A History of the Republican Party Part 11

All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed.

Upon this record the Republican Party asks for the continued confidence and support of the people, and the convention submits for their approval the following statement of the principles and purposes which will continue to guide and inspire its efforts.

1. We affirm that the work of the Republican Party for the last twenty years has been such as to commend it to the favor of the nation; that the fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved through immense difficulties should be preserved; that the peace regained should be cherished; that the Union should be perpetuated, and that the liberty secured to this generation should be transmitted undiminished to other generations; that the order established and the credit acquired should never be impaired; that the pensions promised should be paid; that the debt, so much reduced, should be extinguished by the full payment of every dollar thereof; that the reviving industries should be further promoted, and that the commerce, already increasing, should be steadily encouraged.

2. The Const.i.tution of the United States is a supreme law, and not a mere contract. Out of confederated states it made a sovereign nation.

Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the states; but the boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved is to be determined by the national, and not by the state tribunal.

3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several states, but it is the duty of the national government to aid that work to the extent of its const.i.tutional ability. The intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several states, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any one state, but by the average genius of all.

4. The Const.i.tution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting the establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected against the influence of secret sectarianism which each state is exposed to its domination. We therefore recommend that the Const.i.tution be so amended as to lay the same prohibition upon the legislature of each state, and to forbid the appropriation of public funds for the support of sectarian schools.

5. We reaffirm the belief avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American labor; that no further grants of the public domain should be made to any railway or other corporation; that slavery having perished in the states, its twin barbarity--polygamy--must die in the territories; that everywhere the protection accorded to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption; that we deem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our seacoast and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private persons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory--to do them honor is and shall forever be the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people.

6. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the United States and the treaty-making power, the Republican Party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of Chinese as a matter of grave concernment under the exercise of both these powers, would limit and restrict that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane and reasonable laws and treaties as will produce that result.

7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier career of Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our immediate predecessors to him for a presidential candidate, have continued to inspire him in his career as Chief Executive; and that history will accord to his administration the honors which are due to an efficient, just and courteous discharge of the public business, and will honor his vetoes interposed between the people and attempted partisan laws.

8. We charge upon the Democratic Party the habitual sacrifice of patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable l.u.s.t for office and patronage; that to obtain possession of the national government and control of the place, they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom of the sufferage, and have devised fraudulent ballots and invented fraudulent certification of returns; have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of Congress, to secure at all hazards the vote of a majority of the states in the House of Representatives; have endeavored to occupy by force and fraud the places of trust given to others by the people of Maine, rescued by the courage and action of Maine's patriotic sons; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan legislation to appropriation bills upon whose pa.s.sage the very movement of the government depended; have crushed the rights of the individual; have advocated the principles and sought the favor of the rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories and to overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal freedom, and individual equality.

The equal, steady, and complete enforcement of the laws and the protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Const.i.tution, are the first duties of the nation.

The dangers of a "Solid South" can only be averted by a faithful performance of every promise which the nation has made to the citizen.

The execution of the laws, and the punishment of all those who violate them, are the only safe methods by which an enduring peace can be secured and genuine prosperity established throughout the South.

Whatever promises the nation makes the nation must perform. A nation cannot with safety relegate this duty to the states. The "Solid South"

must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all honest opinions must there find free expression. To this end the honest voter must be protected against terrorism, violence or fraud.

And we affirm it to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican Party to use all legitimate means to restore all the states of this Union to the most perfect harmony which may be possible, and we submit to the practical, sensible people of these United States to say whether it would not be dangerous to the dearest interests of our country at this time to surrender the administration of the national government to a party which seeks to overthrow the existing policy under which we are now so prosperous, and thus bring distrust and confusion where there is now order, confidence and hope.

9. The Republican Party, adhering to the principles affirmed by its last national convention of respect for the const.i.tutional rules governing appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes that the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical and complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative with the executive departments of the government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit to the public service.

The opening words of the fifth plank became the deciding issue of the campaign. The nominations for President were made at the evening session Sat.u.r.day. James G. Blaine was first placed in nomination by Thomas F.

Joy, and seconded by F. M. Pixley and Wm. P. Frye; Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by Roscoe Conkling and seconded by Wm. O. Bradley; John Sherman was nominated by James A. Garfield and seconded by F. C. Winkler and R. B. Elliott; William Windom was nominated by E. F. Drake; George F. Edmunds by Frederick Billings, and Elihu B. Washburn by J. E.

Ca.s.sady. The nominating speeches concluded near midnight, and aroused the utmost enthusiasm among the 15,000 men and women who were packed in the great hall. The convention adjourned at midnight to meet and begin balloting on Monday morning. The first ballot on Monday morning resulted as follows, 756 delegates being present:

Grant ................ 304 Edmunds .............. 34 Blaine ............... 284 Washburne ............ 30 Sherman .............. 93 Windom ............... 10

Twenty-eight ballots were taken on Monday with very little material change. Mr. Garfield received one vote on the second ballot, and afterwards received not more than two votes on any ballot until the thirty-fourth, taken on Tuesday, when Wisconsin broke and gave sixteen votes for Garfield, and this was the beginning of the movement by the Blaine and Sherman forces to combine and nominate Mr. Garfield, who was named on the thirty-sixth ballot. The vote for General Grant was solid until the end, never falling below that of the first ballot, 304. The concluding ballots are here given:

34th 35th 36th Ballot. Ballot. Ballot.

Grant ......... 312 313 306 Blaine ........ 275 257 42 Sherman ....... 107 99 3 Edmunds ....... 11 11 Washburne ..... 30 23 5 Windom ........ 4 3 Garfield ...... 17 50 399

Mr. Garfield was nominated, and the convention gave way to almost twenty minutes of cheering and enthusiasm, at the conclusion of which Roscoe Conkling moved that the nomination be made unanimous. As a concession to the disappointed Grant forces, Chester A. Arthur, of New York, was nominated for Vice-President on the first ballot over Elihu B.

Washburne, Marshall Jewell, Thomas Settle, Horace Maynard and Edmund J.

Davis, the ballot standing 468 for Arthur and 193 for Washburne, his nearest compet.i.tor, with scattering votes for the rest.

Although the nomination of Mr. Garfield, like that of Mr. Hayes, was totally unexpected, he was not unknown, and had already, by his services and career, earned for himself an enviable place in the nation's history. Born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1831, he had risen from an honorable poverty to the presidency of a College at the age of 26. He served one term in the Ohio Senate, and at the opening of the Civil War he was commissioned a Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers, and without any military experience and with a small force he routed a large body of Confederates at Middle Creek, Ky., in January, 1862, for which he received the highest praise from his superiors and the rank of Brigadier-General from President Lincoln. The rest of his military career was equally satisfactory and prominent, and he reached the rank of Major-General after Chickamauga. Resigning his commission, he took his seat in the House of Representatives in December, 1863, and immediately became a leader of the Republican forces, and his legislative work had been most conspicuous. He served from the Thirty-eighth to the Forty-Sixth Congresses inclusive, was on the Electoral Commission of 1877, and at the time of his nomination had been elected from Ohio to the United States Senate, but had not yet taken his seat.

The Greenback-Labor Convention met at Chicago, June 9th, and nominated James B. Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and B. F. Chambers, of Texas, for Vice-President, declaring in its platform that all money should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government; that the public domain should be kept for settlers, and that Congress should regulate commerce between the States. The Prohibition Convention at Cleveland, June 17th, nominated Neal Dow, of Maine, for President, and A. M.

Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The last of the great party conventions, that of the Democrats, met at Cincinnati, June 22d, and nominated General Winfield S. Hanc.o.c.k, of Pennsylvania, for President, on the second ballot, and William H. English, of Indiana, for Vice-President by acclamation. The Democratic platform was concise, and in sharp contrast to the verbose platform of 1876; it demanded an honest money of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand; tariff for revenue only; and that the public land be given to none but actual settlers.

For the first time since 1844 there was no agitation in any of the party platforms of the slave or southern questions, and all parties agreed on the Chinese question. The campaign opened with defeat for the Republicans in Maine, but this led to greater efforts in the West. Late in the canva.s.s the tariff issue became the most prominent one, and the declaration of the Democratic party for a tariff for revenue only was used against them with tremendous effect by the Republicans. Special efforts were made to gain the October States, and the Republican cause was greatly strengthened and perhaps won in them by several speeches delivered by General Grant and Senator Conkling. In desperation the Democrats, near the end of the canva.s.s (October 20th), published broadcast a letter purporting to come from Mr. Garfield and addressed to "H. L. Morey." The letter stated opinions on the Chinese question which, if true, would have cost many votes, but the letter was promptly shown to be a contemptible forgery, and so plain was the evidence that the letter was disavowed by most Democrats. The election on November 2d was a victory for Garfield and Arthur, who received 214 electoral votes to 155 for Hanc.o.c.k and English. The popular vote was:

Garfield ............ 4,454,416 Weaver .............. 308,578 Hanc.o.c.k ............. 4,444,952 Dow ................. 10,305

An a.n.a.lysis of the popular and electoral vote disclosed the fact that every former slave State was carried by the Democratic Party, and the "Solid South" for the Democrats again became a factor in national politics.

Mr. Garfield was inaugurated March 4, 1881, and almost immediately was involved in the controversy between the "Stalwart" and the "Half Breed"

Republicans in New York, the former being led by Senators Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Platt, and the latter being those who were opposed to the machine-like politics of the State. The "Stalwarts" had gained great strength during Gen. Grant's administration, but had been checked by President Hayes; they were the strongest advocates of Gen.

Grant for a third term, and were greatly disappointed over his defeat in the convention, but had loyally supported the nominee, and had now made up their minds to control the Federal patronage in New York. President Garfield was drawn into the muddle by his appointment of William H.

Robertson, a "Half Breed," to the Collectorship of New York. This called forth a protest signed by Postmaster-General James, Vice-President Arthur and Senators Conkling and Platt, the Senators announcing that they would oppose the confirmation in the Senate. This caused the President to withdraw all New York appointments until the matter should be settled, and as it was seen that the nomination would be confirmed, Senators Conkling and Platt resigned (May 16th), and appealed to the New York Legislature for re-election, but they were defeated, Elbridge C.

Lapham and Warren Miller being elected in their places. The controversy excited the whole country, and it was believed by many to have influenced the deplorable tragedy which took place July 2, 1881. About 9:30 a. m., on that day, the President and Mr. Blaine entered the Baltimore & Potomac station in Washington to join a party which would leave that morning for Long Branch, where the President was to join his wife. The President and Mr. Blaine entered the Ladies' Waiting Room, and shortly afterward two shots, fired by Charles Jules Guiteau, were heard, and the President fell mortally wounded. He lingered in great suffering until September 19th, when he died at Elberon, New Jersey, whither he had been removed from Washington.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chester A. Arthur.]

Vice-President Arthur was at his home in New York City at the time of President Garfield's death, and there took the oath of office as President in the early morning hours of September 20th, and took the formal oath in Washington on September 22d. It is of interest to know something of the man who was called, by these distressing circ.u.mstances, to the presidential chair.

President Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830; after teaching school, he studied law and was admitted to practice in New York City; he served honorably and notably during the Civil War, most of the time as a staff officer, and at its conclusion became active in local politics in New York City, and was Collector of the Port of New York from 1871 to 1878, being removed in the latter year by President Hayes.

His nomination was made to satisfy the "Stalwarts," and he took an active part in the controversy between President Garfield and the New York Senators, and now came to the office of President, with the popular mind, agitated by the murder of the President and the factional fight in New York, greatly incensed and antagonized against any one connected with the "Stalwarts." President Arthur soon gained the confidence of the people by the conservatism and dignity of his administration, and his term was a satisfactory and prosperous one.

The Forty-seventh Congress opened its first session on December 5, 1881, with David Davis presiding in the Senate; in the House, Joseph Warren Keifer, Republican, of Ohio, was elected Speaker by 148 votes to 129 for Samuel J. Randall, and the Republicans were again in control of both branches of Congress. The legislation of this Congress was marked by the redemption of the party pledges of the preceding campaign. The Edmunds law (March, 1882) was directed at polygamy in Utah and the territories.

Immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States was suspended for ten years (May 6, 1882), a previous bill making the time twenty years having been vetoed by President Arthur. A bill was also approved (May 15, 1882) appointing a Tariff Commission. The Commission met in Washington in July. It was const.i.tuted from both political parties, and was composed of men of high standing. When the second session of the Forty-seventh Congress convened on December 4, 1882, it listened to the second annual message from President Arthur, in which the main subject to receive attention was the rapid reduction of the national debt by the large annual surplus revenue. The Tariff Commission at the same time submitted an exhaustive report, containing a schedule of duties recommended by it; after considerable debate and many changes in the schedule, a tariff bill was pa.s.sed and approved by the President, March 3, 1883, the Democrats steadily opposing it.

Civil Service Reform was taken up and provided for in the Pendleton Civil Service Reform bill (January, 1883), which provided for a non-partisan commission and defined their duties; the effect of this bill was to withdraw from politics the employes of the Government.

The strong prejudices which accompanied Mr. Arthur into office never fully disappeared; during 1882 and 1883 there was considerable public unrest which had its natural influence on political action; it was caused by dissatisfaction among the laboring cla.s.ses against combinations of capital, which were now resulting from the extraordinary development of the nation's resources, and also because many producers were dissatisfied with the provisions of the new tariff schedule.

Although the country was enjoying great prosperity and business confidence, there was a feeling for a change of politics and men. These various causes, and the fact that the strong slavery and sectional issues had disappeared from politics, were demoralizing to the Republican strength in many of the pivotal States, and portended an exceedingly close election in the campaign of 1884. Ohio elected a Democratic Secretary of State in 1882, and followed it the next year by electing Mr. Hoadley, Democrat, over Mr. Foraker, Republican, for Governor. Many other important Democratic victories were gained in 1882 --Pennsylvania electing a Democratic Governor and New York electing Grover Cleveland by the enormous majority of 192,000, a victory which secured him the Democratic presidential nomination in 1884. President Arthur was a candidate for the presidential nomination in 1884, and his strength came mainly from the South, but the overwhelming Republican sentiment in the northern and western States demanded the nomination of one whose distinguished services and magnetic personality would unquestionably, with a united party behind him, bring another victory to the party in its eighth national contest.

CHAPTER XVI.

BLAINE.

"We seek the conquests of peace. We desire to extend our commerce and in a special degree with our friends and neighbors on this continent.

We have not improved our relations with Spanish America as wisely and as persistently as we might have done. For more than a generation the sympathy of these countries has been allowed to drift away from us. We should now make every effort to gain their friendship."

_James G. Blaine_, 1884.

When the eighth Republican National Convention a.s.sembled at Chicago on Tuesday, June 3, 1884, it was to consider a situation that had never before been presented to a Republican convention. A Republican President, who had gained the office because of the a.s.sa.s.sination of his predecessor, was before the convention asking for the strongest endors.e.m.e.nt of his administration. Only two Republican Presidents had up to this time been candidates for a second term. In the convention of 1864 Mr. Lincoln had no opposition for his second term, and the same was true of General Grant in the convention of 1872. Mr. Hayes was not a candidate for re-election in 1880, and the result, as we have seen, was the Garfield "miracle" in that convention, and now Mr. Garfield's successor was before this convention with a strongly organized backing, mainly from the South, seeking the nomination. But opposed to him was an overwhelming sentiment in favor of Mr. Blaine, whose nomination had been prevented in 1880 by the opposition of the Grant leaders. A dangerous element in this convention was present in the Independent Republicans, who had united on George F. Edmunds as their candidate for President.

The convention was called to order by Dwight M. Sabin, of Minnesota, Chairman of the National Committee. Mr. Lodge moved to subst.i.tute John R. Lynch, colored, of Mississippi, as temporary Chairman in place of Powell Clayton, who had been selected by the National Committee, and after considerable debate, in which Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, spoke in favor of the motion to subst.i.tute, Mr. Lynch was elected temporary Chairman by 431 votes to 387 for Mr. Clayton. The remainder of the day was consumed in the appointment of vice-presidents and secretaries and the various committees. Wednesday morning a resolution was introduced similar to that of 1880, that every member of the convention was bound in honor to support the nominee, but this resolution was subsequently withdrawn. John B. Henderson, of Missouri, was reported as permanent Chairman, miscellaneous business consumed some time, and the convention adjourned to meet at 7:30 p. m. The Committee on Credentials not being ready to report, the evening was given over to speech making. On Thursday morning the convention heard the report of the Committee on Credentials, and concurred in it, and also on the report of the Committee on Rules. William McKinley, of Ohio, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, reported the platform, and it was adopted without amendment.

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1884.

The Republicans of the United States, in national convention a.s.sembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive presidential elections, and congratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results in legislation and administration, by which the Republican party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its inst.i.tutions just, equal, and beneficent, the safe-guard of liberty and the embodiment of the best thought and highest purpose of our citizens.