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 interest 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 persons and property. from domestic violence or foreign aggression.

5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the Gov. ernment 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 consequences, 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 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 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.

Whereas, Several of the States which have nominated Martin Van Buren as a candidate for the Presidency have put in nomination different individuals as candidates for Vice-President, thus indicating a diversity of opinion, as to the person

best entitled to the nomination; and, whereas, some of the said States are not represented in this convention; therefore,

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 their opinions will become so concentrated as to secure the choice of a Vice-President by the Electoral College.

WHIG CONVENTION

Harrisburg, Pa., December 4-7, 1839.

No platform.

LIBERTY OR ABOLITION PARTY

Resolution

Resolved, That, in our judgment, every consideration of duty and expediency which ought to control the action of Christian freemen requires of the Abolitionists of the United. States to organize a distinct and independent political party, embracing all the necessary means for nominating candidates for office and sustaining them by public suffrage. Adopted November 13, at Warsaw, New York.

1844

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM

Resolutions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, of the platform of 1840, were re-affirmed, to which were added the following:

10. Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the Constitution, and that we are opposed to the laws lately adopted, and to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the States, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the Constitution.

11. 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 interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has thrice saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of the Bank of the United States.

12. Resolved, That our title to the whole of the Territory of Oregon is clear and unquestionable; that no portion of the same ought to be ceded to England or any other power, and that the re-occupation of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which this convention recommends to the cordial support of the Democracy of the Union.

WHIG PLATFORM

1. Resolved, That these principles may be summed as comprising a well regulated national currency; a tariff for revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the Government, and discriminating with special reference to the protection of the domestic labor of the country; the distribution of the proceeds from the sales of the public lands; a single term for the Presi dency; a reform of Executive usurpations; and generally such an administration of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every branch of the public service the greatest practical efficiency, controlled by a well-regulated and wise economy.

LIBERTY PLATFORM

1. Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal principle of true democracy as well as of pure Christianity, which spurns all inconsistent limitations; and neither the political party which repudiates it nor the political system which is not based upon it, can be truly democratic or permanent.

2. Resolved, That the Liberty party, placing itself upon this broad principle, will demand the absolute and unqualified

divorce of the General Government from slavery, and also the restoration of equality of rights among men in every State where the party exists or may exist.

3. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized for any temporary purpose by interested politicians, but has arisen from among the people in consequence of a conviction hourly gaining ground, that no other party in the country represents the true principles of American liberty, or the true spirit of the Constitution of the United States.

4. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized merely for the overthrow of slavery; its first decided effort must, indeed, be directed against slave-holding as the grossest and most revolting manifestation of despotism, but it will also carry out the principle of equal rights into all its practical consequences and applications, and support every just measure conducive to individual and social freedom.

5. Resolved, That the Liberty party is not a sectional party, but a National party; was not originated in a desire to ac ⚫complish a single object, but in a comprehensive regard to the great interests of the whole country; is not a new party, nor a third party, but is the party of 1776, reviving the principles of that memorable era, and striving to carry them into practical application.

6. Resolved, That it was understood in the times of the Declaration and the Constitution that the existence of slavery in some of the States was in derogation of the principles of American liberty, and a deep stain upon the character of the country, and the implied faith of the States and the Nation was pledged that slavery should never be extended beyond its then existing limits, but should be gradually, and yet, at no distant day, wholly abolished by State authority.

7. Resolved, That the faith of the States and the Nation thus pledged was most nobly redeemed by the voluntary abolition of slavery in several of the States, and by the adoption of the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, then the only Territory in the United States, and consequently the only Territory subject in this respect to the control of Congress, by which ordinance slavery