210 



CONNECTICUT. 



It shall be the duty of the Governor of this State, 

 the Commander-in-chief, within thirty days from 

 the day of the passage of this act, to appoint a 

 committee of three suitable persons to prepare a re- 

 vision of the laws regulating the military force _ of 

 this State, and to report the same to the next session 

 of the General Assembly. 



On February 9, 1870, the Bepublicans held 

 their State Convention for the purpose of 

 nominating candidates for State officers at the 

 general election, on April 4th ensuing. Mar- 

 shall Jewell was renominate.d for Governor, 

 Morris Tyler for Lieutehant-Governor ; Hiram 

 Appelman for Secretary of State; David P. 

 Nichols for Treasurer ; and James W. Manning 

 for Comptroller. At the same meeting they 

 unanimously adopted the following resolu- 

 tions : 



Resolved, We look with profound satisfaction and 

 gratitude upon the record of the Eepublican party ; 

 its devotion to liberty and equal rights ; its abundant 

 patriotism, and its zealous fidelity to the true inter- 

 ests and honor of the country in time of peace ; we 

 reaffirm our cordial approval of its national plat- 

 form at Chicago and the resolutions of the last State 

 Convention. 



2. The experience of the past year has confirmed 

 our confidence in the integrity, ability, and patriot- 

 ism, of General Grant ; we congratulate him and 

 the country upon the general and increasing preva- 

 lence of peace and good order in the lately rebellious 

 States, the rapidly approaching completion of recon- 

 struction, and the adoption by thirty States of the 

 fifteenth amendment of the National Constitution, 

 the crowning work of a magnificent struggle for the 

 freedom and equal rights of all men. 



3. The national Administration deserves the warm- 

 est praise for its economical expenditures and its 

 scrupulous fidelity in the collection of the revenue, 

 through which it has been able to reduce the debt 

 over $80,000,000 since March 1, 1869, and we accept 

 its action as amply fulfilling the hopes and pledges 

 of its friends and justifying the highest expectations 

 of its future. 



4. We rejoice that the first act of Congress under 

 the present Administration was, in accordance with 

 our declaration of the true policy last year ; a formal 

 affirmation that when the national debt is paid it 

 must be in. coin, except where it is otherwise ex- 

 pressly provided in the original contract, and sol* 

 emnly pledging the United States to " make provision 

 at the earliest practical period for the redemption of 

 United States notes in coin." We denounce repudi- 

 ation in all its forms, whether through taxation of 

 the bonds, or their payment in paper. We are stern- 

 ly opposed to the expansion of the currency ; we call 

 for all possible wise legislation and prudent manage- 

 ment of the finances ; by which we may as speedily 

 as possible, without a violent disturbance of business, 

 resume specie payment, and with it obtain a sound 

 and uniform currency of coin, and of paper immedi- 

 ately convertible into coin, believing that no other 

 currency will secure the just reward of either labor 

 or capital. 



5. In both national and State administrations we 

 call for a continuance of strict economy in all its 

 branches ; the rejection of all appropriations and 

 loans of credit for enterprise outside of the indispen- 

 sable machinery of government, the impartial levy 

 and vigilant and thoroughly honest collection of 

 taxes, the application of a reasonable loan annually 

 to the reduction of the debt, the removal of taxation 

 from the necessities of life, and their imposition so 

 far as possible upon luxuries. 



6. We favor a tariff abundant for revenue, and as 

 far as possible so devised as to relieve labor, equalize 

 tke burdens imposed, encourage a diversified indus- 



try, and avoid strengthening^ monopolies. We depre- 

 cate frequent changes in tariff 1< gislation as deranging 

 the circulation of capital and infiicting unforeseen 

 suffering upon labor. 



7. We commend the action of the Legislature and 

 the Board of Education in sustaining our system of 

 common schools, so essential to a prosperous repub- 

 lican government, and we especially approve the ef- 

 forts made to protect and educate the children em- 

 ployed in factories. 



8. We thank the Kepublicans of the last General 

 Assembly for their successful efforts to secure a short 

 and economical session. While insisting upon econo- 

 my, we approve a generous discharge of all charita- 

 ble duties, and particularly our obligations to disabled 

 soldiers and the orphans of those who died for their 

 country. 



9. We gladly welcome the speedily approaching 

 proclamation of the fifteenth amendment, and insist 

 upon an unhesitating compliance with this as with all 

 other provisions of the national Constitution. 



10. We recommend to the General Assembly the 

 passage of a law providing for the election of mem- 

 bers of Congress in the autumn. 



11. We heartily applaud the administration of af- 

 fairs by the Governor and his associate State officers 

 during the past year, and confidently appeal to the 

 people for a triumphant election of the ticket this 

 day nominated. 



On February 22, 1870, the Democrats met 

 in State Convention to nominate candidates at 

 the aforesaid election. For Governor, they 

 nominated James E. English ; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Julius Hotchkiss ; for Secretary of 

 State, Thomas M. Waller; for Treasurer, 

 Charles M. Pond; for Comptroller, Seth S. 

 Logan. Before adjourning they adopted, by a 

 unanimous vote, the following platform : 



Resolved, That the Democracy of Connecticut now, 

 as in the past, occupy the proud position of the de- 

 fenders of the true principles of constitutional free- 

 dom, based upon the equality of the States ; and for 

 tho success of their cause they rely upon the intelli- 

 gence of the people, and their devotion to the same 

 ideas, illustrated by the example of the fathers in the 

 purer days of the republic. 



Resolved, That tho State of Connecticut is to-day 

 the same free and independent State that it has been 

 for more than two hundred years, with full power to 

 declare who shall and who shall not be clothed with 

 the elective franchise within its borders ; and when 

 this power is forcibly taken away, and its ballot-boxes 

 subject to the hireling soldiery of the General Govern- 

 ment, the State will have lost its boasted sovereignty, 

 and become degraded to the position of a conquered 

 province. 



Resolved. That the fifteenth amendment, so 

 called, to tne Constitution of the United States, is in 

 no sense an amendment to the Constitution, but is a 

 radical change thereof, striking at the principle of 

 State rights, which lies at the base of the compact 

 formed by the various States in the Convention of 

 1788 ; and its forced and fraudulent adoption at the 

 point of the bayonet will be the deadliest blow ever 

 struck at the sovereignty of the States and the liber- 

 ties of the people. 



Resolved, That the Democracy of this State now, 

 as heretofore, are the strenuous advocates of a tariff 

 for purposes of revenue only ; that the principle of 

 protection for the sake of protection is at war with 

 the diversified interests of the people of the States; 

 and experience has shown its tendency to aggrandize 

 a class in the community at the expense and to the 

 injury of the producing and laboring millions, taxing 

 their industry equally in violation of the authority of 

 the Constitution, and of the great principle that 

 should govern this people in their intercourse with 

 the family of nations. 



