452 



IOWA. 



and State governments, under their respective con- 

 stitutions, the rights of every citizen should be se- 

 cured at home and protected abroad, and the com- 

 mon welfare promoted. Any failure on the part ot 

 either the national or State governments to use every 

 possible constitutional power to afford ample protec- 

 tion to their citizens, both at home and abroad, is a 

 criminal neglect of their highest obligation. 



2. Against the assaults of traitors and rebels the 

 Republican party has preserved these governments, 

 and they represent the great truths spoken to the 

 world by the Declaration of Independence, 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 instituted among men, de- 

 riving their just powers from the consent of the gov- 

 erned," which consent is evidenced by a majority of 

 the lawful suffrages of the citizens, determined in 

 pursuance of law ; and, in order that this end may be 

 justly and fully reached, the Republican party of 

 lo\va demands " that every qualified elector in every 

 State, South and North, Democrat or Republican, 

 black or white, shall be permitted, undisturbed by- 

 force and unawed by fear, to vote at all elections at 

 the place prescribed by law, and nowhere else, just 

 once and no more than once ; and that every vote so 

 cast shall be honestly counted, and that every per- 

 son chosen by such votes to any office shall be freely 

 inducted into it," and effectively supported in the 

 discharge of its duties ; and every well-informed per- 

 son knows that with such freedom of elective action 

 and honest administration as are herein demanded, 

 at least five of the Southern States are Eepublican by 

 large majorities, and that they are now in the hands 

 of the Democratic party solely through force, fraud, 

 intimidation, and failure to enforce the principles 

 herein set forth. 



3. The permanent pacification of the Southern sec- 

 tion of the Union, and the complete protection of 

 all its citizens in all their civil, political, personal, 

 and property rights, is a duty to which the Republi- 

 can party stands sacredly pledged. In order to re- 

 deem this pledge it placed the recent amendments 

 in the Constitution of the United States, and upon 

 the righteous basis of said amendments it will go 

 forward in the work of pacification until peace shall 

 corns through right doing and contentment through 

 justice. 



4. The new Democratic dogma of "home rule," 

 which seeks to shut out from participation in the 

 political affairs of the Southern States all citizens 

 who oppose the Democratic party and are not na- 

 tives of said States, and in obedience to the spirit 

 of which every man from the North, of Republican 

 Rentiments, is termed a " carpet-bagger," is hereby 

 denounced as the worst phase of State rights yet de- 

 veloped ; and we demand for the people of Iowa ab- 

 solute freedom to go whithersoever they may please, 

 within the limits of the nation, with perfect enjoy- 

 ment of their rights as citizens, to utter their senti- 

 ments, by speech or press, upon all subjects touch- 

 ing their interests, and all matters of public con- 

 cern. 



6. That the armed conflict between the traitors 

 and rebels who sought to destroy the republic, and 

 the patriots who defended it and preserved it, was 

 more than a mere trial of physical force between 

 It was a struggle of right agai net wrong, 

 of a true civilization against a false one, of good gov- 

 rnraent against anarchy, of patriots against trai- 

 (on, w rein the Republican party was the defender 

 ot right, the champion of a true civilization, the pro- 

 Rood government, and in whose ranks pa- 

 marohod against and overcame traitors ; and 

 r fails to rogard the Republican party from 

 >.* a'andpom and m this light f:,ils to comprehend 

 character, lt * achievements, its purposes, and its 

 duties , and whoever treats with the Democratic 



party from any other standpoint, manifests incapa- 

 city to understand palpable facts, and will be over- 

 whelmed with disaster. 



6. That the soldiers who fought the battles of 

 the republic are entitled to "special credit" for 

 the heroism which they displayed, for the hardships 

 which they endured, for their unselfish devotion to 

 liberty and order, and for the great fact ''that the 

 war turned out as it did" ; and discredit in like de- 

 gree attaches to the traitors and rebels who fought 

 to destroy the nation. Whoever fails to appreciate 

 these facts is derelict in the duty he owes to the Re- 

 publican party. 



7. That the Republican party is the party of order, 

 and is opposed to all lawlessness in whatever quar- 

 ter the same may arise, or in whatever form it may 

 appear. 



8. Thut the wisdom of the financial policy of the 

 Republican party is made manifest by its merits. It 

 has brought specie and paper practically together 

 months before the date fixed by law for the resump- 

 tion of specie payment by the Government ; it has 

 given to all classes money of the same value ; it has 

 placed our nation on an equal footing with the other 

 great nations of the world in all matters of financial 

 concern ; it has promoted the refunding of the na- 

 tional debt at a low rate of interest ; it has main- 

 tained the national credit ; and any change in this 

 policy which will tend to obstruct it in its work of 

 restoring specie payment, whereby paper currency 

 becomes absolutely as valuable as gold and silver 

 standard coin, of reviving business, promoting in- 

 dustry, and maintaining the public credit, is hereby 

 denounced as wholly evil and injurious to the best 

 interest of the country. 



9. That the organized raid on the Treasury by the 

 Southern Democratic members of Congress for the 

 payment of hundreds of millions of dollars of rebel 

 war claims is an unparalleled impudence, and a pres- 

 ent danger, against the success of which the triumph 

 of the Republican party is our only security. 



10. That we favor a wisely adjusted tariff for reve- 

 nue. 



11. In the matter of the faithful administration of 

 the public funds, the Republican party challenges 

 the closest scrutiny, and invites comparison with any 

 and all other agencies in public or private affairs. 

 Notwithstanding the vast sums amounting to thou- 

 sands of millions of dollars collected and disbursed 

 by Republican administrations, the percentage of 

 loss is less than can be shown by any other political 

 party that lias ever been intrusted with the control 

 of public affairs, or by individuals in their own pri- 

 vate business, thus showing that the charge of cor- 

 ruption made against the Republican party is as 

 groundlessly impudent as was the effort of the 

 Southern Democracy to destroy the Union wantonly 

 wicked and atrociously cruel. 



12. The title to the current Presidential term was 

 definitely and finally settled by the Forty-fourth Con- 

 gress, and any attempt to reopen it is dangerous, 

 illegal, and unconstitutional; and the Republican 

 party of Iowa will resist all efforts not founded on 

 the Constitution and existing laws to displace the 

 present possessor of said title ; and it is a cause of 

 sincere congratulation that the firm attitude assumed 

 by the Republican party of the country in this regard 

 forced a majority of the Democratic members of the 

 House of Representatives to disavow the real but 

 covert purpose of the so-called Potter investigation. 



13. That the efforts of the Democratic party in 

 Congress to cripple and render inefficient the army 

 and navy of the United States is most earnestly con- 

 demned ; and all efforts looking to a present reduc- 

 tion of the same, with a view to a future reorganiza- 

 tion whereby the official stations may be, in whole 

 or in part, supplied by officers who engac'c-d in the 

 rebellion against the nation, who hold to the doc- 

 trine of secession, and who acknowledge primary 

 allegiance to a State, are hereby denounced as dan- 



