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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01152 1421
GENEALOGY 974.7 SM57H v.6
William J. Mullow.
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A. Lincoln
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln, 16th president, born in Hardin county, Ky., February 12, 1809; removed to Indiana and later to Illinois ; self-educated; lawyer; postmaster, New Salem, Ill., 1833-36; member state legislature, 1834, 1836, 1838, 1840; member of congress, 1847-1848; unsuccessful candidate for United States senator; elected president and inaugurated March 4, 1861; unanimously renominated in June, 1864, and inaugu- rated for second term, March 4, 1865; shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending Ford's theater, Washington, D. C., ou the night of April 14, 1865 and died the following day.
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HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL V.6
EDITED BY RAY B. SMITH
EXCELSIOR
NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS BY
WALTER W. SPOONER
THE SYRACUSE PRESS, INC. SYRACUSE, N. Y. 1922
COPYRIGHTED THE SYRACUSE PRESS, INC. 1922
1485713
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI
PART I.
EARLY PARTIES, 1789 TO 1828
Rise of the parties 17
Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
17-18
The first Presidential Electors
19
1789: George Washington elected President. 20
20
1792: Washington and Adams reelected
20-21
1796: John Adams elected President.
21
Thomas Jefferson elected Vice-President.
21
1798-99: Kentucky and Virginia resolutions
22
Comment on the resolutions 33-34
34-35
Jefferson President, Aaron Burr Vice-President.
35
Burr's decline in favor
36
Jefferson supreme.
37
The Congressional caucus 37-38
1804: Jefferson reelected 38-39
38-39
1808: James Madison elected President.
39
George Clinton reelected Vice-President
39
1812: The DeWitt Clinton movement.
40
The Clintonian platform.
41
Madison reelected; Elbridge Gerry Vice-President
43
1814-15: The Hartford convention.
44
Comment on its transactions 48
1816: James Monroe elected President. 48-49
Daniel D. Tompkins elected Vice-President.
49
1820: Monroe and Tompkins reelected 49
50
End of the caucus.
51
John Quincy Adams elected President.
52
John C. Calhoun elected Vice-President
52
1828: Andrew Jackson against Adams.
52-53
Democratic party; National Republican party.
53
Jackson elected President; Calhoun reelected Vice-President 54
The rival parties and their leaders 54-59
Formulation of definite issues.
59
Triumphant Democracy. 60
To the victors belong the spoils.
61
The Missouri Compromise, 1820
61
John Adams elected Vice-President.
1800: The Electoral tie.
George Clinton elected Vice-President.
1824: A quadrilateral contest.
Balance of the sections.
62-62 65 The settlement :- 36° 30' Comment on the Compromise.
66-68
PART II. PARTIES FROM 1832 TO 1856
1832
Anti-Masonic party: Wirt and Ellmaker 69
National Republican party: Clay and Sargeant. 70
The first National platform of issues. 71
Democratic party: Jackson and Van Buren 73
Two-thirds required to nominate Vice-President.
73
Andrew Jackson reelected President 74
Martin Van Buren elected Vice-President.
74
1836
Democratic National convention (1835)
75
The two-thirds rule regularly established
75
Van Buren and Johnson
76
Whig party; its distractions.
76
Various Whig nominations.
77
Martin Van Buren elected President.
78
Richard M. Johnson elected Vice-President.
78
1840
Liberty party: Birney and Earle. 79
Whig party: Harrison and Tyler. 80-81
Democratic party: Van Buren renominated
81
The first Democratic platform. 81
Comment on the platform. 83
William Henry Harrison elected President. 84
John Tyler elected Vice-President. 84
1844
Liberty-Abolitionist party: Birney and Morris 87
Platform of the Abolitionists
87
Whig party: Clay and Frelinghuysen
90
Platform of the Whigs ..
90
Democratic party: Polk and Dallas.
91-92
Platform of the Democrats.
92
Comment on the Texas and Oregon questions.
93
The slavery disputation reopened.
95
Equivocal position of the Whigs in the campaign ..
96
James K. Polk elected President. 97
George M. Dallas elected Vice-President.
97
1848
Completion of continental development. 98
Texan annexation-the essentials of the subject. 99
The Wilmot Proviso (1846)
100-101
Various slavery questions in Congress.
101-104
Democratic party: Cass and Butler
104
The rival New York factions.
104
Platform of the Democrats.
105
Whig party: Taylor and Fillmore
110
No platform adopted by the Whigs
111
Carl Schurz on the Democrats and Whigs
112
Free Soil party: Van Buren and Adams.
113-114
Platform of the Free Soil party.
114
Zachary Taylor elected President.
118
Millard Fillmore elected Vice-President. 118
1852
Situation as to slavery questions in 1849 119
California; President Taylor's advice
120-122
The Compromise measures of 1850 122-130
Democratic party: Pierce and King
131
Platform of the Democrats.
132
Comment on the platform.
134
Whig party: Scott and Graham.
135-136
Platform of the Whigs. 136
Comment on the platform.
138
Free Soil party: Hale and Julian. 139
139
Franklin Pierce elected President.
144
William R. King elected Vice-President. 144
1856
The question of slavery in the Territories. 145
Free and slave States in 1854 146-147
Proposed Territory of Platte, or Nebraska
148
Kansas-Nebraska: Missouri Compromise repeal. 149
Political effects of the repeal 151-162
American party (Know-Nothings)
163
Fillmore and Donelson; Know-Nothing platform.
164
Democratic party: Buchanan and Breckinridge. 168-169
Platform of the Democrats 169
Republican party : organization; conventions of '56 176-178
Fremont and Dayton. 178-179
Platform of the Republicans 179
Whig party endorses Fillmore; platform. 182
The campaign 184-187
Platform of the Free Soil party
James Buchanan elected President.
187
John C. Breckinridge elected Vice-President 187
PART III. PARTIES FROM 1860 TO 1920
1860
Democrats at Charleston, Baltimore, and Richmond 189-196
Platform of the southern Democracy 191
Douglas and Johnson 193
Platform of the northern Democracy 194
Breckinridge and Lane. 195, 196
Republican party: Lincoln and Hamlin. 196-197
Platform of the Republicans. 197
Constitutional Union party: Bell and Everett. 200-201
Platform of the Constitutional Unionists. 201
Abraham Lincoln elected President. 202
Hannibal Hamlin elected Vice-President 202
1864
Republican party: Lincoln and Johnson 203
Platform of the Republicans. 204
Radical Republicans and their platform 206
Democratic party: Mcclellan and Pentdleton
208
Platform of the Democrats.
208
Abraham Lincoln reelected President.
210
Andrew Johnson elected Vice-President.
210
1868
Republican party: Grant and Colfax
211
Platform of the Republicans.
211
Democratic party: Seymour and Blair
214-215
Platform of the Democrats ...
215
Ulysses S. Grant elected President.
219
Schuyler Colfax elected Vice-President.
219
1872
Republican party: Grant and Wilson 220
Platform of the Republicans.
220
Liberal Republicans: Greeley and Brown
224
Platform of the Liberal Republicans.
225
Democratic party: Greeley and Brown endorsed 225-226
Other parties. 226
Ulysses S. Grant reelected President.
226
Henry Wilson elected Vice-President.
227
1876
Republican party: Hayes and Wheeler 229
Platform of the Republicans. 229
Democratic party: Tilden and Hendricks. 233-234
Platform of the Democrats. 234
Minority resolution on specie payments. 239
Other parties. 239-240
The Electoral commission decides the contest. 240
Rutherford B. Hayes President. 240
William A. Wheeler Vice-President.
240
1880
Republican party: Garfield and Arthur 241-242
Platform of the Republicans. 242
Democratic party: Hancock and English. 246-247
Platform of the Democrats
247
Other parties.
249
James A. Garfield elected President. 249
Chester A. Arthur elected Vice-President.
249
1884
Republican party: Blaine and Logan. 250-251
Platform of the Republicans 251
Democratic party: Cleveland and Hendricks 255-256
Platform of the Democrats. 256
Other parties. 263-264
Grover Cleveland elected President
264
Thomas A. Hendricks elected Vice-President. 264
1888
Democratic party: Cleveland and Thurman. 265
Platform of the Democrats 265
Republican party: Harrison and Morton
Platform of the Republicans. 269-270
Other parties 276-277
270
Benjamin Harrison elected President. 277
Levi P. Morton elected Vice-President. 277
1892
Republican party: Harrison and Reid 278
Platform of the Republicans. 278
Democratic party: Cleveland and Stevenson. 282-283
Platform of the Democrats 283
The Democratic tariff plank 289-290
People's party (Populists) : Weaver and Field. 290
Platform of the Populists 290
Other parties 295
Grover Cleveland elected President 295-296
Adlai E. Stevenson elected Vice-President 295-296
1896
Democratic party: Bryan and Sewall 297-298
Platform of the Democrats
298
David B. Hill's minority resolutions 303
Republican party: Mckinley and Hobart. 304-305
Platform of the Republicans. 305
Senator Teller's minority resolution. 310-311
Other parties.
311
William Mckinley elected President 312
Garrett A. Hobart elected Vice-President.
313
1900
Republican party: Mckinley and Roosevelt 314
Platform of the Republicans
314
Democratic party: Bryan and Stevenson.
321
Platform of the Democrats.
321
Other parties
328-329
William Mckinley reelected President 329-330
Theodore Roosevelt elected Vice-President. 329-330
1904
Republican party: Roosevelt and Fairbanks. 331
Platform of. the Republicans. 331
Democratic party: Parker and Davis. 338
Platform of the Democrats. 338
Judge Parker's telegram.
347
Other parties.
348
Theodore Roosevelt elected President. 349
Charles W. Fairbanks elected Vice-President
349
1908
Republican party: Taft and Sherman
350
Platform of the Republicans
350
Minority report of Henry Allen Cooper.
362-363
Bryan and Kern 363-364
Platform of the Democrats. 364
Other parties. 377
William H. Taft elected President. 378
James S. Sherman elected Vice-President. 378
Democratic party: resolution on the death of Cleveland 363-364
1912
Republican party : the Taft-Roosevelt fight. 379-380
Taft and Sherman renominated. 380
Platform of the Republicans 380
Minority report. 389
Democratic party: Champ Clark's defeat. 390-392
Wilson and Marshall 391-392
Platform of the Democrats 392
Progressive party: Roosevelt and Johnson 405
Platform of the Progressives 405
Other parties 419-420
Woodrow Wilson elected President.
420
Thomas R. Marshall elected Vice-President. 420
1916
Democratic party: Wilson and Marshall 421
Platform of the Democrats.
421
Minority resolution on Woman Suffrage.
434
Republican party: Hughes and Fairbanks
434-436
Platform of the Republicans.
436
Minority report. 442-443
Other parties 443-444
Woodrow Wilson reelected President. 444
Thomas R. Marshall reelected Vice-President. 444
1920
Democratic party: Cox and Roosevelt. 445-447
Platform of the Democrats 447
Minority resolutions 467-468
Republican party: Harding and Coolidge. 468-469
Platform of the Republicans 469
Minority report. 487-488
Prohibition party: nominations and platform 488
Farmer-Labor party: nominations and platform. 492
Single Tax party: nominations and platform 500
Socialist party: nominations and platform 501
Declaration of Socialist Principles. 507
Socialist Labor Party: nominations and platform 513
Warren G. Harding elected President .. 514
Calvin Coolidge elected Vice-President. 514
INDEX 515
PRESIDENTS ILLUSTRATIONS with BIOGRAPHIES
NAME PAGE
John Adams.
40
John Quincy Adams 104
Chester A. Arthur.
328
James Buchanan 248
Grover Cleveland.
344
Millard Fillmore
216
James, A. Garfield
312
Ulysses S. Grant.
280
Warren G. Harding
440
Benjamin Harrison.
360
William Henry Harrison
152
Rutherford B. Hayes
296
Andrew Jackson
120
Thomas Jefferson.
56
Andrew Johnson
264
Abraham Lincoln.
Frontispiece
William Mckinley.
376
James Madison
72
James Monroe
88
Franklin Pierce 232
James K. Polk. 184
Theodore Roosevelt. 392
William H. Taft. 408
Zachary Taylor 200
John Tyler. 168
Martin Van Buren.
136
George Washington
25
Woodrow Wilson
424
FOREWORD
In a republic the established principles and policies of government are determined by the people. In the United States, since 1832 when government by political parties had become firmly established, such determina- tions have been made upon issues presented to the electors by two dominant political parties through declarations of principles or platforms adopted and promulgated by their chosen representatives acting at conventions. The official records of these conventions constitute the original sources of information relative to the issues presented for determination.
In revising the matter contained in the preceding volumes, it became necessary to examine the official records of the National party conventions. To my intense surprise I found that but one attempt had been made to collect and preserve these records in permanent published form. Of this collection, printed some thirty years ago, but one copy appears to be extant and its manifest inaccuracies rendered it useless. Consequently I sought to procure, so far as possible, an official copy of the original journal of each National convention and to perpetuate an authentic record of each such party platform. Through the aid of friends, this result has been accomplished. With one exception, each convention record contained in this volume has been compared verbatim with the original certified by the secretary of the body from which it emanated. In this one case the text herein contained is taken from an
original copy published under the authority of the cen- tral committee appointed by the convention. It and all others may be regarded as authentic and official. Con- cededly the National party platforms express in concise form the consensus of divided public opinion upon the important then pending governmental issues, formu- lated by the ablest men and minds of the times, men who have not written history but who have made history. This collection of original National party convention records is now the property of the Legisla- tive Library of the State.
In this volume will also be found an accurate account of the various fortunes of our political parties; a com- plete record of the electoral vote cast by each state at each presidential election; the popular vote cast wherever authentic records of the same are available; including a consecutive account of the various phases of the slavery question, as evidenced by party deliverances and acts, dating from the Missouri Compromise in 1820 to the adoption of the fifteenth amendment.
This is the only published work devoted to subjects so vital to an intelligent understanding of our National history. The privilege of preserving in authentic pub- lished form the expressed principles of the controlling political parties in the mighty conflicts waged for supremacy in our country, destined to be the most powerful governmental influence in the world, is to me a reward commensurate with the stupendous amount of labor involved.
R. B. S.
Inaccuracy of citation is one the chief vices of our political discussions. You can hardly listen to a set speech, even from a well-informed and truthful canvasser, which is not marred by some misapprehension or unconscious misstatement.
Documents, heedlessly read and long since lost or mislaid, are quoted from with fluency and confidence, as though with indubitable accuracy, when the citations so made do gross injustice to their authors, and tend to mislead the hearer. . To verify and correct the citations of a frothy declaimer is sometimes the easiest and most convincing refutation of his speech .- Horace Greeley, Political Text-Book for 1860.
PART I EARLY PARTIES, 1789 TO 1828
I T was not until more than forty years after the establishment of the constitutional government of the United States that the convention system of nominating Presidential and Vice-Presidential candi- dates and declaring party principles was regularly in- stituted. Under the Confederation-the loose union, or rather association, of the original States which preceded the adoption of the Constitution in 1788,- there existed no basis for anything resembling formal party organization and discipline so far as the country at large was concerned. After the Federal government came into being two national parties sprang up-the Federalist, comprising those who favored the maximum concentration of power in the central government and generally conservative and aristocratic ideas advocated by such statesmen as Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John Jay; and the Democratic-Republican, or, as it presently came to be known, Republican, consisting of the supporters of "State rights" and positive democratic principles and measures according to the doctrines of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Clinton. These two original national parties throughout their existence maintained themselves before the public by the force of their dominating men, without ever resort-
17
18
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
ing to the instrumentality of a platform declarative of fundamental tenets.
The Federalist party, at first in the ascendancy, soon became decadent, and at the time of the close of the second war with Great Britain (1815) was almost com- pletely extinct as a national political factor. The Republican party,1 succeeding to the control of the government in 1801, from that time carried every national election as long as it retained its original name and unity ; and after the disappearance of the Federalist organization it continued without opposition, in the re- spect of having any formally established competitor, until its disruption during President John Quincy Adams's administration (1825-29). A new creation and division of parties then occurred, one of the result- ing organizations assuming the name of Democratic party, and its opponent taking the style of National Republican party, later changed to Whig party. From the Presidential campaign of 1832 dates the formula- tion of specific party precepts and issues through the medium of popular conventions.
The succeeding pages will embody a complete pre- sentation of the national platform deliverances of the
1This name was assumed by the Jeffersonians as the one that they con- sidered most conveniently descriptive of their theory and program of govern- ment. Their ideas being positively opposed to aristocratic tendencies of government, they named themselves Republicans. Even in those times, however, they were frequently called Democrats, and the two names became generally interchangeable. Some writers prefer to substitute the name Democratic for this early organization, in recognition of its historical identity with the Democratic party as officially so styled in Jackson's day and as still claiming the same lineal descent.
19
NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS
principal parties from the 1832 campaign to the pres- ent time.
During the period antecedent to 1832 the positions of parties, although not expressed in platforms, were nevertheless well defined in the respects of fundamental ideas of government and public policy, characteristic leadership, and cohesion or the lack of it under such management as was improvised in their behalf. A review of this period is indispensable to the histori- cal fullness of our records of party action.
The first three Presidential elections not only were unattended by political declarations, but were devoid even of any ceremony of party stipulation to members of the Electoral College as to the candidates to be voted for. The general agreement of the political leaders was considered a sufficient basis of choice. At these first three elections (as also at the fourth) the Presi- dent and Vice-President were chosen by the Electoral College under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, which directed each Elector to vote for two persons, the one receiving the highest number of votes to be Presi- dent and the one receiving the next number to be Vice- President. The first two elections (17891 and 1792) resulted in the choice of George Washington as Presi- dent without competition. It is from the second-choice votes that the political preferences of the people on those occasions are to be deduced.
1The first Presidential Electors were chosen by the States on the first Wednesday in January, 1789, and the Electors cast their votes on the first Wednesday in February. New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina did not vote.
20
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
1789
In 1789, 69 second-choice Electoral votes were cast, of which John Adams, Federalist, received 34, the remainder being divided among ten other persons. At that time there was no division on political party lines. The responsible founders of the government called themselves "Federalists," because they represented the dominant forces in the Constitutional convention. Those not affiliated with them were generally known as "Anti-Federalists"; the Democratic-Republican party of opposition to the Federalists did not begin its career until 1791. The scattering votes for Vice-President in 1789 were expressive of local preferences in the States. But the consolidation upon Adams of a sufficient num- ber to give him a long lead over any competitor indi- cated a decided sentiment in favor of organizing the government in conformity to Federalist ideas. This sentiment was also manifest from the political composi- tion of the first Congress : Senate-Administration, 17; Opposition, 9; House-Administration, 38; Opposi- tion, 26.
1792
In 1792, both the Federalist and Republican parties having become established, a general agreement of the leaders of each on the question of the Vice-Presidency was arrived at, to which the Electors conformed with but few exceptions. John Adams received the entire Federalist vote, 77, and was elected. The rising power of the Republicans was shown by their vote of 50 for George Clinton, with, in addition, 4 for Thomas Jeffer-
21
NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS
son and 1 for Aaron Burr. This election proved, how- ever, the only instance of popular acceptance of the amiable plan of "general agreement" in the matter of party selections. A convincing demonstration of its futility was afforded in the contest of 1796.
1796
During that year President Washington informed the country of his decision not to accept a third term; but the announcement came late (it was made in his Farewell Address, dated September 17), and, as the system of national nominations, even by caucus, had not yet been devised, the Electors acted without any more binding obligations than those that they felt were owing to the prevailing sentiment in their several States and to the particular dominating leaders whom they severally favored. It was well understood that the Federalists in general desired the election of John Adams as President and Thomas Pinckney as Vice- President; and that the majority of the Republicans favored Thomas Jefferson for the Presidency and Aaron Burr for the Vice-Presidency. Under the con- stitutional plan for double votes by the Electors, how- ever, the balloting took a wide range, with the result that Adams stood first, with 71 votes, and Jefferson second, with 68, and were elected, respectively, Presi- dent and Vice-President. It is interesting to note the remaining votes, all of which counted as choices for President in the first instance and then for Vice-Presi- dent. They were :- Thomas Pinckney, of South Caro- lina, 59; Aaron Burr, of New York, 30; Samuel Adams,
22
POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
[1796-8
of Massachusetts, 15; Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, 11 ; George Clinton, of New York, 7; John Jay, of New York, 5; James Iredell, of North Carolina, 3; George Washington, 2; John Henry, of Maryland, 2; Samuel Johnston, of North Carolina, 2; Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, 1. This extraordinarily mixed out- come, satisfactory to neither party and presaging mis- adventure for all future political calculations unless steps to prescribe and assure party regularity should be taken, led to the invention of the first nominating sys- tem for President and Vice-President-that by Con- gressional caucus.
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798-99
After the advent of the Republican party in 1791, that organization " at once developed formidable strength. It controlled the House of Representatives in the Third Congress (1793-95), and lacked only two votes of a majority in the next-elected House (1795-97). But throughout John Adams's administration (1797- 1801) the Federalists enjoyed full power in all branches of the government, which they exercised with the great- est positiveness in the partisan respect; it became a com- mon saying of their opponents that they were "drunk with power." The outstanding result was the enact- ment of the famous Alien and Sedition laws (1798). In view of those measures and of the general Federalist policy favoring a strongly centralized government, the leaders of the Republicans decided on declarations af- firmative of the reserved rights of the States under the Constitution as interpreted by them.
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