USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. VI > Part 10
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Platform :
Resolutions 1 to 7, inclusive, were those having the same num- bers in the platform of 1848.
"8. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the govern- ment to enforce and practice 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 for the gradual but certain extinction of the public debt.
"9. Resolved, 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 institu- tions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the busi- ness of the country within the control of a concentrated money power and above the laws and the will of the people; and that the results of Democratic legislation in this and all other financial measures upon which issues have been made between the two political parties of the country have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties their soundness, safety, and utility in all business pur- suits.
"10. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the govern- ment from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people.
"11. Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and sanctioned in the Constitu- tion, which make 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 the owners of the soil among us ought to be resisted with the same spirit that swept the Alien and Sedition laws from our statute-book.
"12. Resolved, That Congress has no power, under the Consti- tution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that 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 made to
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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 consequences; and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions.
"13. Resolved, That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Con- gress; 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 last Congress-the 'act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor' included ; which act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be re- pealed nor so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.
"14. Resolved, 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.
"15. Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national object specified in the Constitu- tion ; and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the States as alike inexpedient in policy and repug- nant to the Constitution.
"16. Resolved, 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 Representa- tives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of the Bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of general internal improvements.
"17. Resolved, That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Vir- ginia resolutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as con-
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stituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.
"18. Resolved, That the war with Mexico, upon all the princi- ples of patriotism and the law of nations, was a just and necessary war on our part, in which no American citizen should have shown himself opposed to his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or deed, have given aid and comfort to the enemy.
"19. Resolved, That we rejoice at the restoration of friendly relations with our sister republic of Mexico, and earnestly desire for her all the blessings and the prosperity which we enjoy under republi- can institutions; and we congratulate the American people on the results of that war, which have so manifestly justified the policy and conduct of the Democratic party and insured to the United States indemnity for the past and security for the future.
"20. Resolved, That in view of the condition of popular institu- tions in the old world a high and sacred duty is devolved, with increased responsibility, upon the Democracy of this country, as the party of the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State, and thereby the Union of States, and to sustain and advance among them constitutional liberty by continuing to resist all monopo- lies and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those princi- ples 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 expansion of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive people."
The important resolutions were 12, 13, 14, 17, and 20, which, taken together, constituted the matured Democratic doctrine on the slavery issues as developed up to that time and the essential related matters of national powers and State rights. They expressed beyond the possibility of doubt the complete and final determination of the party to abide by the early theo- ries, principles, and decisions of conservatism and
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reservations for and on behalf of the States individu- ally-which meant, so far as slavery was concerned, an entire toleration of the institution and resistance to agitations or measures against it as dangerous to the Union because of the irreconcilable differences that would result. As yet the Democratic party did not go to the length of defining its position regarding slavery extension. That subject was not at issue in the campaign, except as it was collateral to the un- qualified approbation of the Compromise acts:
Whig Party
National convention held in Baltimore, June 16-19, 1852; chairman, John G. Chapman, of Maryland.
President Fillmore was a candidate for renomina- tion, and was warmly supported by nearly all the southern delegates, and by some from the north who, regarding his administration as satisfactory to the country and the opposition to him by the anti-slavery Whigs as unjust, felt that the party could not con- sistently refuse him its endorsement. Until toward the end of the protracted balloting his vote fell off but little, and even at the conclusion it showed no such collapse as frequently happens in a national conven- tion when the favorite at the start goes down to defeat. His failure to be nominated was due to the reluctant but strong conviction of the majority of the convention that he would not be able to counteract the prejudice excited by his signature of the Fugitive Slave bill. Vote on the first ballot :- Fillmore, 133; General Winfield Scott, of New Jersey, 131; Daniel Webster,
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29. Fifty-third and last ballot :- Scott, 159; Fillmore, 112; Webster, 21.
For Vice-President, William A. Graham, of North Carolina, was nominated on the second ballot.
Platform :
"The Whigs of the United States, in convention assembled, adher- ing to the great conservative principles by which they are con- trolled and governed, and now as ever relying upon the intelligence of the American people, with an abiding confidence in their capacity for self-government and their devotion to the Constitution and the Union, do proclaim the following as the political sentiments and determination for the establishment and maintenance of which their national organization as a party was effected :
"First. The government of the United States is of a limited character, and is confined to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the Constitution and such as may be necessary and proper for carrying the granted powers into full execution, and that powers not granted or necessarily implied are reserved to the States respectively and to the people.
"Second. The State governments should be held secure as to their reserved rights, and the general government sustained in its constitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and watched over as the palladium of our liberties.
"Third. That while struggling freedom everywhere enlists the warmest sympathy of the Whig party we still adhere to the doc- trines of the Father of his Country, as announced in his Farewell Address, of keeping ourselves free from all entangling alliances with foreign countries and never quitting our own to stand upon foreign grounds; that our mission as a republic is not to propagate our opinions, or impose upon other countries our form of government by artifice or force, but to teach by example and show by our suc- cess, moderation, and justice the blessings of self-government and the advantages of free institutions.
"Fourth. That, as the people make and control the government, they should obey its Constitution, laws, and treaties as they would
MARTIN VAN BUREN
Martin Van Buren, 8th president; born at Kinderhook, N. Y., December 5, 1782; lawyer; surrogate of Columbia county; member of state senate, 1813-20; attorney general of state of New York, 1815-19; delegate to state constitutional convention, 1821; United States senator from March 4, 1821 to 1828, when he resigned to become governor of New York State; resigned March 12, 1829 to become secretary of state of the United States; resigned August 1, 1831, having been appointed minister to Great Britain, but the senate rejected the nomination; elected vice president, 1832; elected president in 1836; defeated for re- election in 1840; anti-slavery candidate for president in 1848; died at Kinderhook, N. Y., July 24, 1862.
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retain their self-respect and the respect which they claim and will enforce from foreign powers.
"Fifth. Governments should be conducted on principles of the strictest economy, and revenue sufficient for the expenses thereof in time of peace ought to be derived mainly from a duty on imports, and not from direct taxes; and in laying such duties sound policy requires a just discrimination, and, when practicable, by specific duties, whereby suitable encouragement may be afforded to American indus- try equally to all classes and to all portions of the country.
"Sixth. The Constitution vests in Congress the power to open and repair harbors and remove obstructions from navigable rivers whenever such improvements are necessary for the common defense and for the protection and facility of commerce with foreign nations or among the States, said improvements being in every instance national and general in their character.
"Seventh. The Federal and State governments are parts of one system, alike necessary for the common prosperity, peace, and secur- ity, and ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment. Respect for the authority of each, and acqui- esence in the just constitutional measures of each, are duties required by the plainest considerations of national, State, and individual wel- fare.
"Eighth. That the series of acts of the Thirty-second Congress, the act known as the Fugitive Slave law included, are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting questions which they embrace; and, so far as they are concerned, we will main- tain them and insist upon their strict enforcement until time and ex- perience shall demonstrate the necessity for further legislation to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand and the abuse of their powers on the other, not impairing their present efficiency; and we deprecate all further agitation of the question thus settled as dangerous to our peace, and will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew such agitation, whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be made; and we will maintain this system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity of the Union."
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Except for its brevity, manner of detailed treatment, and some differences on miscellaneous topics which the general public was not inclined to consider im- portant, the Whig platform was identical with the Democratic. It was dictated by the southern dele- gates, who, on the first day of the convention, held a caucus and decided on the resolutions that they would accept.1 The last plank, which was as absolute and comprehensive an endorsement of the southern posi- tion as the Democrats had put forth, was warmly de- bated by the convention and adopted by a vote of 212 to 70.2 There was not an expression or allusion in the platform that could be construed as of sympathetic feeling toward the great anti-slavery constituency of the Whig party.
In nominating General Scott the party was under- stood to have been actuated by the same spirit of dis- cretion that it had so conspicuously shown and that had proved so wise in 1848. He had in no way been identi- fied with the controversies on the slavery question, and was expected, on account of his colorless views, military distinction, and the high respect in which he was held, to be acceptable to the whole country. It could well be said that he belonged equally to both sec- tions, as he was a southerner by birth and ancestry but a northerner by residence.
The old-line Whig leaders fully believed that the Compromises of 1850 had settled the slavery issue. The party had been founded and maintained for ideas
1Edward Stanwood, A History of Presidential Elections, p. 183.
2Greeley and Cleveland's Political Text-Book for 1860, p. 19.
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and purposes not at all concerned with slavery, had accordingly become thoroughly established at the south as well as the north, preëminently represented practical men, and was utterly incapable of successful conversion into an organization for the affirmation and promotion of the comparatively new and very doubtful cause of political anti-slavery. Throughout its career it had been characteristically an opposition party, successful only when the mistakes or factional troubles of the Democrats gave it an advantage, and even after its greatest triumphs had had the ill-fortune of soon finding them almost fruitless. It was in no position to compete with the Democrats on the slavery question, and therefore was most happy to persuade itself that its vexations were really ended by the Com- promises.
Free Soil Party
Convention held in Pittsburgh, August 11, 1852; chairman, Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts. All the free States were represented, together with Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Virginia.
Nominations :- For President, John P. Hale, of New Hampshire; for Vice-President, George W. Julian, of Indiana.
Platform :
"Having assembled in national convention as the Free Democracy of the United States, united by a common resolve to maintain right against wrong, and freedom against slavery; confiding in the intelli- gence, patriotism, and discriminating justice of the American people; putting our trust in God for the triumph of our cause and invoking
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His guidance in our endeavors to advance it, we now submit to the candid judgment of all men the following declaration of principles and measures :
"First. That governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed are instituted among men to secure to all those inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with which they are endowed by their Creator, and of which none can be deprived by valid legislation, except for crime.
"Second. That the true mission of American Democracy is to maintain the liberties of the people, the sovereignty of the States, and the perpetuity of the Union by the impartial application to public affairs, without sectional discrimination, of the fundamental principles of human rights, strict justice, and an economical administration.
"Third. That the Federal government is one of limited powers derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of powers therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubt- ful constitutional powers.
"Fourth. That the Constitution of the United States, ordained to form a more perfect Union, to establish justice, and secure the bless- ings of liberty, expressly denies to the general government all power to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and therefore the government, having no more power to make a slave than to make a king, and no more power to establish slavery than to establish a monarchy, should at once proceed to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence of slavery wherever it possesses constitutional power to legislate for its extinction.
"Fifth. That to the persevering and importunate demands of the slave power for more slave States, new slave Territories, and the na- tionalization of slavery, our distinct and final answer is: No more slave States, no slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and no national legislation for the extradition of slaves.
"Sixth. That slavery is a sin against God and a crime against man, which no human enactment nor usage can make right; and that Christianity, humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition.
"Seventh. That the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 is repugnant to
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the Constitution, to the principles of the common law, to the spirit of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world. We there- fore deny its binding force on the American people, and demand its immediate and total repeal.
"Eighth. That the doctrine that any human law is a finality, and not subject to modification or repeal, is not in accordance with the creed of the founders of our government and is dangerous to the liberties of the people.
"Ninth. That the acts of Congress known as the Compromise measures of 1850, by making the admission of a sovereign State con- tingent upon the adoption of other measures demanded by. the special interest of slavery; by their omission to guarantee freedom in the free Territories; by their attempt to impose unconstitutional limita- tions on the powers of Congress and the people to admit new States; by their provisions for the assumption of five millions of the State debt of Texas and for the payment of five millions more, and the cession of large territory to the same State under menace as an in- ducement to the relinquishment of a groundless claim; and by their invasion of the sovereignty of the States and the liberties of the people through the enactment of an unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional Fugitive Slave law, are proved to be inconsistent with all the princi- ples and maxims of Democracy, and wholly inadequate to the settle- ment of the questions of which they are claimed to be an adjustment.
"Tenth. That no permanent settlement of the slavery question can be looked for except in the practical recognition of the truth that slavery is sectional and freedom national; by the total separation of the general government from slavery, and the exercise of its legitimate and constitutional influence on the side of freedom; and by leaving to the States the whole subject of slavery and the extradition of fugitives from service.
"Eleventh. That all men have a natural right to a portion of the soil; and that as the use of the soil is indispensable to life, the right of all men to the soil is as sacred as their right to life itself.
"Twelfth. That the public lands of the United States belong to the people, and should not be sold to individuals nor granted to cor- porations, but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the
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people and should be granted in limited quantities, free of cost, to landless settlers.
"Thirteenth. That a due regard for the Federal Constitution and a sound administrative policy demand that the funds of the general government be kept separate from banking institutions; that inland and ocean postage should be reduced to the lowest possible point; that no more revenue should be raised than is required to defray the strictly necessary expenses of the public service and to pay off the public debt ; and that the power and patronage of the government should be diminished by the abolition of all unnecessary offices, salaries, and privileges, and by the election by the people of all civil officers in the service of the United States so far as may be consistent with the prompt and efficient transaction of the public business.
"Fourteenth. That river and harbor improvements, when neces- sary to the safety and convenience of commerce with foreign nations or among the several States, are objects of national concern, and it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to provide for the same.
"Fifteenth. That emigrants and exiles from the old world should find a cordial welcome to homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the new; and every attempt to abridge their privilege of becoming citizens and owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with in- flexible determination.
"Sixteenth. That every nation has a clear right to alter or change its own government, and to administer its own concerns, in such manner as may best secure the rights and promote the happiness of the people; and foreign interference with that right is a dangerous violation of the law of nations, against which all independent govern- ments should protest and endeavor by all proper means to prevent ; and especially is it the duty of the American government, representing the chief republic of the world, to protest against, and by all proper means to prevent, the intervention of kings and emperors against nations seeking to establish for themselves republican or constitutional govern- ments.
"Seventeenth. That the independence of Hayti ought to be re-
.
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cognized by our government, and our commercial relations with it placed on the footing of the most favored nations.
"Eighteenth. That as, by the Constitution, 'the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States,' the practice of imprisoning colored seamen of other States while the vessels to which they belong lie in port, and refusing the exercise of the right to bring such cases before the Supreme Court of the United States to test the legality of such pro- ceedings, is a flagrant violation of the Constitution and an invasion of the rights of the citizens of other States, utterly inconsistent with the professions made by the slaveholders that they wish the provisions of the Constitution faithfully observed by every State in the Union.
"Nineteenth. That we recommend the introduction into all treaties hereafter to be negotiated between the United States and foreign nations, of some provision for the amicable settlement of diffi- culties by a resort to decisive arbitration.
"Twentieth. That the Free Democratic party is not organized to aid either the Whig or Democratic wing of the great slave-compromise party of the nation, but to defeat them both; and that, repudiating and denouncing both as hopelessly corrupt and utterly unworthy of con- fidence, the purpose of the Free Democracy is to take possession of the Federal government and administer it for the better protection of the rights and interests of the whole people.
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