanan.

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sary expenses of the government, and gradual but certain extinction of the public debt.

6. That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be Constitution, and that we are opposed to any law for the sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the distribution of such proceeds among the States, as alike inexpedient in policy, and repugnant to the Constitution. 7. That Congress has no power to charter a National Cass. Bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of this country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power and above the laws and will of the people; and the results of the Democratic legislation in this and all other financial measures upon which issues have been made between the two political parties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties their soundness, safety and utility in all business pursuits.

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8. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from banking institutions is indispensable to the safety of the funds of the Government and the rights of the people.

9. That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the President the qualified Veto power, by which he is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities amply suffiof a bill whose merits cannot secure the approval of twocient to guard the public interests, to suspend the passage

the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical dominion of the Bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of general internal improvements.

Mr. Buchanan having been unanimously nominated for President, the Convention pro-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until ceeded to ballot for a candidate for Vice-President, the first ballot resulting as follows: J. A. Quitman, Miss,.. 59|J. C. Breckinridge, Ky.,. 55 Linn Boyd, Ky.,............. 33 B. Fitzpatrick, Ala.,..... 11 A. V. Brown, Tenn.,... 29 H. V. Johnson, Ga.,.... 81 J. A. Bayard, Del.,.... 81 Trusten Polk, Mo.,.... 5 T. J. Rusk, Texas,..... 2 J. C. Dobbin, N. C.,..... 13 On the second ballot, the name of Gen. Quitman was withdrawn, as were also those of other leading candidates, and Mr. Breckinridge was unanimously nominated.

The Convention adopted the following

PLATFORM:

Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the discrimiaating justice of the American people.

Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world as a great moral element in a form of government springing from and upheld by the popular will; and we contrast it with the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the will of the Constituent, and which conceives no imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. Resolved, therefore, That entertaining these views, the Democratic party of this Union, through their delegates, assembled in general Convention, coming together in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and reassert before the American people, the declarations of principles avowed by them, when, on former occasions, in general Convention, they have presented their candidates for the popular suffrage.

1. That the Federal Government is one of limited power, derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power made therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful con. stitutional powers.

2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the General Government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements.

8. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several States, contracted for local and internal improvements, or other State purposes, nor would such assumption be just or expedient.

10. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citi been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith; and zens and the owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition laws from our statute books.

And whereas, Since the foregoing declaration was uniformly adopted by our predecessors in National Convention, an adverse political and religious test has been se cretly organized by a party claiming to be exclusively American, and it is proper that the American Democracy should clearly define its relations thereto; and declare its determined opposition to all secret political societies, by whatever name they may be called.

Resolved, That the foundation of this Union of States having been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and preeminent example of free government, built upon entire freedom in matters of religious concernment, and no respect of persons in regard to rank, or place of birth, no party can justly be deemed national, constitutional, or in accordance with American principles, which bases its exclusive organization upon religious opinions and accidental birth-place. And hence a political crusade in the nineteenth century, and in the United States of America, against Catholics and foreign-born, is neither justified by the past history nor future prospects of the country, nor in unison with the spirit of toleration, and enlight ened freedom which peculiarly distinguishes the American system of popular government.

Resolved, That we reiterate with renewed energy of purpose the well considered declarations of former con ventions upon the sectional issue of domestic slavery and concerning the reserved rights of the States

1. That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that all such States are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their efforts of the Abolitionists or others made to induce Conown affairs not prohibited by the Constitution; that all gress to interfere with questions of Slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an 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 insti

tutions.

4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion of our common country; that every citizen and 2. That the foregoing proposition covers and was inevery section of the country has a right to demand and insist tended to embrace the whole subject of Slavery agitation upon an equality of rights and privileges, and a complete in Congress, and therefore the Democratic party of the

Union, standing on this national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the Congress of 1850: "the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor" included; which act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.

8. 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.

4. That the Democratic Party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1797 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.

on

And that we may more distinctly meet the issue on which a sectional party, subsisting exclusively Slavery agitation, now relies to test the fidelity of the people, North and South, to the Constitution and the Union

1. Resolved, That claiming fellowship with and desiring the cooperation of all who regard the preservation of the Union under the Constitution as the paramount issue, and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms concerning domestic Slavery, which seek to embroil the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in the Territories, and whose avowed purpose, if consummated, must end in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the Slavery question, upon which the great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservation of the Union, and non-interference of Congress with Slavery in the Territories or in the District of Columbia.

2. That this was the basis of the compromises of 1850, confirmed by both the Democratic and Whig parties in National Conventions, ratified by the people in the election of 1852, and rightly applied to the organization of the Territories in 1854.

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 all the States will be preserved intact, the original compacts of the Constitution maintained inviolate, and the perpetuity and expansion of the Union insured to its utmost capacity of embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American State that may be constituted or annexed with a republican form of government.

Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of the 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 condition of popular institutions in the Old World (and the dangerous tendencies of sectional agitation, combined with the 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 involved with increased responsibility upon the Democratic Party of this country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State and thereby the Union of the States-and to sustain and advance 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 vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and compromises of the Constitution 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 question 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 solemr. 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 devel

[opment 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. 8. Resolved, That the great highway, which nature as well as the assent of States most immediately interested in its maintenance has marked out for free communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, constitutes one of the most important 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 it may suit our policy to establish between our Government and the government of the States within whose dominions it lies; we can under no circumstance surrender our preponderance in the adjustment of all questions arising out of it.

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 interoceanic 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 outlets through which are emptied into its waters the products raised out of the soil and the commodities created by the industry of the people of our western valleys and of the Union at large.

Resolved, That the Administration of FRANKLIN PIERCE has been true to Democratic principles, and therefore true to the great interests of the country; in the face 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.

WHIG CONVENTION-1856.

A Whig National Convention met at Baltimore on the 17th of Sept., 1856-Edward Bates, of Missouri, presiding. The nominations of Millard Fillmore for President, and Andrew J. Donelson for Vice-President, were unanimously concurred in. The Convention adopted the following

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 at tachment 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 rest-where their fathers restedupon the Constitution of the United States, wishing no safer guide, no higher law.

Resolved, That we regard with the deepest interest and anxiety the present 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 organized parties founded only on geographical distinctions must inevitably 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.

Resolved, That all who revere the Constitution and those present and voting should be required to the Union, must look with alarm at the parties in the nominate candidates. The following Platform field in the present Presidential campaign-one claiming only to represent sixteen Northern States, and the other appealing mainly to the passions and prejudices of the

Southern States; that the success of either faction must add fuel to the flame which now threatens to wrap our dearest interests in 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 now 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 relations-for his calm 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.

In the election which ensued, Mr. Fillmore received the vote of Maryland only, while Mr. Buchanan obtained those of the 14 other Slave States, and of New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and California, making 172 in all. Col. Fremont received the votes of the eleven other Free States, making 114 in all. Pennsylvania and Illinois, had they voted for Col. Fremont, would have given him the election.

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION-1860. A Republican National Convention assembled at Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, May 16th, 1860, delegates being in attendance from all the Free States, as also from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas,* the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and the District of Columbia.

Gov. Morgan, of New-York, as Chairman of the National Executive Committee, nominated David Wilmot as temporary Chairman, and he was chosen. The usual Committees on permanent organization, credentials, etc., were appointed, and the Convention was permanently organized by the selection of George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, as President, with a VicePresident and a Secretary from each State and Territory represented. A Committee, of one from each State and Territory, was appointed to draft suitable resolutions, or in other words a Platform, and the Convention adjourned.

On the following day, an interesting debate arose on a proposition to require a vote equal to a majority of full delegations from all the States to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President; which, with the delegates actually in attendance, would have been about equivalent to a two-third rule. This proposition was voted down, and the Convention decided, by a vote of 331 to 130, that only a majority of

*The delegation from Texas has since been proved fraudulent, having been got up in Michigan to effect a personal end.

was adopted, and, without taking a ballot for President, the Convention again adjourned.

PLATFORM OF 1860.

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 decla

rations:

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.

8. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for Disunion, come from whatever source they may: And we congratulate the country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of Disunion so often made by Democratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associates; and we denounce those threats of disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendency, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an 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 domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of pow. ers 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 es pecially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted entorcement, 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 intrusted to it by a confid. ing people.

extravagance which pervades every department of the 6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the syste matic plunder of the public treasury by favored parti sans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metropolis, show that an entire change of administration is imperatively de manded.

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 instru ment itself, with cotemporaneous 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 territory of the United States is that of freedom: 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, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legis

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