UNITED STATES. 



745 



property, peace, liberty, and life of the citizens ; has 

 abused the pardoning power j has denounced the 

 national Legislature as unconstitutional ; has persist- 

 ently and corruptly resisted, by every measure in his 

 power, every proper attempt at the reconstruction of 

 the States lately in rebellion ; has perverted the pub- 

 lic patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption, 

 and has been justly impeached for high crimes and 

 misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty there- 

 of by the vote of thirty-five Senators. 



9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other Euro- 

 pean 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 the feudal times' not au- 

 thorized by the law of nations, and at war with our 

 national honor and independence. Naturalized citi- 

 zens are entitled to be protected 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 intefere in his behalf. 



10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late 

 war, there were none entitled to more special honor 

 than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the 

 hardships of campaign and cruise, and imperilled 

 their lives in the service of the country ; the bounties 

 and pensions provided by law for the brave defend- 

 ers of the nation are obligations never to be forgot- 

 ten ; 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 emigration, which in the past has 

 added so much to the wealth, development of re- 

 sources, and increase of power to this nation, the asy- 

 lum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered 

 and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 



12. This Convention declares its sympathy with all 

 oppressed people who are struggling for their rights. 



Each State was then called, and General 

 Ulysses S. Grant was unanimously nominated 

 as the candidate for the presidency, having re- 

 ceived 650 votes. 



The nominations for candidate for the vice- 

 presidency were : Benjamin Wade, of Ohio; 

 Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana ; Reuben E. Fen- 

 ton, of New York; ex- Attorney-General Speed, 

 of Kentucky ; J. A. J. Creswell, of Maryland ; 

 A. G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania ; James Harlan, 

 of Iowa; W.D.Kelley, of Pennsylvania; Hanni- 

 bal Hamlin, of Maine ; and Henry Wilson, of 

 Massachusetts. The ballots were as follows : 



1. Wade, 149; Fenton, 132; Wilson, 119; Col- 

 fax, 118; Curtin, 52; Hamlin, 30; Speed, 22; 

 Harlan, 16; Ores well, 14; Kelley, 6. 



2. Wade, 170; Colfax, 149; Fenton, 140; 

 Wilson, 113 ; Hamlin, 30 ; Curtin, 45. 



3. Wade, 178; Colfax, 164; Fenton, 139; 

 Wilson, 101 ; Curtin, 40 ; Hamlin, 25. 



4. Wade, 204; Colfax, 186; Fenton, 144; 

 Wilson, 87; Hamlin, 25. 



5. Colfax, 224; Wade, 196; Fenton, 137; 

 Wilson, 61 ; Hamlin, 19. 



6. Colfax, 522 ; Fenton, 75 ; Wade, 42 ; Wil- 

 son, 11 ; by which Mr. Colfax was nominated. 



On May 29th, General Grant wrote the fol- 

 lowing letter accepting the nomination : 



WASHINGTON, D. C., Nay 29, 1868. 

 To General Joseph R Hawley, President National 



Union Republican Convention : 



In formally accepting the nomination of the " Na- 

 tional Union Bepublican Convention" of the 21st of 



May last, it seems proper that some statement of 

 views, beyond the mere acceptance of the nomina- 

 tion, should be expressed. 



t The proceedings of the Convention were marked 

 with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and, I be- 

 lieve, expressed the feelings of the great mass of 

 those who sustained the country through its recent 

 trials. I indorse their resolutions. 



If elected to the office of President of the United 

 States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the 

 laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view 

 of giving peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. 

 In times like the present, it is impossible, or at least 

 eminently improper, to lay down a policy to be ad- 

 hered to, right or wrong. ^ Through an administration 

 of four yearSj new political issues, not foreseen, are 

 constantly arising, the views of the public on old 

 ones are constantly changing, and a purely adminis- 

 trative officer should always be left free to execute the 

 will of the people. I always have respected that will, 

 and always shall. Peace, and universal prosperity, 

 its sequence, with economy ( of administration, will 

 lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly 

 reduces the national debt. Let us have peace. 



With great respect, your obedient servant, 



U. S. G&ANT. 



Mr. Colfax also accepted his nomination in 

 the following letter : 



WASHINGTON, D. C., May SO, 1868. 

 Hon. J. E. Hawley , Pi'esident National Union Repub- 



lican Convention: 



DEAR SIB : The platform adopted by the patriotic 

 convention over which you presided, and the reso- 

 lutions which so happily supplement it, so entirely 

 agree with my views as to a just national policy, that 

 my thanks are due to the delegates as much for this 

 clear and auspicious declaration of principles as for 

 the nomination with which I have been honored, and 

 which I gratefully accept. 



^ When a great rebellion, which imperilled the na- 

 tional existence, was at last overthrown, the duty, of 

 all others, devolving on those intrusted with the re- 

 sponsibilities of legislation evidently was to require 

 that the revolted States should be readmitted to par- 

 ticipation in the Government against which they nad 

 warred only on such a basis as to increase and fortify, 

 not to weaken or endanger, the strength and power of 

 the nation. Certainly no one ought to have claimed 

 that they should be readmitted under such rule that 

 their organization as States could ever again be used, 

 as at the opening of the war, to defy the national au- 

 thority, or to destroy the national unity. This prin- 

 ciple has been the pole-star of those who have in- 

 flexibly insisted on the congressional policy your 

 convention has so cordially indorsed. 



Baffled by Executive opposition, and by persistent 



refusals to accept any plan of reconstruction proffered 

 Congress, justice and public safety at last 



by 



, - 



bined to teach us that only by an enlargement of suf- 

 frage in those States could the desired end be attained, 

 and that it was even more safe to give the ballot to 

 those who saved the Union than to those who had 

 sought ineffectually to destroy it. The assured suc- 

 cess of this legislation is being written on the ada- 

 mant of history, and will be our triumphant vindica- 

 tion. More clearly, too, than ever before does the 

 nation now recognize that the greatest glory of a re- 

 public is that it throws the shield of its protection 

 over the humblest and weakest of its people, and vin- 

 dicates the rights of the p^oor and the powerless as 

 faithfully as those of the rich and the powerful. 



I rejoice, too, in this connection, to find in your 

 platform tne frank and fearless avowal that natural- 

 ized citizens must be protected abroad at every haz- 

 ard, as though they were native-born. Our whole 

 people are foreigners, or descendants of foreigners. 

 Our fathers established by arms their right to be 

 called a nation. It remains for us to establish the 

 right to welcome to our shores all who are willing, 



