MASSACHUSETTS. 



493 



Resolved, That the Eepublicans of Massachusetts 

 renewedly give their adherence to tie great princi- 

 ples that have guided the national Eepublican party, 

 and pledge to it their undivided support iu enforcing 

 all the laws for the protection of life and liberty in 

 every part of our land ; in the honest payment of our 

 national debt ; in reducing taxation, and in such re- 

 form of the civil service as shall secure efficiency 

 and honesty in every department of the Govern- 

 ment. 



Resolved,, That the present national Administration, 

 by the large reduction of the national debt and in- 

 terest upon the public bonds, so that the national 

 credit has been restored and the burdens of taxation 

 diminished, by its successful adjustment of the con- 

 troversy with Great Britain, and by its vigorous and 

 successful action in learning the political rights of 

 the people, is entitled to our hearty commendation. 



Resolved. That the Eepublican party of Massachu- 

 setts has been and is the party of progress and re- 

 form, that its great mission has been to blot out all 

 class distinction on American soil, that it knows no 

 class to be favored, and will permit none to be op- 

 pressed, but, regarding all citizens of the State as 

 equals before the law, it seeks to secure for them the 

 blessings of free education and protection in every 

 field of honest industry ; and the position of Massa- 

 chusetts in its credit at home and abroad, and in its 

 rank among the most forward States of the world in 

 all that makes a powerful and happy Commonwealth, 

 is the best proof of the wisdom and success of the 

 present and past Eepublican adminstration of the 

 State government. 



Resolved, That the long-continued depression of 

 American shipping interests should receive the im- 

 mediate and careful consideration of Congress, and 

 that such changes in our revenue and navigation 

 laws as will tend to restore the business of ship-build- 

 ing and ship-owning to a condition of healthful 

 prosperity should be made without loss of time. 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party of Massachu- 

 setts is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women 

 of America for their patriotic devotion to the cause 

 of freedom ; that we rejoice in the late action of State 

 Legislatures in recognizing the fitness of women for 

 public trust, and that, in view of the great favor 

 which the movement has received from many of the 

 Eepublican party, the subject of suffrage for women 

 is a question that deserves the most careful and re- 

 spectful consideration. 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party will do its 

 best to elevate the condition of the wages-receiving 

 portion of its citizens, by a full, searching inquiry into 

 the facts bearing upon their condition, and by such 

 legislation as that inquiry shall show to be for their 

 advantage, having respect to the judgment of the 

 laborers of the Commonwealth themselves as to what 

 measures shall be best adapted to their wants. 



The Democratic Convention had been held 

 at Springfield on the 14th of September, and 

 had nominated the following ticket: For Gov- 

 ernor, John Quincy Adams, of Quincy; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Samuel 0. Larnb, of 

 Greenfield; for Secretary of the Common- 

 wealth, Lnther Stephenson, Jr., of Hingham ; 

 for Treasurer and Receiver-General, Levi Hey- 

 wood, of Gardner ; for Auditor of Accounts, 

 Phineas Allen, of Pittsfield ; for Attorney- 

 General, William "Wirt Warren, of Brighton. 

 The following platform was adopted : 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of Massachu- 

 setts declares its unaltered devotion to the principles 

 of government embodied in the Constitution of the 

 United States, and demands an administration which 

 shall faithfully observe and fairly construe its pro- 

 visions, to the end that the power of peace and war, 



the freedom of elections, and the personal liberty of 

 the citizens, be no longer subject to the discretion of 

 one man. 



Resolved, That, as a scrupulous respect for the in- 

 dependence of the three coordinate departments of 

 the Government of the United States is essential to 

 republican liberty, we therefore denounce the in- 

 timidation of the Supreme Court by Congress, and 

 the packing of the Supreme bench by the President, 

 with the view to legalize repudiation, as equally cal- 

 culated to defeat the end that the Government should 

 be one of laws and not of men. 



Resolved, That the welfare and happiness of the 

 people is the end, and the elevation of the purest 

 and ablest men to office the means, of good govern- 

 ment ; we, therefore, demand that the policy which 

 has entailed misery, hatred, and corruption, dis- 

 pensed by the most unworthy classes ot the com- 

 munity, upon ten States, be abandoned, and that 

 free amnesty and equal rights be assured to all, as 

 the only means of retaining good government and 

 tranquillity in the States lately in rebellion. 



Resolved, That, the recent amendments of the Fed- 

 eral Constitution having been acquiesced in by the 

 country as a final and absolute settlement of tne is- 

 sues growing out of our civil war, the Democratic 

 party accepts them in that spirit and dismisses them 

 altogether from political controversy; pledging it- 

 self to maintain in good faith the Constitution in all 

 its parts and in all its provisions. 



Resolved, That, as the rights of the States secured 

 by the tenth article of amendment of the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States, which says, "The powers 

 not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 

 tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 

 to the States respectively, or to the people," con- 

 stitute the only effectual safeguard against the late 

 development toward a consolidated empire ; we, 

 therefore, protest against the persistent invasion of 

 local self-government by Congress, and ask that the 

 Constitution be strictly construed in the interest of 

 the rights reserved to the States, as well as of those 

 delegated to the General Government. 



Resolved, That the tariff upon imports disturbs the 

 natural distribution of the rewards of labor by tak- 

 ing a share of wages to swell the profits of capital ; 

 we, therefore, urge reform in taxation which shall 

 restore the equitable relations of wages, release trade 

 from its shackles, restore our wasted industries, and 

 lay the burden of government upon each in propor- 

 tion to his strength ; and, as one important means to 

 this end, we demand a tariff for revenue only, not for 

 the protection of monopolies, but for the protection 

 of the people. 



Resolved, In the language adopted by the last 

 Democratic State Convention, that "the labor of 

 the country, weak, by its necessities, in its defences 

 against the cupidity of capitalists, and in its ability 

 to compel a recognition of its just rights, especially 

 needs the protection of just, equal, and adequate 

 laws," and "that the present high cost of living and 

 consequent inadequacy of wages to provide sufficient 

 means of support for our poor people, are mainly due 

 to the unjust currency system, the arbitrary and ex- 

 cessive taxation, and the great monopolies which 

 have been inflicted upon us by the Eepublican 

 party." 



Resolved, That all taxation being just so much, 

 taken from each man's means of happiness, the 

 closest economy is a paramount duty in those who 

 administer the Government, and we charge the pres- 

 ent administration of our State with an unnecessary 

 outlay exceeding one quarter of a million of dollars 

 yearly, which, added to the enormous imposts of the 

 General Government, has made Massachusetts, in 

 the words of Mr. Commissioner "Wells, "take pre- 

 cedence over all the governments and communities 

 in the civilized world in respect to the extent and 

 weight of its taxation." 



Resolved, That we condemn the prohibitory law as 



