FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, MAY 20, 21, 1868. GRANT and COLFAX. By the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, became President. Mr. Johnson had been nominated with the view of recognizing the war Democrats and the "sturdy Unionists of the South." From a position of almost violent hatred of the people of the rebellious states, or at least the leaders in the late rebellion, he changed his attitude so radically in a few months, that he was in direct antagonism with the party which elected him in respect to its policy for the reconstruction or reorganization of the seceding states. It is no part of the purpose of the writer to narrate details of the long and bitter contestduring which he escaped impeachment by one vote-which only ended on his retirement from office on March 4, 1869. Suffice it to say that the campaign of 1868 was fought upon the issues growing out of the reconstruction acts of Congress, the amendments to the Constitution, and the suffrage and citizenship they conferred upon the colored race. The Republican National Convention convened in Chicago on May 20, 1868. There was practically no contest for the nomination for President, it being almost universally conceded that Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was the natural and inevitable choice of the Republicans for that office. The controlling reasons for this were his great military achievements, the part he took in the controversy with President Johnson, and the fact that he was known to be in sympathy with the Republican party in respect to the questions growing out of the war, although he had never voted the Republican ticket. This feeling was demonstrated to the full satisfaction of the convention of soldiers and sailors-presided over by Gen. John A. Logan-which met in Chicago previous to the meeting of the convention and passed resolutions earnestly demanding his nomination. The convention was called to order by Gov. Marcus L. Ward of New Jersey, chairman of the Republican national committee, who man. presented the name of Carl Schurz of Missouri for temporary chairAn organization was then perfected, Gen. Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut being made president. There were no contests, the Committee on Credentials having practically nothing to do but confirm the work of the national committee as to the roll. Mr. R. W. Barker of New York, from the Committee on Rules and Order of Business, made a report, which was adopted with slight amendment. Richard W. Thompson of Indiana, from the Committee on Resolutions, then reported the following platform: The national Republican party of the United States, assembled in National Convention in the city of Chicago on the 21st day of May, 1868, make the following declaration of principles: 1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the reconstruction policy of congress, as evinced by the adoption, in a majority of the states lately in rebellion, of constitutions securing equal, civil, and political rights to all; and it is the duty of the government to sustain those constitutions, and to prevent the people of such states from being remitted to a state of anarchy or military rule. 2. The guarantee by congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal states properly belongs to the people of those states. 3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime, and national honor re'quires the payment of the public indebtedness in the utmost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted. 4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized, and reduced as rapidly as national faith will permit. 5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period of redemption; and it is the duty of congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can honestly be done. 6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected. 7. The government of the United States should be administered with the strictest economy; and the corruptions which have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical reform. ; 8. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession of Andrew Johnson to the Presidency, who has acted treacherously to the people who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to execute the laws; who has used his high office to induce others to ignore and violate the laws who has employed his executive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, liberty, and life of the citizen; who has abused the pardoning power; who has denounced the national legislature as unconstitutional; who has persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption, and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty-five senators. 9. The doctrine by Great Britain and other European powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States as a relic of feudal times not authorized by the laws of nations and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to protection in all their rights of citizenship as though they were native born, and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and if so arrested and imprisoned it is the duty of the government to interfere in his behalf. 10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise and imperiled their lives in the service of the country. The bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation are obligations never to be forgotten. The widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people-a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care. 11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development and resources, and increase of power to this nation-the asylum of the oppressed of all nations-should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 12. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed people struggling for their rights. 13. That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with which men who have served in the rebellion, but who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring the peace of the country and reconstructing the Southern state governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are received back into the communion of loyal people; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the late rebels in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people. 14. That we recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal Declaration of Independence as the true foundation of democratic government, and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these principles a living, reality on every inch of American soil. The above includes two resolutions-numbers 11 and 12-submitted by Carl Schurz and accepted by the committee and convention. Nominations for a candidate for President being then in order, Gen. John A. Logan presented the name of Ulysses S. Grant, and no other name being presented the roll of states was then called and every vote-650 in all-was cast for him. The convention then proceeded to ballot for a candidate for Vice-President, five ballots being necessary to effect a nomination. The several ballots resulted as follows: William Claflin of Massachusetts was made chairman and John D. Defrees of Indiana secretary of the national committee. The following resolution, introduced by Richard W. Thompson of Indiana, was adopted: Resolved, That the adjournment of this convention shall not work a dissolution of the same, but it shall remain as organized, subject to be called together at any time and place that the National Republican Executive Committee shall designate. The Democratic national convention was held in New York, July 4–11 and, after a week's session, and in spite of his vehement objection and protest, nominated Horatio Seymour of New York (its presiding officer) for President, and unanimously nominated-in spite of his revolutionary Broadhead letter-General Frank P. Blair of Missouri for Vice-President. The delay in nominating candidates grew out of the enforcement of the " unit rule" and the course of the New York and Pennsylvania delegations in blocking action by abandoning "growing candidates when they became dangerous." The votes of thirty-three of the thirty-seven states (Nebraska having been admitted March 1, 1867), were counted; the states of Mississippi, Texas and Virginia, not being entitled to representation in congress under the act of July 20, 1868, passed over President Johnson's veto, were excluded from the electoral college, the case of Georgia being in doubt, though it was treated as Missouri had been in 1820. The popular and electoral votes, with the exceptions above stated, were as follows: *Florida adopted the system-discarded by South Carolina-of choosing electors by the legislature. Mississippi was entitled to 7, Texas 6, and Virginia 10 electoral votes. The vote of Georgia was counted in the form prescribed by the Senate concurrent resolution introduced by Senator Edmunds, agreed to by the House, though the House, by a vote of 150 to 41, decided that the vote of Georgia should not be counted on the grounds stated by General Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts, viz: First. That the votes were not given on the day fixed by law. The electoral college of Georgia had met on the 9th instead of the 2d of December, 1868; Second. Because at the date of the election Georgia had not been admitted to representation in congress; Third. Because Georgia had not complied with the reconstruction acts; and |