Page images
PDF
EPUB

ident and Vice-President of the United States, have fulfilled the hopes of the Democracy of the Union in defeating the declared purposes of their opponents in creating a national bank; in preventing the corrupt and unconstitutional distribution of the land proceeds from the common treasury of the Union for local purposes; in protecting the currency and labor of the country from ruinous fluctuations, and guarding the money of the country for the use of the people by the establishment of the constitutional treasury; in the noble impulse given to the cause of free trade by the repeal of the tariff of 1842, and the creation of the more equal, honest, and productive tariff of 1846; and that, in our opinion, it would be a fatal error to weaken the hands of a political organization by which these great reforms have been achieved, and risk them in the hands of their known adversaries, with whatever delusive appeals they may solicit our surrender of that vigilance which is the only safeguard of liberty.

22. Resolved, That the confidence of the Democracy of the Union in the principles, capacity, firmness, and integrity of James K. Polk, manifested by his nomination and election of 1844, has been signally justified by the strictness of his adherence to sound Democratic doctrines, by the purity of purpose, the energy and ability, which have characterized his administration in all our affairs at home and abroad; that we tender to him our cordial congratulations upon the brilliant success which has hitherto crowned his patriotic efforts, and assure him that at the expiration of his presidential term he will carry with him to his retirement the esteem, respect, and admiration of a grateful country.

Resolved, That this convention hereby presents to the people of the United States, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, as the candidate of the Democratic party for the office of President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President of the United States.

WHIG CONVENTION.

Philadelphia, Pa., June 7-9, 1848.

Chairman pro tem., JOHN A. COLLIER,

of New York.

Chairman, JOHN M. MOREHEAD,

of North Carolina.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

NOMINATED

For President, Zachary Taylor,

of Louisiana.

For Vice-President, Millard Fillmore,

of New York.

Every state was represented at this convention except Texas. Two days were spent in perfecting the organization. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, was nominated as the candidate for President on the fourth ballot. The following was the vote:

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

As the candidate for Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, of New York, was declared nominated on the second ballot, as follows:

[blocks in formation]

WHIG PLATFORM.

1. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, here assembled by their representatives, heartily ratify the nominations of General Zachary Taylor as President and Millard Fillmore as Vice-President of the United States, and pledge themselves to their support.

2. Resolved, That in the choice of General Taylor as the Whig candidate for President we are glad to discover sympathy with a great popular sentiment throughout the nation-a sentiment which, having its origin in admiration of great military success, has been strengthened by the development, in every action and every word, of sound conservative opinions and of true fidelity to the great example of former days, and to the principles of the Constitution as administered by its founders.

3. Resolved, That General Taylor, in saying that, had he voted in 1844 he would have voted the Whig ticket, gives us the assurance-and no better is needed from a consistent and truth-speaking man-that his heart was with us at the crisis of our political destiny, when Henry Clay was our candidate, and when not only Whig principles were well defined and clearly asserted, but Whig measures depended upon success. The heart that was with us then is with us now, and we have a soldier's word of honor and a life of public and private virtue as the security.

4. Resolved, That we look on General Taylor's administration of the government as one conducive of peace, prosperity, and union; of peace, because no one better knows, or has greater reason to deplore, what he has seen sadly on the field of victory, the horrors of war, and especially of a foreign and aggressive war; of prosperity, now more than ever needed to relieve the nation from a burden of debt and restore industry— agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial-to its accustomed and peaceful functions and influences; of union, because we have a candidate whose very position as a Southwestern man, reared on the banks of the great stream whose tributaries, natural and artificial, embrace the whole Union, renders the protection of the interests of the whole country his first trust, and whose various duties in past life have been rendered not on the soil or under the flag of any state or section, but over the wide frontier and under the broad banner of the nation.

« PreviousContinue »