The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, declare:
First. We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and traditions of the Democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings and examples of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, and embodied in the platform of the last national convention of the party.
Second. Opposition to centralization, and to that dangerous spirit of encroachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism; no sumptuary laws; separation of the church and state for the good of each; common schools fostered and protected.
Third. Home rule; honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and paper, convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith; state and national; and a tariff for revenue only; the subordination of the military to the civil power; and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.
Fourth. The right to a free ballot is a right preservative of all rights; and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States.
Fifth. The existing administration is the representative of conspiracy only; and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the elections, and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insults the people and imperils their institutions. We execrate the course of this administration in making places in the civil service a reward for political crime; and demand a reform, by statute, which shall make it forever impossible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people.
Sixth. The great fraud of 1876–7, by which, upon a false count of the electoral votes of two states, the candidate defeated at the polls was declared to be President, and, for the first time in American history, the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representative government. The Democratic party, to preserve the country from the horrors of a civil war, submitted for the time, in the firm and patriotic belief that the people would punish the crime in 1880. This issue precedes and dwarfs every other. It imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the consciences of a nation of freemen.
Seventh. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden, not again to be a candidate for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of the Republican party, is received by the Democrats of the United States with deep sensibility; and they declare their confidence in his wisdom, patriotism, and integrity unshaken by the assaults of the common enemy; and they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement he has chosen for himself by the sympathy and respect of his fellow-citizens, who regard him as one who, by elevating the standard of the public morality, and adorning and purifying the public service, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party.
Eighth. Free ships, and a living chance for American commerce upon the seas; and on the land, no discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations, or monopolies.
Ninth. Amendments of the Burlingame treaty; no more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and, therein, carefully guarded.
Tenth. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely, and public land for actual settlers.
Eleventh. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorants and the commune.
Twelfth. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a Democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure $10,000,000 a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the national honor abroad; and, above all, upon the promise of such a change in the administration of the government as shall insure a genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service.
Virginia Republican.
Whereas, It is proper that when the people assemble in convention they should avow distinctly the principles of government on which they stand; now, therefore, be it,
Resolved, That we, the Republicans of Virginia, hereby make a declaration of our allegiance and adhesion to the principles of the Republican party of the country, and our determination to stand squarely by the organization of the Republican party of Virginia, always defending it against the assaults of all persons or parties whatsoever.
Second. That amongst the principles of the Republican party none is of more vital importance to the welfare and interest of the country in all its parts than that which pertains to the sanctity of Government contracts. It therefore becomes the special duty and province of the Republican party of Virginia to guard and protect the credit of our time-honored State, which has been besmirched with repudiation, or received with distrust, by the gross mismanagement of various factions of the Democratic party, which have controlled the legislation of the State.
Third. That the Republican party of Virginia hereby pledges itself to redeem the State from the discredit that now hangs over her in regard to her just obligations for moneys loaned her for constructing her internal improvements and charitable institutions, which, permeating every quarter of the State, bring benefits of far greater value than their cost to our whole people, and we in the most solemn form pledge the Republican party of the State to the full payment of the whole debt of the State, less the one-third set aside as justly falling on West Virginia; that the industries of the country should be fostered through protective laws, so as to develop our own resources, employ our own labor, create a home market, enhance values, and promote the happiness and prosperity of the people.
Fourth. That the public school system of Virginia is the creature of the Republican party, and we demand that every dollar the Constitution dedicates to it shall be sacredly applied thereto as a means of educating the children of the State, without regard to condition or race.
Fifth. That the elective franchise as an equal right should be based on manhood qualification, and that we favor the repeal of the requirements of the prepayment of the capitation tax as a prerequisite to the franchise as opposed to the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of the condition whereby the State was re-admitted as a member of our Constitutional Union, as well as against the spirit of the Constitution; but demand the imposition of the capitation tax as a source of revenue for the support of the public schools without its disfranchising effects.
Sixth. That we favor the repeal of the disqualification for the elective franchise by a conviction of petty larceny, and of the infamous laws which place it in the power of a single justice of the peace (ofttimes being more corrupt than the criminal before him) to disfranchise his fellow man.
Seventh. Finally, that we urge the repeal of the barbarous law permitting the imposition of stripes as degrading and inhuman, contrary to the genius of a true and enlightened people, and a relic of barbarism.
[The Convention considered it inexpedient to nominate candidates for State officers.]
Virginia Readjuster.
First. We recognize our obligation to support the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind, the lunatic asylum, the public free schools and the Government out of the revenues of the State; and we deprecate and denounce that policy of ring rule and subordinated sovereignty which for years borrowed money out of banks at high rates of interest for the discharge of these paramount trusts, while our revenues were left the prey of commercial exchanges, available to the State only at the option of speculators and syndicates.
Second. We reassert our purpose to settle and adjust our State obligations on the principles of the “Bill to re-establish public credit,” known as the “Riddleberger bill,” passed by the last General Assembly and vetoed by the Governor. We maintain that this measure recognizes the just debt of Virginia, in this, that it assumes two-thirds of all the money Virginia borrowed, and sets aside the other third to West Virginia to be dealt with by her in her own way and at her own pleasure; that it places those of her creditors who have received but 6 per cent. instalments of interest in nine years upon an exact equality with those who by corrupt agencies were enabled to absorb and monopolize our means of payment; that it agrees to pay such rate of interest on our securities as can with certainty be met out of the revenues of the State, and that it contains all the essential features of finality.
Third. We reassert our adherence to the Constitutional requirements for the “equal and uniform” taxation of property, exempting none except that specified by the Constitution and used exclusively for “religious, charitable and educational purposes.”
Fourth. We reassert that the paramount obligation of the various works of internal improvement is to the people of the State, by whose authority they were created, by whose money they were constructed and by whose grace they live; and it is enjoined upon our representative and executive officers to enforce the discharge of that duty; to insure to our people such rates, facilities and connections as will protect every industry and interest against discrimination, tend to the development of our agricultural and mineral resources, encourage the investment of active capital in manufactures and the profitable employment of labor in industrial enterprises, grasp for our city and our whole State those advantages to which by their geographical position they are entitled, and fulfil all the great public ends for which they were designed.
Fifth. The Readjusters hold the right to a free ballot to be the right preservative of all rights, and that it should be maintained in every State in the Union. We believe the capitation tax restriction upon the suffrage in Virginia to be in conflict with the XIVth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. We believe that it is a violation of that condition of reconstruction wherein the pledge was given not so to amend our State Constitution as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of a right to vote, except as punishment for such crimes as are felony at common law. We believe such a prerequisite to voting to be contrary to the genius of our institutions, the very foundation of which is representation as antecedent to taxation. We know that it has been a failure as a measure for the collection of revenue, the pretended reason for its invention in 1876, and we know the base, demoralizing and dangerous uses to which it has been prostituted. We know it contributes to the increase of monopoly power, and to corrupting the voter. For these and other reasons we adhere to the purpose hitherto expressed to provide more effectual legislation for the collection of this tax, dedicated by the Constitution to the public free schools, and to abolish it as a qualification for and restriction upon suffrage.
Sixth. The Readjusters congratulate the whole people of Virginia on the progress of the last few years in developing mineral resources and promoting manufacturing enterprises in the State, and they declare their purpose to aid these great and growing industries by all proper and essential legislation, State and Federal. To this end they will continue their efforts in behalf of more cordial and fraternal relations between the sections and States, and especially for that concord and harmony which will make the country to know how earnestly and sincerely Virginia invites all men into her borders as visitors or to become citizens without fear of social or political ostracism; that every man, from whatever section of country, shall enjoy the fullest freedom of thought, speech, politics and religion, and that the State which first formulated these principles as fundamental in free government is yet the citadel for their exercise and protection.
Virginia Democratic.
The Conservative-Democratic party of Virginia—Democratic in its Federal relations and Conservative in its State policy—assembled in convention, in view of the present condition of the Union and of this Commonwealth, for the clear and distinct assertion of its political principles, doth declare that we adopt the following articles of political faith:
First. Equality of right and exact justice to all men, special privileges to none; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person under the protection of the habeas corpus; of trial by juries impartially selected, and of a pure, upright and non-partisan judiciary; elections by the people, free from force or fraud of citizens or of the military and civil officers of Government; and the selection for public offices of those who are honest and best fitted to fill them; the support of the State governments in all their rights as the most competent administrations of our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; and the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor as the best sheet-anchor of our peace at home and our safety abroad.
Second. That the maintenance of the public credit of Virginia is an essential means to the promotion of her prosperity. We condemn repudiation in every shape and form as a blot upon her honor, a blow at her permanent welfare, and an obstacle to her progress in wealth, influence and power; and that we will make every effort to secure a settlement of the public debt, with the consent of her creditors, which is consistent with her honor and dictated by justice and sound public policy; that it is eminently desirable and proper that the several classes of the debt now existing should be unified, so that equality, which is equity, may control in the annual payment of interest and the ultimate redemption of principal; that, with a view of securing such equality, we pledge our party to use all lawful authority to secure a settlement of the State debt so that there shall be but one class of the public debt; that we will use all lawful and constitutional means in our power to secure a settlement of the State debt upon the basis of a 3 per cent. bond, and that the Conservative-Democratic party pledges itself, as a part of its policy, not to increase the present rate of taxation.
Third. That we will uphold, in its full constitutional integrity and efficiency, our public school system for the education of both white and colored children—a system inaugurated by the Constitution of the State and established by the action of the Conservative party years before it was required by the Constitution; and will take the most effectual means for the faithful execution of the same by applying to its support all the revenues set apart for that object by the Constitution or otherwise.
Fourth. Upon this declaration of principles we cordially invite the co-operation of all Conservative Democrats, whatever may have been or now are their views upon the public debt, in the election of the nominees of this Convention and in the maintenance of the supremacy of the Democratic party in this State.
Resolved, further, That any intimation, coming from any quarter, that the Conservative-Democratic party of Virginia has been, is now, or proposes to be, opposed to an honest ballot and a fair count, is a calumny upon the State of Virginia as unfounded in fact as it is dishonorable to its authors.
That special efforts be made to foster and encourage the agricultural, mechanical, mining, manufacturing and other industrial interests of the State.
That, in common with all good citizens of the Union, we reflect with deep abhorrence upon the crime of the man who aimed a blow at the life of the eminent citizen who was called by the constitutional voice of fifty millions of people to be the President of the United States; and we tender to him and to his friends the sympathy and respect of this Convention and of those we represent, in this great calamity, and our hearty desire for his complete restoration to health and return to the discharge of his important duties, for the welfare and honor of our common country.
1884—Democratic Platform.
The Democratic party of the Union through its representatives in the National Convention assembled, recognizes that as the Nation grows older new issues are born, of time and progress, and old issues perish. But the fundamental principles of the Democracy approved by the united voice of the people, remain and will ever remain as the best and only security for the continuance of free government. The preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, the reserved rights of the States and the supremacy of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution will ever form the true basis of our liberties, and can never be surrendered without destroying that balance of rights and powers which enables a continent to be developed in peace, and social order to be maintained by means of local self-government. But it is indispensable for the practical application and enforcement of these fundamental principles that the Government should not always be controlled by one political party. Frequent change of administration is as necessary as a constant recurrence to the popular will. Otherwise abuses grow, and the Government, instead of being carried on for the general welfare, becomes an instrumentality for imposing heavy burdens on the many who are governed for the benefit of the few who govern. Public servants thus become arbitrary rulers.
This is now the condition of the country, hence a change is demanded. The Republican party, so far as principle is concerned, is a reminiscence in practice, it is an organization for enriching those who control its machinery. The frauds and jobbery which have been brought to light in every department of the Government are sufficient to have called for reform within the Republican party. Yet those in authority, made reckless by the long possession of power, have succumbed to its corrupting influences, and have placed in nomination a ticket against which the Independent portion of the party are in open revolt. Therefore a change is demanded. Such a change was alike necessary in 1876, but the will of the people was then defeated by a fraud which can never be forgotten nor condoned. Again in 1880 the change demanded by the people was defeated by the lavish use of money, contributed by unscrupulous contractors and shameless jobbers, who had bargained for unlawful profits or for high office.
The Republican party during its legal, its stolen and its bought tenures of power, has steadily decayed in moral character and political capacity. Its platform promises are now a list of its past failures. It demands the restoration of our navy. It has squandered hundreds of millions to create a navy that does not exist. It calls upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed. It imposed and has continued those burdens. It professes the policy of reserving the public lands for small holdings by actual settlers. It has given away the people’s heritage till now a few railroads and non-resident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area than that of all our farms between the two seas. It professes a preference for free institutions. It organized and tried to legalize a control of State elections by Federal troops. It professes a desire to elevate labor. It has subjected American workingmen to the competition of convict and imported contract labor. It professes gratitude to all who were disabled or died in the war leaving widows and orphans. It left to a Democratic House of Representatives the first effort to equalize both bounties and pensions. It proffers a pledge to correct the irregularities of our tariff. It created and has continued them. Its own tariff commission confessed the need of more than 20 per cent. reduction. Its Congress gave a reduction of less than 4 per cent. It professes the protection of American manufacturers. It has subjected them to an increasing flood of manufactured goods and a hopeless competition with manufacturing nations, not one of which taxes raw materials. It professes to protect all American industries. It has impoverished many to subsidize a few. It professes the protection of American labor. It has depicted the returns of American agriculture, an industry followed by half our people. It professes the equality of men before the law. Attempting to fix the status of colored citizens, the act of its Congress was overset by the decision of its courts. It “accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.” Its caught criminals are permitted to escape through contrived delays or actual connivance in the prosecution. Honeycombed with corruption, outbreaking exposures no longer shock its moral sense, its honest members. Its independent journals no longer maintain a successful contest for authority in its counsels or a veto upon bad nominations.
That a change is necessary is proved by an existing surplus of more than $100,000,000, which has yearly been collected from a suffering people. Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. We denounce the Republican party for having failed to relieve the people from crushing war taxes which have paralyzed business, crippled industry, and deprived labor of employment and of just reward. The Democracy pledges itself to purify the administration from corruption, to restore economy, to revive the respect of the law, and to reduce taxation to the lowest limit consistent with due regard to the preservation of the faith of the nation to its creditors and pensioners.
Knowing full well, however that legislation affecting the occupations of the people should be cautious and conservative in method, not in advance of public opinion, but responsive to its demands, the Democratic party is pledged to revise the tariff in a spirit of fairness to all. But in making a reduction in taxes, it is not proposed to injure any domestic industries, but rather to promote their healthy growth. From the foundation of this Government taxes collected at the custom-house have been the chief source of Federal revenue. Such they must continue to be. Moreover, many industries have come to rely upon legislation for successful continuance, so that any change of law must be at every step regardful of the labor and the capital thus involved. The process of reform must be subject in the execution to this plain dictate of justice. All taxation shall be limited to the requirements of economical government. The necessary reduction in taxation can and must be effected without depriving American labor of the ability to compete successfully with foreign labor, and without imposing lower rates of duty than will be ample to cover any increased cost of production which may exist in consequence of the higher rate of wages prevailing in this country. Sufficient revenue to pay all the expenses of the Federal Government, economically administered, including pensions, interest and principal of the public debt, can be got, under our present system of taxation, from custom house taxes on fewer imported articles, bearing heaviest on articles of luxury, and bearing lightest on articles of necessity. We therefore denounce the abuses of the existing tariff, and subject to the preceding limitations, we demand that Federal taxation shall be exclusively for public purposes and shall not exceed the needs of the Government economically administered.
The system of direct taxation, known as the “internal revenue,” is a war tax, and so long as the law continues, the money derived therefrom should be sacredly devoted to the relief of the people from the remaining burdens of the war, and be made a fund to defray the expense of the care and comfort of the worthy soldiers disabled in line of duty in the wars of the Republic, and for the payment of such pensions as Congress may from time to time grant to such soldiers, a like fund for the sailors having been already provided; and any surplus should be paid into the treasury.
We favor an American continental policy, based upon more intimate commercial and political relations with the fifteen sister Republics of North, Central and South America, but entangling alliances with none. We believe in honest money, the gold and silver coinage of the Constitution, and a circulating medium convertible into such money without loss.
Asserting the equality of all men before the law, we hold that it is the duty of the Government, in its dealings with the people, to mete out equal and exact justice to all citizens, of whatever nativity, race, color or persuasion, religious or political. We believe in a free ballot and a fair count, and we recall to the memory of the people the noble struggle of the Democrats in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses by which a reluctant Republican opposition was compelled to assent to legislation making everywhere illegal the presence of troops at the polls, as the conclusive proof that a Democratic administration will preserve liberty with order. The selection of Federal officers for the Territories should be restricted to citizens previously resident therein. We oppose sumptuary laws, which vex the citizens and interfere with individual liberty. We favor honest civil service reform, and the compensation of all United States officers by fixed salaries; the separation of Church and State and the diffusion of free education by common schools, so that every child in the land may be taught the rights and duties of citizenship.
While we favor all legislation which will tend to the equitable distribution of property to the prevention of monopoly, and to the strict enforcement of individual rights against corporate abuses, we hold that the welfare of society depends upon a scrupulous regard for the rights of property as defined by law.
We believe that labor is best rewarded where it is freest and most enlightened. It should, therefore, be fostered and cherished. We favor the repeal of all laws restricting the free action of labor, and the enactment of laws by which labor organizations may be incorporated, and of all such legislation as will tend to enlighten the people as to the true relations of capital and labor.
We believe that the public lands ought, as far as possible, to be kept as homesteads for actual settlers; that all unearned lands heretofore improvidently granted to railroad corporations by the action of the Republican party, should be restored to the public domain, and that no more grant of land shall be made to corporations, or be allowed to fall into the ownership of alien absentees. We are opposed to all propositions which upon any pretext would convert the General Government into a machine for collecting taxes to be distributed among the States or the citizens thereof.
All the great woes of our country have come because of imported labor. Our fathers made this land the home of the free for all men appreciating our institutions, with energy enough to bring themselves here, and such we welcome, but our country ought never to be a lazar-house for the deportation of the pauper labor of other countries through governmental aid, or the importation of the same kind of labor as an instrument with which capital can debase American workingmen and women from the proud position they now occupy by competing with them by imported labor or convict labor, while at the same time capital asks and receives protection of its interests at the hands of the Government, under guise of providing for American labor. This evil like all others finds birth in the cupidity and selfishness of men. The laborer’s demands should be redressed by law. Labor has a right to demand a just share of the profits of its own productions.
The future of the country unites with the laboring men in the demand for the liberal support by the United States of the school system of the States for the common education of all the children, the same affording a sufficient foundation for the coming generations to acquire due knowledge of their duties as citizens.
That every species of monopoly engenders two classes, the very rich and the very poor, both of which are equally hurtful to a Republic which should give to its people equal rights and equal privileges under the law.
That the public lands of the United States were the equal heritage of all the citizens and should have been held open to the use of all in such quantities only as are needed for cultivation and improvement by all. Therefore we view with alarm the absorption of these lands by corporations and individuals in large areas, some of them more than equal to princely domains, and demand of Congress to apply appropriate remedies with a stern hand so that the lands of the people may be held by the many and not by the few.
That the public lands of the Nation are held by the Government in trust for those who make their homes in the United States, and who mean to become citizens of the Republic, and we protest against the purchase and monopolization of these lands by corporations and the alien aristocracy of Europe.
That all corporate bodies, created either in the States or Nation for the purpose of performing public duties, are public servants and to be regulated in all their actions by the same power that created them at its own will, and that it is within the power and is the duty of the creator to so govern its creature that by its acts it shall become neither a monopoly nor a burden upon the people, but be their servant and convenience, which is the true test of its usefulness. Therefore we call upon Congress to exercise its great constitutional powers for regulating inter-estate commerce to provide that by no contrivance whatever, under forms of law or otherwise, shall discriminating rates and charges for the transportation of freight and travel be made in favor of the few against the many or enhance the rates of transportation between the producer and the consumer.
The various offices of the Government belong to the people thereof and who rightfully demand to exercise and fill the same whenever they are fitted by capacity, integrity and energy, the last two qualifications never to be tested by any scholastic examination. We hold that frequent changes of Federal officials are shown to be necessary. First, to counteract the growing aristocratic tendencies to a caste of life offices. Second, experience having shown that all investigation is useless while the incumbent and his associates hold their places. Frequent change of officers is necessary to the discovery and punishment of frauds, peculations, defalcations and embezzlements of the public money.
In reaffirming the declaration of the Democratic platform of 1856, that “The liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and sanctioned in the Constitution, which make ours a land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith,” we nevertheless do not sanction the importation of foreign labor or the admission of servile races, unfitted by habits, training, religion or kindred for absorption into the great body of our people, or for the citizenship which our laws confer. American civilization demands that against the immigration or importation of Mongolians to these shores our gates be closed. The Democratic party insists that it is the duty of this Government to protect with great fidelity and vigilance the rights of its citizens, native and naturalized, at home and abroad; and to the end that this protection may be assured to the United States, papers of naturalization, issued by courts of competent jurisdiction, must be respected by the executive legislative departments of our own Government and by all foreign powers. It is an imperative duty of this Government to efficiently protect all the rights of persons and property of every American citizen in foreign lands, and demand and enforce full reparation for any violation thereof. An American citizen is only responsible to his own Government for an act done in his own country or under her flag, and can only be tried therefore on her own soil and according to her laws; and no power exists in this Government to expatriate an American citizen to be tried in any foreign land for any such act. This country has never had a well defined and executed foreign policy, save under the Democratic administration. That policy has never been in regard to foreign Nations, so long as they do not act detrimental to the interests of the country or hurtful to our citizens, to let them alone. That as the result of this policy we recall the acquisition of Louisiana, Florida, California and of the adjacent Mexican Territory by purchase alone, and contrast these grand acquisitions of Democratic Statesmanship with the purchase of Alaska, the sole fruit of a Republican administration of nearly a quarter of a century.
The Federal Government should care for and improve the Mississippi river and other great water ways of the Republic, so as to secure for the interior States easy and cheap transportation to tide water.
Under a long period of Democratic rule and policy our merchant marine was fast overtaking and on the point of outstripping that of Great Britain. Under twenty-five years of Republican rule and policy our commerce has been left to British bottoms, and almost has the American flag been swept off the high seas. Instead of the Republican party’s British policy, we demand for the people of the United States an American policy. Under Democratic rule and policy our merchants and sailors flying the stars and stripes in every port, successfully searched out a market for the varied products of American industry. Under a quarter of a century of Republican rule and policy, despite our manifest advantage over all other nations, high-paid labor, favorable climates and teeming soils; despite freedom of trade among these United States; despite their population by the foremost races of men and the annual immigration of the young, thrifty and adventurous of all nations; despite our freedom here from the inherited burdens of life and industry in the Old World monarchies—their costly war navies, their vast tax-consuming, non-producing standing armies; despite twenty years of peace—that Republican rule and policy have managed to surrender to Great Britain, along with our commerce, the control of the markets of the world. Instead of the Republican party’s British policy, we demand in behalf of the American Democracy an American policy. Instead of the Republican party’s discredited scheme and false pretense of friendship for American labor, expressed by imposing taxes, we demand in behalf of the Democracy freedom for American labor by reducing taxes, to the end that these United States may compete with unhindered powers for the primacy among nations in all the arts of peace and fruits of liberty.
With profound regret we have been apprised by the venerable statesman through whose person was struck that blow at the vital principle of republics—acquiescence in the will of the majority—that he cannot permit us again to place in his hands the leadership of the Democratic hosts for the reason that the achievement of reform in the administration of the Federal Government is an undertaking now too heavy for his age and failing strength. Rejoicing that his life has been prolonged until the general judgment of our fellow-countrymen is united in the wish that, wrong were righted in his person for the Democracy of the United States, we offer to him in his withdrawal from public career not only our respectful sympathy and esteem, but also the best homage of freedom, the pledge of our devotion to the principles and the cause now inseparable in the history of this Republic, from the labors and the name of Samuel J. Tilden.
With this statement of the hopes, principles and purposes of the Democratic party, the great issue of reform and change in administration is submitted to the people in calm confidence that the popular voice will pronounce in favor of new men and new and more favorable conditions for the growth of industry, the extension of trade, the employment and due reward of labor and capital and the general welfare of the whole country.
1884.—Republican Platform.
The Republicans of the United States, in National Convention assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive Presidential elections, and congratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results in legislation and administration by which the Republican party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its institutions just, equal and beneficent—the safeguard of liberty and the embodiment of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens. The Republican party has gained its strength by quick and faithful response to the demands of the people for the freedom and the equality of all men; for a united nation, assuring the rights of all citizens; for the elevation of labor; for an honest currency; for purity in legislation, and for integrity and accountability in all departments of the Government; and it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.
We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound statesmanship, long conspicuous in Congress, gave promise of a strong and successful administration, a promise fully realized during the short period of his office as President of the United States. His distinguished success in war and in peace has endeared him to the hearts of the American people.
In the administration of President Arthur we recognise a wise, conservative, and patriotic policy, under which the country has been blessed with remarkable prosperity, and we believe his eminent services are entitled to, and will receive, the hearty approval of every citizen.
It is the first duty of a good Government to protect the rights and promote the interests of its own people. The largest diversity of industry is most productive of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of the people. We, therefore, demand that the imposition of duties on foreign imports shall be made, not for revenue only, but that in raising the requisite revenues for the Government such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capital, may have its just reward, and the laboring man his full share in the national prosperity.
Against the so-called economic system of the Democratic party which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of unnecessary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus.
The Republican party pledges itself to correct the inequalities of the tariff, and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal reduction, but by such methods as will relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great productive interests of the country.
We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in the United States, the serious depression which it is now experiencing and the danger threatening its future prosperity; and we therefore respect the demands of the representatives of this important agricultural interest for a readjustment of duty upon foreign wool, in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.
We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all commercial nations in the establishment of an international standard which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage.
The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the States is one of the most important prerogatives of the General Government, and the Republican party distinctly announces its purpose to support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over inter-State commerce.
The principle of the public regulation of railway corporations is a wise and salutary one for the protection of all classes of the people, and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall secure to the people and to the railways alike the fair and equal protection of the laws.
We favor the establishment of a national bureau of labor, the enforcement of the eight hour law, and a wise and judicious system of general education by adequate appropriation from the national revenues wherever the same is needed. We believe that everywhere the protection to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens of American adoption, and we favor the settlement of national differences by international arbitration.
The Republican party having its birth in a hatred of slave labor, and in a desire that all men may be free and equal, is unalterably opposed to placing our workingmen in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit we denounce the importation of contract labor, whether from Europe or Asia, as an offense against the spirit of American institutions, and we pledge ourselves to sustain the present law restricting Chinese immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes.
The reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under Republican administration, should be completed by the further extension of the reformed system, already established by law, to all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be in all executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing reformed legislation should be repealed, to the end that the danger to free institutions which lurks in the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.
The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States, and should be reserved, as far as possible, for small holdings by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or individuals, especially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. We demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land grants which have lapsed by reason of non-compliance with acts of incorporation, in all cases where there has been no attempt in good faith to perform the conditions of such grants.
The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union soldiers and sailors of the late war, and the Republican party stands pledged to suitable pensions for all who were disabled, and for the widows and orphans of those who died in the war. The Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the arrears act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers shall share alike and their pensions shall begin with the date of disability or discharge, and not with the date of their application.
The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling alliances with foreign nations, and which shall give the right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling in American affairs—the policy which seeks peace, and can trade with all Powers, but especially with those of the Western Hemisphere.
We demand the restoration of our navy to its old-time strength and efficiency, that it may, in any sea, protect the rights of American citizens and the interests of American commerce, and we call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it may again be true that we have a commerce which leaves no sea unexplored, and a navy which takes no law from superior force.
Resolved, That appointments by the President to offices in the Territories should be made from the bona fide citizens and residents of the Territories wherein they are to serve.
Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall promptly and effectually suppress the system of polygamy within our territory, and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power of the so-called Mormon Church, and that the law so enacted should be rigidly enforced by the civil authorities if possible, and by the military if need be.
The people of the United States, in their organized capacity, constitute a Nation and not a mere confederacy of States. The National Government is supreme within the sphere of its national duty, but the States have reserved rights which should be faithfully maintained; each should be guarded with jealous care, so that the harmony of our system of government may be preserved and the Union be kept inviolate. The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free ballot, an honest count, and correct returns.
We denounce the fraud and violence practised by the Democracy in Southern States by which the will of the voter is defeated, as dangerous to the preservation of free institutions, and we solemnly arraign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruits of such fraud and violence. We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge to them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, the full and complete recognition, possession and exercise of all civil and political rights.