Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1879 — WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. [ARTICLE]

WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

The Democracy of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, 'declare the following convictions and principles of their political faith, and cordially invite the co-operation of all good citizens in the endeavor to establish them as guides for the government of the country: 1. The Democratic party was founded by illustrious statesmen in the early days of the republic to settle the forms and customs calculated to secure self-government to the people and the largest measure of political liberty and equality to every citizen, regardless of birth, rank or wealth, and in express aDd unfailing antagonism to all those politicians, by whatever party name designated, Who assent and support the aristocratic doctrine of centralization of political power in the hands of a few for the government of the many, and it maintains against adversaries now, as heretofore, the right of free citizens to local self-government. 2. To secure and perpetuate the blessings of such liberty and equality, our system of government was formed; that in that system the National Government is an indissoluble union; that within the limit of powers delegated by the constitution and its amendments the National Government is supreme; that all powers not thereby delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the States art reserved to the States respectively or to the people; and that the preservation of the just powers of the Federal Union and the rights of tne States, as vital parts of one harmonious whole, is essential to the protection of liberty for ourselves and its transmission to our posterity. 3. The Government of the Union has proved itself strong enough to cope with and overthrow the most poweriul attempt at disruption by force which can be aimed against it The danger to democratic liberty and self-government from centralized power and oppression, shown by all history to be the most fatal, has yet to be encountered, and we charge upon the loaders of the Republican party the responsibility for the most perilous steps toward that end. They have sanctioned the use of the military to overawe elections and control elections; they have defended flagrant outrages in the counting of votes by illegal Returning Boards; they have upheld and supported fraudulent State Governments by 'military power; they have established a horde of infamous partisan officials at the polls in divers cities, chiefly in the Northern States, at the expense of the national treasury, with power to imprison free citizens, their opponents, without wariant, in order to intimidate electors and control elections; they have, by treasonable conspiracy, defeated the popular voice in the election of a President, and placed in the Executive office a defeated candidate; and they have, by forcing him to the unjustifiable exercise of the veto power, defeated the will of the Eeople expressed by decisive majorities in the ouses of Congress in an effort to secure the freedom of'the ballot-box from interference by the central power, while, by various acts at different times, they have unreasonably multiplied the numner of Federal officials, and unjustifiably increased and concentrated political Eower in their hands and imposed grievous urdens on the people.

4. That the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes into the Presidential office, to which Samuel J. Tilden was constitutionally elected, was the highest crime ever successfully perpetrated against the spirit of the institutions of our republican liberty, destructive of confidence in free suffrage, imminently dangerous to the life of the nation, and shocking to all moral sense; and we solemnly declare that, as that crime has never been condoned, so it shall never be forgotten, and that the same spirit of patriotism which forbore the contest upon the first offense will resist and punish any attempt at the repetition. 5. The Democracy of Wisconsin denounce and condemn whatever of intimidation, violence, or fraud has been practiced by lawless and unscrupulous partisans on either sido, and wherever done; they also stigmatize as wicked, atrocious, and demanding summary and condign punishment all deeds of violenco on political adversaries. They would, however, for all sucb, pursue the remedies given bylaw, and they call upon the authorities of tho States and localities where any such offenses have been perpetrated to justify the law and unrelentingly prosecute and punish the offenders. But alleged frauds do not warrant political conspirators to decide how a state, ought to have cast its vote, or so to declare it by fraudulent count in favor of some candidates and against others on the same ticket, who received the same or a greater vote; nor do occasional deeds of personal violence, though springing from political animosity, authorize usurpation or unjustifiable interference with local government by Federal officials; and, in tho turbulence and disorder of some portions of some Southern States we recognize the legitimate and natural fruit of the unlawful carpetbag authority and misrule to which they have been fraudulently subjected by the leaders of the Republican party. 6. The Democratic party is unalterably opposed to the assumption or the payment by the. United States of any claims of any character to States or individuals engaged in or supporting the late rebellion against the Union, resulting from or growing out of the injury or destruction of property in war, notwithstanding an enormous amount of such claims was allowed and paid under authority of Congress while in the hands of the Republican party. 7. That as the Democratic party adhered to the financial doctrine which it established when in power, that the constitutional currency of the country and the basis of all other should be gold and silver coin, so we maintain that all national treasury notes and authorized currency should be convertible into the same on demand.

8. That the Democracy does not forget tl at to the promptness, valor, endurance and noble devotion of the patriotic volunteers of the army and navy in the iate war this country is indebted, under Providence, for the salvation of its form of government, and the constitutional liberty and prosperity now enjoyed by all its citizens, and again thankfully acknowledges the debt of national and individual gratitude which is due to the living and dead heroes of the nation, an obligation which increases with years, and which entitles the survivors to receive all the marks of appreciation and honor which a grateful people can properly bestow. 9. That the administration of State affairs ought to be conducted with greater economy, and a greater effort made to diminish the burden of taxes; that all official salaries and fees and all expenditures for State, charitable, educational and penal raised to meet the necessities of high-priced times, must now be correspondingly reduced, and all useless boards and commissions abolished; and that the candidates of this convention pledge their best endeavors to pursue a course of public retrenchment in public expenditures. 10. We should protect our naturalized citizens as we do our native-born in every part of tho civilized world, and we should resist all improper claims upon them by Governments to which they no longer owe allegiance. 11. That as the Democratic party, beiDg founded on those principles which best support the liberty and welfare of the citizen, has hitherto survived all former adversaries, so. by faithful adherence to its time-honored doctrines and the selection of honest and competent men for public affairs, it looks forward with abiding confidence to its final and complete triumph over all who now oppose those principles.