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cooperation of the northern and southern people, would go far toward a healing of the nation."

6. Refers to nomination of electors.

TEXAS.

Republican, May 14r, 1873.

1. We declare our full fellowship with the national Republican party of the United States, and our unqualified devotion to its principles and to its fortunes.

2. We declare that the grand and fundamental idea of the political equality of all men and their equal rights before the law is peculiarly Republican, and is not professed by any other party in this nation; that it is the mission of the Republican party to carry this idea into full practical effect, and therefore the Democratic party cannot safely be intrusted with the powers of Government, either national or local.

3. That there are but two political parties in the nation, the Republican and the Democratic; that the nomination of Horace Greeley for the Presidency of the United States was made in the interest of the Democratic party, and that the Republicans of Texas will follow no such lead, but will give their firm and zealous support to the nominees of the convention to assemble at Philadelphia on the 5th of June next.

4. Indorses the administration of President Grant and declares for his renomination.

5; Regards free education of all the children of Texas a sacred duty.

6. Declares emphatically for State internal improvements, but opposes State aid in bonds or money.

7. Indorses Governor E. J. Davis.

8. That we declare our unqualified condemnation of all corruption and peculation on the part of public officials; we will do all that in us lies to promote honest and wise legislation, to secure honest and just administration, and to guard with a jealous care all the interests of all the people.

9. That we will endeavor to give protection to our frontier by every means at our command, and we pledge ourselves to cut down every superfluous expense in the State government, aud to reduce taxation to the very least amount compatible with efficient government.

Democratic, June 18,1872. 1. That we have undiminished confidence in the time-honored principles of the Democracy as embodied in the platform of the Democratic State convention at Austin, January 25, 1871, hereto annexed and made part of this platform, and believe that the welfare and prosperity of the country will never be fully restored till those principles are in the ascendant; but we recognize as an alarming fact that the issues determined in the next presidential election not only concern matters of constitutional construction and expedience, but also involve the far greater and vital question whether we are hereafter to live

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under a government of law or a government of force.

2. That the present Administration has been subversive of constitutional government and free institutions throughout the country, and in the southern States has been a system of lawless spoliation and central tyranny; that its chief, by accepting gifts and bestowing offices in return, by appointing incompetent and unfit relations and personal adherents to positions of profit and trust, and by devoting to unbecoming pleasures aud pursuits time that should be given to official duties, has been culpably reckless of the responsibilities and dignity of the high station, has set a bad example to the people, and has violated alike the obligation of good faith and the usages of common decency, and that, encouraged and aided by the party in power, he has attempted to usurp or control legislative and judicial functions, and thus establish a consolidated personal government, destructive of the rights of the States and the liberties of the people.

3. That in view of the threatening pretensions and great power of those now in authority we consider their expulsion from offices of honor or trust to be essential to the people and welfare of the country and to the preservation of constitutional government.

4. That we have seen with profound satisfaction that patriotic movement of the Liberal Republicans lately assembled in convention at Cincinnati, and we fully concur with them in believing that local self-government with impartial suffrage will guard the rights of all citizens more securely than any centralized power. The public welfare requires the supremacy of the civil over the military authority, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus. We demand for the individual the largest liberty consistent with public order, and for the State self government, and for the nation a return to the methods of peace and the constitutional limitation of power. The civil service of the Government has become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an object of selfish greed, and is a scandal and reproach on free institutions, and broods a demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of republican government. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; that honesty, capacity, and fidelity constitute the only valid claims to the public employment; that the offices of the Government cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and again a post of honor. We demand Federal taxation which shall not necessarily interfere with the industry of the people, 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.

6. That we recognize the movement of the Liberal Republicans in opposition to the present administration of the General Government in behalf of reform and constitutional liberty, arid we, the Democratic party of Texas, confiding in the wisdom, patriotism, and integrity ol the great National Democratic parly, to assemble in Baltimore, do hereby pledge ourselves to give a vigorous support to the policy to be enunciated by the Baltimore con v'ention, and do battle for the restoration of Civil government under whatever leadership it may direct.

6. That whoever may be the nominee of the Baltimore convention, this convention finds no reason therefrom for destroying, impairing, or even modifying the present organization of the Democratic party, which should maintain its organization vigorously for the purpose of purging down and removing the abuses under which our people labor from the tyrannical, dishonest, and unscrupulous State government of Texas.

7. That we are in opposition to all moneyed subsidies To private corporations by the State government, and regard the same as unsound in principle and dangerous in practice.

8. That it is the duty of the General Government to protect our citizens from the marauding bands of Mexicans and savages who are daily pillaging our country, murdering our citizens, and driving back the tide of civilization upon our.western frontier.

tary authority, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus.

5. The public credit sacredly maintained, and a speedy return to specie payment demanded alike by the highest considerations of commercial morality and honest government.

6. The civil service of the Government having become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an object of selfish greed, a scandal and reproach upon free institutions, breeding a • demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of republican government, we therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; that honesty, capacity, and fidelity should constitute the only valid claim to public employment ;• that the offices of the Government should cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and thit public station should become again a post of honor.

VERMONT.

Republican, May 1, 1873.

1. That, first, we cordially approve and

indorse the present national Administration

and commend it as distinguished among the

best of our history for ability, integrity, econ

9. That as the school fund sacredly set omy, and fidelity to principle.

apart for the education of the children of this State has, under the political misrule of the last two years, been plundered by peculation, squandered, and perverted to political purposes, the Democratic'party deem it fitting on this occasion to reaffirm the opinion that, agreeably to the poiicy the party have ever pursued, it is the duty of the State to establish common schools and furnish the'means of a good common education to every child within our State.

UTAH.

Republican, May 16, 1873.

1. That the delegates be instructed to call the attention of the National Union Republican convention to a resolution of the Republican convention of 1860, denouncing polygamy, in truth, as 4* the twin relic of barbarism," and that we now hold the National Union Republican party accountable for the extirpation of the chief social and political evil of the age. This is the platform of Utah Republicans,

democratic, June 15, 1873.

1. The. equality'of all men before the law, and the duty of government in its dealings with the people to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political.

2. The maintenance of the Union, the Constitution inviolate, and for the individual the largest liberty consistent with public order.

3. Local self-government,' with impartial suffrage, instead, of centralized power to guard the rights of all citizens,.'

4. The supremacy of'the civil over the mili

2. Declares that the first preference of the State is for the nomination of Grant and Colfax.

3. We deeply regret the defection of Repub licaus from the regular organization. We believe that the- objects of reform professed to be right by the Liberal Republican movement are mainly such as can be secured only in the Republican party, while the only practical result of the movement will be to strengthen the Democracy.

4. We deprecate the restoration of the Democratic party to power as endangering the equal laws which, against the opposition of that par<-y, have recently been ingrafted upon our system, as preventing any further progress in the same direction, and as likely to lead to the allowance of unjust and excessive southern war claims against the Government, which would greatly increase taxation and severely impair the national credit.

5. We pledge ourselves anew in this, our first State convention for two years, to the great leading aims of the Republican party, namely, the most complete liberty and the most exact equality of right under the law for all men throughout the Republic; the promotion of the education, intelligence, and thrift of every class, and especially of the laboring class of our population ; the most strict observance of the public faith both toward our creditors by the payment of the national debt and toward our veteran soldiers and sailors by a prompt and generous provision of pensions for them and their widows and orphans; the preservation of peace so far as consistent with national honor and safety; the cultivation of relations of confidence and good will with all, from the old nations'of the East to the savage tribes of the West,* faithfulness and economy in the administration of the laws, and promptitude and thoroughness in the correction and reform of all abuses iu any department of the public service.

VIEGIXIA.

Republican, April 18, 1873.

The Republicans of Virginia in convention assembled, about to enter upon the canvass for the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, now formally an nounce their principles to the voters of this Commonwealth.

From 1865 to 1872 they have continually and unwaveringly held and proclaimed the same principles; and they hereby reiterate and reaffirm the resolutions of their State conventions held in 1866, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871.

These principles have been embodied in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth arnendments of the national Constitution, and in the civil rights act of April 9, 1866, the enforcement act of May 30, 18709 and the amended enforcement act of April 20, 1871; which principles iu brief are:

1. That slavery shall never exist in this Union;

That all native and naturalized inhabitants of these States shall be citizens of the Union, entitled to absolutely equal, rights, civil and political;

That the elective franchise and the right of office holding shall belong to all citizens of proper age, not guilty of crime, irrespective of race, color, or of any other proseriptive qualification.

2. That the laws of Congress passed for the enforcement of these rights should be diligently executed; and that if in practice these laws should be found inadequate for this purpose, other laws should be enacted by Congress effectual to that end.

3. That the^e constitutional amendments and the laws for their enforcement embody not only the just principles of equality and right, but those of true Christian toleration; and that we oppose all proscription for opinion's sake, and all endeavors to infuse a spirit of hatred and hostility in the minds of one class of citizensagainst another on political grounds.

4. That we challenge the world to produce financial results more successful than have been achieved; by the national Administration. The national debt has been diminished $300,000,000, while taxation by the national Government has been largely and steadily reduced. Our credit has improved and strengthened at home and abroad; the perpetrators of fraud and embezzlement have been vigorously pursued and promptly punished; the revenues have been collected by officers held by the President to the most rigid accountability; all of which has produced the present satisfactory condition of the national Treasury.

5. That a well-conducted and faithfully administered system of free schools, in pursuance of the State constitution, whereby the children of the people shall be universally j

educated, is a cardinal policy of the Republican party, and necessary to the well-being of society; and as one means of securing an efficient management of the free schools of Virginia we favor the election of school trustees by the people in such manner that the minority as' well as the majority may be represented in the school boards.

6. Indorses the State superintendent of public instruction.

7. That the so-called conservative party of this State, by its unjust laws and proscripiive spirit, by its attempts to hold the mass of the people in ignorance, by its pernicious financial legislation and its oppressive taxation,has forfeited all claim to the support of the people of Virginia; and has shown that a party is unfit to exist which, like it, is organized on the principle of political and social proscription, and held together by no common bond bus that of hatred toward the national Government and its supporters.

8. That the wise provisions of the homestead clause in our State constitution have been ignored by the judiciary, or ruled upon in such a manner as to deny to our people its intended benefits.

Suffering debtors find no adequate relief upon appeal to the State courts or Legislature, but are compelled to see the little wreck of property left them by the war sacrificed under the sheriff's hammer at forced sab>, and themselves and families left homeless beggars.

In view of these facta the Republican party of Virginia, as the author of the homestead clause and its advocate to the present iime, believes the extension of the exemptions under the general bankrupt act so as to include the homestead exemptions under our State constitution to be the only means of relief now offered to our people, and they therefore ask Congress to pass the amendment to that effect offered in the Senate by Hon. J. F. Lewis, and hereby pledge themselves to the support of this measure.

9. That we extend a hearty welcome to immigration and capita] from abroad, and advocate the development iu every possible manner of the magnificent resources of forest, soil, water-power, and mineral wealth in which Virginia abounds.

10. That the national currency given the nation by the Republican party has proved a national blessing; that a protective tariff is the true policy for the South, tending as it does to produce that variety of employments which we so much need; and that State and national taxation should be reduced asrapdly as possible, consistently with a due regard to the public faith.

11. Indorses John F. Lewis for the Vice Presidency.

12. Urges the renomination of President Grant.

Democratic, June 37, 1873. 1. That we greet with lively satisfaction the movement of the Liberal Republicans at Cincinnati, and desire to express our sincere admiration of the moral heroism displayed by them in subordinating party to patriotism, and pledge ourselves to meet their courageous and patriotic proffer of cooperation for the public deliverance in the same catholic and magnanimous spirit in which it is tendered.

2. That the delegates appointed by this convention to the Democratic convention at Baltimore should give a vigorous, persistent, and united support to the Greeley and Brown ticket, nominated at Cincinnati, as holding forth the fairest promise for allaying the passions of the war, reviving real peace within our borders, restoring integrity to the public service, establishing the States in their legitimate functions in the Federal system, preserving intact the great writ of liberty, and rescuing the Republic from the despotism of the sword.

WASHINGTON.

Republican, April 39,1872*

1. That the Republicans of Washington Territory remain true to the principles and will hold fast to the organization of the Republican party.

2. That the administration of President Grant has been marked by prudence, wisdom, and success in managing our national finances and our foreign relations; in its policy with the Indians; in its suppression of disorder in the South; in its efforts to reform the civil service and the revenue department; and especially in its reducing taxation $80,000,000 yearly for the past three years, and yet at the same time reducing the national debt $100,000,000 yearly; and for all these reasons merits our warmest approval and has our most decided indorsement.

3. That the Constitution of the United States, frith all its amendments, is entitled to our most cordial support, and that we will use our best energies to uphold its letter and spirit, and to render effective all law3 made to enforce this supreme law of the land.

4. That the record of the Republican party by its emancipation of the slaves of the South; its extension of civil rights to all men; its maintenance of national honor; in paying the war debt, in securing pensions and homesteads to the Union soldiers, its giving of public lands to settlers, the economy which it has introduced into all branches of the public service, and its bringing fraud, peculation, and corruption to speedy justice, mauifests its ability and integrity, and affords overwhelming reasons for its continuance in power.

5. That the encouragement given to railroads already running across the continent to the Pacific coast, and to the Northern Pacific railroad, has been the work of the Republican party, in order to bind together in one common prosperity the most distant sections of our beloved Union, and that we rejoice that our own Territory is now about to share in this prosperity, and that we hail with satisfaction the energy, skill, and enterprise displayed by the Northern Pacific railroad in our immediate vicinity, as well as east of the Rocky mountains, in hastening the time when the cars

shall transport us directly from Puget sound to Lake Superior.

6. That we congratulate the Republican party on the success of its policy in bringing currency to a near equality of value with gold, and that we hail with pleasure the rapid approach of the time when any paper dollar can be at once exchanged for a dollar in gold or silver without the slightest discount or loss,

7. That while we recognize all the legitimate rights of each State within the limits of its own authority, we are proud to see how truly the Republican party has made of all the States and Territories one grand nation, whose glory it is to have given complete equality of rights to all men upon its soil, without distinction of race, of birth, or of origin.

8. That while the Democratic party has been a mere party of opposition without distinctive and vital principles, it does now, by. its "new departure" and upassive policy," impliedly recognize the soundness of the principles of the Republican party and the impossibility of overthrowing them by an open and direct struggle.

9. That we favor a tariff for revenue, but so adjusted as to protect incidentally, though equally, every branch of American industry— agricultural, mechanical, mining, manufacturing, and commercial, as well as every section of our common country—North, South, East, West, and Central.

10. That we favor such legislation, national and territorial, as shall encourage the activity and security of labor, and yet protect the investment of capital so that both may work hand in hand together for the united progress of all our interests of every kind and degree.

11. Instructs delegates for U. S. Grant.

12. Indorses Congressman Garfielde.

WEST VIKGIXIA.

Republican, May 33, 1873.

1. We favor a continued reduction of taxation, a gradual payment of the national debt, civil service reform as proposed by the President, and the restoration of harmony and goodwill in the reconstructed States by an impartial execution of the laws ; a jealous guarding of our national honor in our intercourse with foreign Powers, submitting to nothing wrong and demanding only what is right.

2. We declare that the recent amendments relating to emancipation, enfranchisement,and the sacred obligation of the national debt haying been duly ratified and promulgated, are to be taken and held as part of the organic law of the land and forever remain inriolate.

3. No passive policy, no disguises, however cunningly assumed by malcontents, no false pretenses of disappointed men and selfconstituted delegates, can alienate the adherents of the great Republican party, which, through the maintenance of its organization, has preserved the union of States and secured liberty, happiness, aud prosperity throughout the land.

4 and 5. Indorse President Grant and instruct delegates to vote for Grant and Boreman.

6. That we denounce the effort of the socalled leaders of the Democratic party to make the adoption or rejection of the proposed constitution a partisan measure, inasmuch as it affects the vital interests of every citizen of the State.

Democratic, May 30, 18T3.

1. We congratulate the people upon the faithful redemption of all the pledges upon which the Democratic party was placed in power in West Virginia.

2. We heartily indorse the Democratic State administration, and point to its honesty and efficiency as a full guarantee of our continued fidelity to the interests of the State and people.

3. That in the opinion of this convention the elements of*opposition to the national Administration should be consolidated in the approaching presidential campaign without prejudice to the unity and perpetuity of the Democratic organization.

4. That with full confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of the National Democratic convention soon to assemble at Baltimore, we pledge the Democracy of West Virginia to abide its action or recommendation and to express their approval thereof at the polls.

5. We pledge to the nominees of this convention our earnest and active support.

6. We indorse the proposed new constitution of the State of West Virginia, and recommend its ratification by the people without distinction of party.

WISCONSIN.

Republican, March 13, 1873.

1. That we cordially indorse the platform of principles adopted by the last Republican nominating State convention, and to this avowal of policy we invite the earnest attention of the electors of the State.

2. That the continued confidence of the people of the country is due to the administration of President Grant, whose reduction of the public debt and consequent lessening of taxation, under whose recommendation we have reason to hope for further equalization of the tariff laws, whose judicious and patriotic foreign policy, whose respect for the will of the people, and whose efficient enforcement of the laws and pacific dealing with a part of the Union which was chaotic when he became President, have justified the highest expectations of the great party that designated nira for his preseut high place,and of the voters of the country who clothed him with executive power.

3. Favors President Grant's renomination.

Democratic, June 13, 1873.

1. That the address aud resolutions of the "Liberal Republican" convention, held at Cincinnati on the 1st of May, embody fundamental principles which the Democratic electors of the State of Wisconsin cordially indorse, and that they cheerfully acquiesce in the reference to the people of the several States of the political questions upon which that convention expressed no opinion •, that the exposition and elucidation of the platform of the Cincinnati convention by Horace Greeley in his letter of acceptance of the nomination for President furnish a satisfactory assurance to the American people that he will, if elected, administer the Government upon the principles in that platform. Therefore, in devotion to principle, waiving our preference for men, and believing that the approval of the nominees of the Cincinnati convention is a sure mode of obtaining the triumph and ascendency of those principles, we approve the same, and recommend that our delegates to the Baltimore convention do ratify the action of the Cincinnati convention.

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