602 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



of beer, as a step in the right direction, since the 

 right to vote on one question implies the right to 

 vote on all, we nevertheless demand suffrage for 

 women as a right, to be freely exercised on every 

 question of public interest, and not as a favor, to be 

 accepted with limitations to suit the convenience of 

 men. 



3. Resolved, That the claim of the recent Republi- 

 can State Convention, that the Republican party of 

 Massachusetts " is mindful of its obligations to the 

 loyal women of America for their patriotic devotion 

 to the cause of freedom," finds obvious contradiction 

 in the fact that the loyal women of this Common- 

 wealth are still consigned to the political status of 

 paupers, idiots, lunatics, and criminals ; and also in 

 the further fact that the women of America, with the 

 consent of that same party, are still held in political 

 vassalage to the very rebels whose treasonable pur- 

 poses they so heroically aided to frustrate. 



4. Resolved, That the Democratic party of Massa- 

 chusetts, by declaring, in State Convention, that 

 "suffrage is a right and not a privilege," and then 

 refusing to indorse woman's suffrage, is false to its 

 principles, and unworthy of the support of the people 

 of the Commonwealth. 



5. Resolved, That we congratulate the Labor Re- 

 form party for the honorable example it has set to 

 the other parties of the Commonwealth, in recogniz- 

 ing woman's full rights of citizenship, and in de- 

 manding equal compensation for woman's labor. 



6. Resolved, That we congratulate Massachusetts 

 upon the honorable record of her congressional dele- 

 gation this winterupon Senator Wilson's bill to 

 enfranchise woman in the Territories ; upon Hon- 

 orable George F. Hoar's bill to protect the rights of 

 the women of Utah and Wyoming ; and upon Hon- 

 orable B. F. Butler's speech in support of a woman's 

 suffrage petition. 



7. Resolved, That the thanks of the convention are 

 cordially given to Governor Campbell, of Wyoming, 

 for vetoing the bill to disfranchise the women of that 

 Territory, and for his vindication of their rights in 

 his recent message. 



8. Resolved, That we call upon our Legislature to 

 enact a law conferring suffrage upon women in presi- 

 dential and municipal elections ; also, to submit an 

 amendment to the State constitution, abolishing po- 

 litical distinctions on account of sex. 



9. Resolved, That so long as one-half of our citi- 

 zens are^taxed and governed without consent, every 

 voter is in honor bound to help elect the friends, and 

 defeat the enemies, of impartial suffrage, and to make 

 the enfranchisement of women the cardinal principle 

 of his political action. 



The Republican Convention for the appoint- 

 ment of delegates to the national nominating 

 body was held at Worcester on the 10th of 

 April. The platform adopted was as follows : 



1. Resolved, That we, the delegates of the Republi- 

 can party of Massachusetts, in convention assem- 

 bled, congratulate our brethren of the Common- 

 wealth on the national recognition of those great 

 social and civil rights for the establishment of which 

 the Republican party was organized, and for which it 

 lias contended earnestly through all the trials of 

 peace and war. 



2. Risolved, That we see with profound satisfac- 

 tion the progress of the American Republic on that 

 path which leads to an honorable nationality, guided 

 by the Republican party, which has enforced the 

 doctrine of equality and right, upon which our Gov- 

 ernment was founded, and given it additional guar- 

 antees in the national Constitution ; hns expunged 

 oppression from the statute-book ; has inspired the 

 people with a high and holy purpose in a great war ; 

 has cherished the memory of patriotic service and 

 sacrifice ; has appealed to a prosperous and honor- 

 able people to remember their obligations ; has re- 



quired strictly republican forms of government in the 

 States rescued from the rebellion ; has recognized 

 education as the corner-stone of our institutions ; 

 has shown its interest in working-men by destroying 

 slavery, and affirming the right of every man to him- 

 self, and to the legitimate fruits of his labor ; has 

 placed in our history a chapter of success and re- 

 nown that wins the admiration of a civilized world ; 

 and we now enter upon a national campaign to sup- 

 port this great record against all opponents of na- 

 tionalprogress. peace, humanity, and prosperity. 



3. Resolved, That we congratulate the nation that 

 in this great work, the highest civil service known 

 among men, we have an Administration which has 

 developed public opinion in the direction of honor, 



justice, and philosophy ah Administration which 

 has brought with it peace and a wise adjustment of 

 the violent political controversies which preceded 



ii . !_ 1 T * _ A__ 1_ 1? _T _ T _ . *_ _ t 1 , / 



it ; which has established our national credit on firm 

 foundations ; which has sought wisely and firmly 

 to enforce law against disorder, and complete the 

 work of reconstruction in the restored States ; which 

 seeks to enforce a generous and humane policy tow- 

 ard the department of Indian tribes ; which has re- 

 formed the abuses, exposed corruption, punished 

 offenders, and sought to improve and elevate the 

 character of the civil service. And we, moved by an 

 earnest appreciation of the fidelity and wise patriot- 

 ism of President Grant, do most cordially recommend 

 that he be renominated and reelected, forasmuch as 

 his Administration has taught the American people 

 all the high obligations of that period of peace which 

 followed a war inspired and elevated by the great 

 declarations of Abraham Lincoln. 



4. Resolved, That, while recommending strongly 

 the renomination of General Grant for the presiden- 

 cy, we urge also the nomination of Henry Wilson for 

 the vice-presidency, feeling that Massachusetts has 

 earned this distinction by long fidelity to the Repub- 

 lican principles in which Henry Wilson has always 

 been true to her honor and to the best sentiments of 

 her people. 



At a subsequent convention for the nomina- 

 tion of State officers the following ticket was 

 agreed upon : For Governor, William B. Wash- 

 burn; Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas Talbot; 

 Secretary of State, Oliver Warner ; Treasurer, 

 Charles Adams, Jr. ; Auditor, Charles Endi- 

 cott ; Attorney-General, Charles R. Train. 



Conventions of the Democrats and Liberal 

 Republicans were held at Worcester on the 

 llth of September. General 1ST. P. Banks pre- 

 sided over the latter, at which the following 

 resolutions were adopted : 



1. Resolved^ That we regard the platform adopted 

 by the Cincinnati and Baltimore Conventions as 

 thoroughly Republican, Democratic, and patriotic, 

 and the fact that, in its full recognition of the equal- 

 ity of the colored race, it has been accepted along 

 with the tried and true candidates by an overwhelm- 

 ing majority of the native population of the lately 

 rebellious States, makes it a treaty of peace which, 

 if ratified, as it should be, by the election of the can- 

 didates, will forever close and gloriously close tho 

 deplorable wave which has devastated the South 

 openly or covertly for the last twelve years. 



2. Resolved, That the party now in power has vio- 

 lated its pledge, contained in the inaugural of Presi- 

 dent Grant, to give the country an honest currency 

 on a specie basis : it has robbed the people and 

 wasted the public domain by squandering it upon 

 greedy and fraudulent corporations. It hns intro- 

 duced into the Administration the ideas and practice 

 of personal government to an extent without pre- 

 cedent in the history of the country, and is alilco 

 mischievous in its present results and alarming in 

 what it threatens for the future. And that, in its 



