A History of the Republican Party Part 9

Noyes. The fifth Republican platform, which was now adopted, read as follows:

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1872.

The Republican Party of the United States, a.s.sembled in national convention in the city of Philadelphia on the 5th and 6th days of June, 1872, again declares its faith, appeals to its history, and announces its position upon the questions before the country.

1. During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted with grand courage the solemn duties of the time. It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emanc.i.p.ated four millions of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established universal suffrage. Exhibiting unparalleled magnanimity, it criminally punished no man for political offenses, and warmly welcomed all who proved loyalty by obeying the laws and dealing justly with their neighbors. It has steadily decreased with firm hand the resultant disorders of a great war and initiated a wise and humane policy toward the Indians. The Pacific Railroad and similar vast enterprises have been generously aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of the naturalized citizens'

rights secured from European powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, repudiation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower rates. The revenues have been carefully collected and honestly applied.

Despite annual large reductions in the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced during General Grant's presidency at the rate of a hundred millions a year; great financial crises have been avoided, and peace and plenty prevail throughout the land. Menacing foreign difficulties have been peacefully and honorably composed, and the honor and power of the nation kept in high respect throughout the world. This glorious record of the past is the party's best pledge for the future.

We believe the people will not intrust the government to any party or combination of men composed chiefly of those who have resisted every step of this beneficent progress.

2. The recent amendments to the National Const.i.tution should be cordially sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and should be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which can safely be entrusted only to the party that secured those amendments.

3. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political and public rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout the Union, by efficient and appropriate state and federal legislation. Neither the law nor its administration should admit any discrimination in respect of citizens by reason of race, creed, color, or previous condition of servitude.

4. The national government should seek to maintain honorable peace with all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all people who strive for greater liberty.

5. Any system of the civil service under which the subordinate positions of the government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the system by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and make honesty, efficiency and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a life-tenure of office.

6. We are opposed to further grants of the public lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain be set apart for free homes for the people.

7. The annual revenue, after paying current expenditures, pensions, and the interest on the public debt, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction of the princ.i.p.al, and that revenue, except so much as may be derived from a tax on tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties upon importations, the details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages to labor, and promote the industries, prosperity, and growth of the whole country.

8. We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved the Union. Their pensions are a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their country are ent.i.tled to the care of a generous and grateful people. We favor such additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged, and who in the line of duty became disabled, without regard to the length of service or the cause of such discharge.

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers concerning allegiance--"Once a subject always a subject"--having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the individual's right to transfer allegiance having been accepted by European nations, it is the duty of our government to guard with jealous care the rights of adopted citizens against the a.s.sumption of unauthorized claims by their former governments, and we urge continued careful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration.

10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished and the way prepared for a speedy reduction in the rates of postage.

11. Among the questions which press the attention is that which concerns the relations of capital and labor, and the Republican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the amplest field for capital, and for labor, the creator of capital, the largest opportunities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization.

12. We hold that Congress and the President have only fulfilled an imperative duty in their measures for suppression of violent and treasonable organizations in certain lately rebellious regions, and for the protection of the ballot-box; and therefore they are ent.i.tled to the thanks of the nation.

13. We denounce repudiation of the public debt, in any form or disguise, as a national crime. We witness with pride the reduction of the princ.i.p.al of the debt, and of the rates of interest upon the balance, and confidently expect that our excellent national currency will be perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payment.

14. The Republican party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of America for their n.o.ble devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction; and the honest demand of any cla.s.s of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration.

15. We heartily approve the action of Congress in extending amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the growth of peace and fraternal feeling throughout the land.

16. The Republican party proposes to respect the rights reserved by the people to themselves as carefully as the powers delegated by them to the state and to the federal government. It disapproves of the resort to unconst.i.tutional laws for the purpose of removing evils by interference with rights not surrendered by the people to either the state or national government.

17. It is the duty of the general government to adopt such measures as may tend to encourage and restore American commerce and ship-building.

18. We believe that the modest patriotism, the earnest purpose, the sound judgment, the practical wisdom, the incorruptible integrity, and the ill.u.s.trious services of Ulysses S. Grant have commended him to the heart of the American people, and with him at our head we start to-day upon a new march to victory.

19. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vice-Presidency, known to the whole land from the early days of the great struggle for liberty as an indefatigable laborer in all campaigns, an incorruptible legislator, and representative man of American inst.i.tutions, is worthy to a.s.sociate with our great leader and share the honors which we pledge our best efforts to bestow upon them.

It is important also to note that Grant and Wilson had already been nominated by the Workingmen's National Convention in New York on May 23d.

The Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore on July 9th and endorsed the Liberal Republican nominees, Greeley and Brown, and the Liberal Republican platform. A convention of "straight-out" Democrats met at Louisville, Kentucky, September 3d to 5th, and repudiated the Baltimore convention, nominating Charles O'Conor, of New York, for President, and John Q. Adams, of Ma.s.sachusetts, for Vice-President, who both declined, but the convention, unable to secure other candidates, left the ticket as named. A Colored Liberal Republican Convention at Louisville on September 25th also nominated Greeley and Brown. In addition to these various conventions, the Liberal Republican Revenue Reformers' Convention met in New York June 25th, and nominated William S. Groesbeck, of Ohio, for President, and F. L. Olmstead, of New York, for Vice-President.

The contest between Grant and Greeley was a remarkable one, and at its opening there was considerable doubt as to the outcome; but as the summer months went by it was seen that the coalition between the Liberal Republicans and the Democrats was working out unsatisfactorily. The October States went Republican, and indicated clearly what could be expected in November. The election on November 5th was an overwhelming victory for the Republicans; Grant and Wilson carried 29 States with their 286 electoral votes out of a total electoral vote of 366, Arkansas and Louisiana not being counted for either side. The popular vote gave Grant 3,597,132, Greeley 2,834,125, O'Conor 29,489, Black 5,608. The election was followed in a few weeks by the death of Mr. Greeley; broken-hearted by the death of his wife a few days before the election, and exhausted by the tremendous strains of the campaign, and disappointed by the result, the great editor closed one of the most remarkable careers in American history.

The hostility of England to the North during the Civil War led to the filing of the Alabama Claims, which were adjusted by the Geneva Tribunal, and the United States, on September 14, 1872, was awarded $15,500,000 in gold in full payment of these claims.

The third session of the Forty-second Congress began December 2, 1872, and immediately, on motion of Mr. Blaine, a committee was appointed to investigate the Democratic charges made during the preceding presidential campaign, that the Vice-President, the Secretary of the Treasury, Speaker of the House, and other prominent Republicans, had accepted, in return for political influence, stock in the Credit Mobilier, a company originally engaged in the construction of the Union Pacific. The result of this committee's investigation was the clearing of the prominent men charged, but a vote of censure was pa.s.sed on Representatives Oakes Ames and James Brooks for connection with the scandal.

An Act went into effect on February 12, 1873, the provisions of which, it was afterwards argued, caused the "demonetization" of silver. This demonetization had already occurred in 1853, when nothing was said in the Act of that year as to the silver dollar piece which had for some years entirely disappeared from circulation. The Act of 1873 simply recognized a condition which had been present for more than twenty years when it provided for the coinage of ten, twenty-five and fifty-cent silver pieces and omitted the dollar. The Act of 1873 was pa.s.sed because all coin had been driven out of circulation by the United States notes and fractional currency issued during the War, and the Treasury Department, deeming the time appropriate for the issuance of subsidiary silver coins and revision of the coinage laws, suggested, after consultation with experts, the Act of 1873. The Act was, in fact, an important step toward specie resumption. This law also provided for a trade dollar for use in trade with China and j.a.pan. This dollar was to weigh 420 grains, so as to give it the advantage over the Mexican dollar of 416 grains. It was made legal tender for a limited amount only, and several years afterwards was withdrawn from circulation.

President Grant was reinaugurated on March 4, 1873, and the Republican Party seemingly had a prospect of a long lease of power, for the strength of all opposition seemed to have been dissipated by the campaign of 1872; but before the year of the reinauguration had pa.s.sed, circ.u.mstances occurred absolutely beyond the control of the party, the result of which caused a complete change of the political aspect of the country. In September, 1873, while business affairs were in a good condition and labor well employed, a sudden financial panic engulfed the country and brought demoralization to almost all industries. The direct cause of this panic was the abuse of credit in the enormous building of railroads which had been going on for several years prior to 1873. The market had been flooded with railroad bonds, and as the old portions of the Western railroads did not earn enough to pay for new construction, the railroads gradually began to default in the payment of interest on their bonds, and the New York bankers became overburdened with them; the natural result was that they were compelled to call in their loans, money became tight, and the storm broke in September, 1873, when the great financial house of Jay Cooke & Co. closed its doors. By the end of October the panic was over, but the effects were felt long afterwards in thousands of ruined enterprises. It gave new arguments to the champions of fiat currency, and the whole situation told against the success of the Republican Party. When the first session of the Forty-third Congress opened on December 1, 1873 (James G. Blaine elected Speaker), arguments for currency inflation were advanced on all sides, and resulted in the pa.s.sage of a bill on April 14, 1874, to inflate the currency $44,000,000. President Grant wisely vetoed the measure and it failed of pa.s.sage over his veto. The Congressional elections in the fall of 1874 showed the influence of the disastrous industrial conditions upon politics, for the Democrats obtained control of the House for the first time in fifteen years. That a great political revulsion was in progress was apparent when Ohio in 1873 and New York in 1874 elected Democratic Governors. When the Forty-fourth Congress convened on December 6, 1875, Michael C. Kerr, Democrat, of Indiana, was chosen Speaker by 173 votes over James G. Blaine, who received 106. This practically showed the party strength in the House.

The most important Act of President Grant's second term was the Resumption of specie payment, which was provided for in the bill reported to the Senate December 21, 1874, by John Sherman. By this Act there was to be a coinage of ten, twenty-five and fifty-cent silver pieces, which were to be exchanged for fractional currency until it was all redeemed. There was to be an issue of bonds, and the surplus revenue was to be used to buy coin. So much of the Act of 1870 which limited the amount of national bank notes to $350,000,000 was repealed, and these banks were now authorized to issue more bills; but for every $100.00 issued the Secretary of the Treasury must call in $80.00 of the greenbacks until but $300,000,000 of them remained. The total amount of paper currency in the United States at this time was $780,000,000, divided into $382,000,000 U. S. notes, $44,000,000 fractional currency and $354,000,000 national bank notes, and each dollar of this paper currency was worth about eighty-nine cents in coin. The Act further provided that after January 1, 1879, the Secretary of the Treasury was to redeem in coin all United States legal tender notes then outstanding, on presentation. President Grant approved this bill January 14, 1875, with a special message to Congress.

The spring of 1876 witnessed the opening of the Centennial Exposition at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, by President Grant and Emperor Dom Pedro II, of Brazil. In this year a successor was to be chosen to President Grant, and for the first time in the history of the party since 1860 there was to be a contest over the presidential nomination. The long continuance in power of the party had its natural effect of creating factions, and this, together with the recent Democratic successes, made necessary a most careful selection of a candidate and of a platform for this campaign.

CHAPTER XIV.

HAYES.

" ... and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our political affairs the color line and the distinction between North and South, to the end that we may have, not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country."

_Rutherford B. Hayes_, _Inaugural Address_, _March_ 5, 1877.

The Sixth Republican National Convention met at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 14, 1876, and, as already noted, for the first time since 1860 there was to be a contest for the presidential nomination. James G. Blaine was most prominently mentioned during the months preceding the Convention, and was unquestionably the favorite of a majority of the delegates when they met. His friends were united and enthusiastic, but there was a factional opposition, led by Mr. Conkling, of New York, that united on the seventh ballot and resulted in the nomination of a candidate who had received comparatively little attention before the Convention met. The next strongest candidates after Mr. Blaine seemed to be Oliver P.

Morton, of Indiana, and Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky, both of whom had rendered conspicuous services to the party and to the country. Other candidates were Roscoe Conkling, of New York, Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania. The Convention was called to order by Edwin D. Morgan, who named Theodore M. Pomeroy, of New York, temporary Chairman. The usual committees were appointed and Edward McPherson, of Pennsylvania, was reported as permanent Chairman. Gen.

Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, reported the following platform:

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1876.

When in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged of human slavery, and when the strength of government of the people, by the people, and for the people was to be demonstrated, the Republican party came into power. Its deeds have pa.s.sed into history, and we look back to them with pride. Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope and purpose, we, the representatives of the party, in national convention a.s.sembled, make the following declaration of principles:

1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. By the combined workings of the national and state governments, under their respective const.i.tutions, the rights of every citizen are secured, at home and abroad, and the common welfare promoted.

2. The Republican party has preserved these governments to the hundredth anniversary of the nation's birth, and they are now embodiments of the great truth spoken at its cradle: "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that for the attainment of these ends governments have been inst.i.tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Until these truths are cheerfuly obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced, the work of the Republican party is unfinished.

3. The permanent pacification of the southern section of the Union and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their rights, is a duty to which the Republican party stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide for the enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent const.i.tutional amendments is vested by those amendments in the Congress of the United States, and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative and executive departments of the government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all their const.i.tutional powers for removing any just causes of discontent on the part of any cla.s.s, and for securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and public rights. To this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are placed beyond dispute or recall.

4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant the national government a.s.sumed to remove any doubts of its purpose to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and "solemnly pledged its faith to make provisions, at the earliest practicable period, for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." Commercial prosperity, public morals, and the national credit demand that this promise be fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress to specie payment.

5. Under the Const.i.tution the President and heads of departments are to make nominations for office; the Senate is to advise and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the public service demands that these distinctions be respected; that Senators and representatives who may be judges and accusers should not dictate appointments to office. The invariable rule in appointments should have reference to the honesty, fidelity and capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of administration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all others to be filled by persons selected with sole reference to the efficiency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to the country.

6. We rejoice in the quickening conscience of the people concerning political affairs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid responsibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of all who betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough and unsparing.

7. The public-school system of the several states is the bulwark of the American Republic, and with a view to its security and permanence we recommend an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States, forbidding the application of any public funds or property for the benefit of any schools or inst.i.tutions under sectarian control.