USA > Alabama > Reminiscences of public men in Alabama : for thirty years, with an appendix > Part 76
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MR. BELL'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.
NASHVILLE, May 21, 1860.
DEAR SIR: Official information of my nomination to the Presidency by the National Union Convention, of which you were the presiding officer, was communi- cated to me by your letter of the 11th instant, at Philadelphia, on the eve of my departure with my family for my place of residence in Tennessee; and diffident as I was of my worthiness, I did not hesitate to signify my intention to accept the position assigned to me by that distinguished and patriotic body. But for conveni- ence, and under a sense of the propriety of acting, in so grave a matter, with greater deliberation, I concluded, as I informed you at the time by a private note, to defer a formal acceptance until after my arrival at home.
Now that I have had all the leisure I could desire, for reflection upon the cir- cumstances under which the nomination was made, the purity of the motives and the lofty spirit of patriotism, by which the Convention was animated, as evinced in all its proceedings, I can appreciate more justly the honor done me by the nom- ination ; and, though it might have been more fortunate for the country had it fallen upon some one of the distinguished statesmen whose names were brought to the notice of the Convention, rather than myself, I accept it, with all its possible responsibilities. Whatever may be the issue of the ensuing canvass, as for myself, I shall ever regard it as a proud distinction-one worth a life long effort to attain- to be pronounced worthy to receive the highest office in the Government at such a time as the present and by such a Convention as that which recently met in Balti- more-a Convention far less imposing by the number of its members, large as it was, than by their high character. In it were men venerable alike for their age and their public services, who could have not been called from their voluntary retirement from public life, but by the strongest sense of patriotic duty; others, though still in the prime of life, ranking with the first men of the country by honors and distinctions already acquired in high official positions, State and Na- tional; many of them statesmen worthy to fill the highest office in the government; a still greater number occupying the highest rank in their respective professional pursuits ; others distinguished by their intelligence and well-earned influence in various walks of private life, and all animated and united by one spirit and one purpose-the result of a strong conviction that our political system, under the operation of a complication of disorders, is rapidly approaching a crisis when a speedy change must take place, indicating, as in diseases of the physical body, recovery or death.
The Convention, in discarding the use of platforms, exact no pledges from those whom they deem worthy of the highest trusts under the Government; wisely con- sidering that the surest gurrantee of a man's future usefulness and fidelity to the great interests of the country, in any official station to which he may be chosen, is to be found in his past history connected with the public service. The pledge implied in my acceptance of the nomination of the National Union Convention is, that should I be elected I will not depart from the spirit and tenor of my past course; and the obligation to keep this pledge derives a double force from the con- sideration that none is required from me. .
You, sir, in your letter containing the official announcement of my nomination, have been pleased to ascribe to me the merit of moderation and justice in my past public career. You have likewise given me credit for a uniform support of all wise and beneficent measures of legislation, for a firm resistance to all meas- ures calculated to engender sectional discord, and for a life-long devotion to the
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union, harmony, and prosperity of these States. Whether your personal par- tiality has led you to overstate my merits as a public man or not, in your enumer- ation of them, you have presented a summary-a basis of all sound American statesmanship. It may be objected that nothing is said in this summary, in ex -. press terms, of the obligations imposed by the Constitution; but the duty to respect and observe them is clearly implied, for without due observance in the conduct of the Government of the Constitution, its restrictions, and requirements, fairly interpreted in accordance with its spirit and objects, there can be no end to sectional discord-no security for the harmony of the Union.
I have not the vanity to assume that in my past connection with the public service I have exemplified the course of a sound American statesman; but if I have deserved the favorable view taken of it in your letter, I may hope, by a faith- ful adherence to the maxims by which I have heretofore been guided, not alto- gether to disappoint the confidence and expectations of those who have placed me in my present relation to the public ; and if, under Providence, I should be called to preside over the affairs of this great country as the Executive Chief of the Government, the only further pledge I feel called upon to make is, that the utmost of my ability, whatever of will I can command, all the powers and influence be- longing to my official station, shall be employed and directed for the promotion of all the great objects for which the Government was instituted, but more especially for the maintenance of the Constitution and Union against all imposing influences and tendencies.
I can not conclude this letter without expressing my high gratification at the nomination to the second office under the Government, of the eminently gifted and distinguished statesman of Massachusetts, Edward Everett, a gentleman held by general consent to be altogether worthy of the first.
Tendering my grateful acknowledgments for the kind and complimentary man- ner in which you were pleased to accompany the communication of my nomination, I am, dear sir, with the highest respect, your obedient servant,
To the Hon. Washington Hunt.
JOHN BELL.
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, ADOPTED AT CINCINNATI, JUNE 6, 1856.
Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating 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 con- trast 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 representa- tive government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and re-assert 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 con- strued by all the departments and agents of the Government, and that it is inex- pedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional 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.
3. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal Govern- ment, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several States, contracted for local and internal improvements, or other State purposes, nor would such as- sumption be just or expedient.
4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one
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branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion of our common country; that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and a complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic vio- lence and foreign aggression.
5. That it is the duty of every branch of the Government to enforce and prac- tice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the Government, and gradual but certain extinction of the public debt.
6. That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the Na- tional objects specified in the Constitution, and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of the proceeds among the States, as alike inexpedient in policy, and repugnant to the Constitution.
7. That Congress has no power to charter a National Bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the 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 Demo- cratic 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.
8. That the separation of the moneys of the Government from banking institu- tions 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 sufficient to guard the public interests, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyranical dominion of the Bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of general internal im- provements.
10. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of In- dependence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith; and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and owners of the 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 Conventions, an adverse political and religious test has been secretly organized, by a party claiming to be exclusively Americans, 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 the Union of States having been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and preeminent example in free government, built upon, entire freedom of matters of religious concernment, and no respect of persons in regard to rank or place of birth, no party can justly be deemed National, Consti- tutional, or in accordance with American principles, which bases its exclusive or- ganization upon religious opinions and accidental birth-place. And hence a polit- ical crusade in the nineteenth century, and in the United States of America, against Catholics and foreign-born, is neither justified by the past history or fu- ture prospects of the country, nor in unison with the spirit of toleration and en- lightened 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 Conventions 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 con-
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trol the domestic institutions of the several States, and that all such States are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts, of the Abolitionists or others, to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous con- sequences, 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 institutions.
2. That the foregoing proposition covers and was intended to embrace the whole subject of slavery agitation 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, can not, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.
3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.
4. That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Virginia aud Kentucky resolutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature in 1799-that it adopts these principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.
And that we may more distinctly meet the issue on which a sectional party, subsisting exclusively on 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 co-operation 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 resist- ance 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 organiza- tion of the 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 per- petuity 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, includ- ing Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of a 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 ad- mitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other States.
Resolved, finally, That in view of the condition of the popular institutions of the Old World, (and the dangerous tendencies of sectional agitation, combined with the attempt to enforce civil and religious disabilities against the rights of ac- quiring and enjoying citizenship in our own land,) a high and sacred duty is de- volved 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 constitu-
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tional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by 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 solemn manifestations to place their moral influence at the side of their successful example.
2. Resolved, That our geographical and political position with reference to the other States of this continent, no less than the interest of our commerce and the development of our growing power, requires that we should hold sacred the prin- ciples involved in the Monroe doctrine. Their bearing and import admit of no misconstruction, and should be applied with unbending rigidity.
3. 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 communi- cation between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, constitutes one of the most important achievements realized by the spirit of modern times, in the unconquer- able energy of our people; and that result would be secured by a timely and effi- cient 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 interfer- ence with relations that it may suit our policy to establish between our Govern- ment and the Governments of the States within whose dominions it lies; we can, under no circumstances surrender our preponderance in the adjustment of all questions arising out of it.
4. Resolved, That in view of so commanding an interest, the people of the United States can not but sympathize with the efforts which are being made by the people of Central America to regenerate that portion of the continent which covers the passage across the inter-oceanic isthmus.
5. Resolved, That the Democratic party will expect of the next administration that every proper effort be made to insure our ascendency in the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain permanent protection to the great 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 Demo- cratic 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.
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, ADOPTED BY THE FRONT STREET THEA- TRE CONVENTION AT BALTIMORE, JUNE 23, 1860.
ORIGINALLY ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION AT CHARLESTON, APRIL 30, 1860.
Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmation of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature when applied to the same subject matter, and we recommend as our only further resolu- tions the following :
That inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the insti- tution of slavery within the Territories ---
Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories.
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Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign born.
Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, commercial and postal point of view, is speedy communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific States, and the Democratic party pledge such Constitutional enactment as will in- sure the completion of a railroad to the Pacific coast at the earliest practicable period.
Resolved, That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain.
Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execu- tion of the Fugitive Slave Law are hostile in character, subversive of the Consti- tution, and revolutionary in their effect.
On the last day of the session of the Douglas Democratic Convention at Balti- more, the following resolution was adopted and added to the platform :
Resolved, That it is in accordance with the interpretation of the Cincinnati plat- form, that during the existence of the Territorial Government, the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations (as the same has been or shall hereafter be finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States), should be respected by all good citizens, and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General Government.
MR. DOUGLAS'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.
WASHINGTON, June 27, 1860.
GENTLEMEN-In accordance with the verbal assurance which I gave you when you placed in my hands the authentic evidence of my nomination for the Presi- dency by the National Convention of the Democratic party, I now send you my formal acceptance.
Upon a careful examination of the platform of principles adopted at Charleston and re-affirmed at Baltimore, with an additional resolution which is in perfect harmony with the others, I find it to be a faithful embodiment of the time-honored principles of the Democratic party, as the same were proclaimed and understood by all parties in the Presidential contests of 1848, '52 and '56.
Upon looking into the proceedings of the Convention, also, I find that the nom- ination was made with great unanimity, in the presence and with the concurrence of more than two-thirds of the whole number of delegates, and in exact accord- ance with the long-established usages of the party.
My inflexible purpose not to be a candidate, nor accept the nomination in any contingency, except as the regular nominee of the National Democratic party, and, in that case, only upon condition that the usages as well as the principles of the party should be strictly adhered to, had been proclaimed for a long time, and become well known to the country.
These conditions having all been complied with by the free and voluntary action of the Democratic masses and their faithful representatives, without any agency, interference or procurement on my part, I feel bound, in honor and duty, to accept the nomination.
In taking this step, I am not unmindful of the responsibilities it imposes; but, with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, I have faith that the people will com- prehend the true nature of the issues involved, and eventually maintain the right.
The peace of the country and safety of the Union have been put in jeopardy by attempts to interfere with the domestic affairs of the people in the Territories, through the agency of the Federal Government.
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