Election of 1840 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. Baltimore, Md., May 5, 1840. Chairman pro tem., ISAAC HILL, of New Hampshire. Chairman, WILLIAM CARROLL, of Tennessee. NOMINATED For President, Martin Van Buren, of New York. For Vice-President, no nomination. Delegates from 21 states attended the Democratic Convention. Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, South Carolina, and Virginia were not represented. Martin Van Buren was renominated without opposition. No nomination was made for Vice-President, but the following resolution was adopted, stating the reason therefor: "Resolved, that the convention deem it expedient at the present time, not to choose between the individuals in nomination, but to leave the decision to their Republican fellow-citizens in the several states, trusting that before the Election shall take place this opinion will become so concentrated as to secure the choice of a Vice-President by the Electoral College." For a list of those voted for see the electoral vote of this election. The following platform was adopted : DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 1. Resolved, That the federal government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 2. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements. 3. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several states, contracted for local internal improvements or other state purposes; nor would such assumption be just or expedient. 4. Resolved, That justice and sound policy forbid the federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another 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 to complete and ample protection of person and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression. 5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the government 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. 6. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a United States 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 the will of the people. 7. Resolved, That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything pertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts by Abolitionists or others, made 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 conse quences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions. 8. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people. 9. Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which inake 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 present privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the Alien and Sedition laws from our statute-book. WHIG CONVENTION. Harrisburg, Pa., December 4-7, 1839. Chairman pro tem., ISAAC C. BATES, Delegates from 22 states appeared at this convention. Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, were not represented. A special rule was adopted at this convention which might be called the "unit rule," according to which the delegations by states selected a committee of three each, such committeemen to assemble as a Committee of the Whole. The state delegations, meeting separately, were to ballot, and then to deliver their ballots to their |