RHODE ISLAND. 



729 



tor ney- General, Charles H. Page; 

 Treasurer, Thomas W. Segar. A majority 

 the Committee on Resolutions submitted the 

 following platform : 



1. That we, the Democracy of Rhode Island in 

 convention assembled, reaffirm the national Demo- 

 cratic platform adopted at St. Louis in 1876 as an 

 authoritative statement of the ~ 

 and we congratulate our po 



vis; Secretary of State, H. H. Robinson; At- tion act, and that Government shall issue a 



General ten uor paper currency based not upon gold and uil- 

 ioritv of ^ er ' wn . ic ' 1 uro inadequate to the demands of trade, 

 fluctuating and therefore delusive measures, but 

 based upon the real and immovable wealth in the 

 nation; and that this paper currency shall not bo a 

 promise to pay, as the greenback now is, but a full 

 legal tender, receivable in payment for all debts, 



_ _, , m W1J . PU IC ?nd pnvate, as well as for customs duties. 



principles of our party ; V e demand the abolition of the national banks, 

 litical brethren of the wni h usurp one of the prerogatives of a sovereign 



prerogatives of a sovereign 



government manufacturing money which is local- 

 ized to inflate its wealth to uearlv double its original 

 size, and which, in addition to "the millions if an- 



whole country that these principles were endorsed 

 at the last national election by the suffrages of a ma- 

 jority of more than a quarter' of a million of Ameri- 

 can citizens. 



2. That_we denounce upon the Republican party 

 stern retribution for the great national crime by 



which the people were defrauded of their rights, and , . W e dem and a protective tariff' tantamount to pro- 

 persons installed as President and Vice-president hl . Dltl Uj so that foreign manufacturers and producers 



of what we can manufacture and produce at home 



nually draws from the nation through government, 

 imposes a direct tribute on the peoplo of seventeen 

 millions a year besides. 



-President 



who were not elected by the people, and have no 

 legal claim to said offices under the Constitution of 

 the United States ; and we demand of the present 

 Congress the adoption of such legislative enactment 

 or constitutional amendment as shall effectually pre- 

 vent the repetition of this outrage upon a free peo- 

 ple. 



3. That we congratulate our sister States of the 

 South in theirdeliverance from the curseof carpet-bag 



can not undersell American manufacturers and pro- 

 ducers in American markets. 



We demand that the bondholders shall be paid in 

 lawful money of the United States greenbacks the 

 same money they paid for the bonds. 



We demand that no more of the public lands nor 

 public moneys be given to railroad or any other cor- 



r Potations, and that sued part of the public domain 



rule through the adoption of Democratic principles as .??. ow remains, alter giving two hundred and fifteen 

 by the de facto national Administration in its South- miln ns of acres to railroad corporations, be reserved 

 ern policy, and we sympathize with our brethren of actual settlers, who should be aided by our Gov- 



Louisiana in their attempts to bring universal exe- ernm . en t in their endeavor to procure for themselves 

 cration and deserved punishment upon the conspira- com iortable homes in the West. 



tors through whose instrumentality fraud became 

 first triumphant in American history. 



4. That we are in favor of a stable currency, the 

 honest payment of our national debt, and are op- 

 posed to all measures by which our national credit 

 may be impaired. 



5. That we are opposed to all schemes for robbing 

 the public Treasury, and bestowing public lands in 

 aid of private corporations and monopolies, which 

 have characterized the era of Republican misrule. 



6. That we are in favor of such legislation, nation- 

 al and State, as shall ameliorate the condition of our 

 industrial classes, by finding profitable employment 

 for honest labor, and safe investment for hoarded 

 capital. 



7. That we declare our abiding faith in the doc- 

 trine of the fathers that the United States is a Fed- 

 eral Republic of free and independent States a* set 

 forth in the Declaration of Independence, united 

 under a government of limited powers for mutual 

 protection and advantage, and leaving to the States 

 respectively and to the people the entire control, 

 under the Constitution, or all matters pertaining to 

 their civil government and social, moral, and educa- 

 tional interests. 



8. That we are in favor of such a thorough reform 

 and revision of the Federal tariff, as shall operate to 

 stimulate rather than restrict our trade with foreign 

 nations, and encourage American commerce, which 

 has been disabled and well nigh destroyed by Re- 

 publican misrule. 



9. That we tender our thanks to the Democrats 

 and Conservatives in Congress for legislating in the 

 interests of economy, and reducing expenditures in 

 the various departments of the Government. 



_ 10. That we demand for our disfranchised fellow 

 citizens in this State the extension of the same Fed- 

 eral guarantee of their right of suffrage, which is ac- 

 corded under the Fifteenth Amendment of the Con- 

 stitution to the emancipated slaves of the South. 



The following was submitted by a minority 

 of the Committee, and the motion made that 

 it be substituted for the financial clause of the 

 majority report : 



We demand the immediate repeal of the resump- 



After some discussion, the motion was ta- 

 bled, and the platform of the majority adopted. 



The election took place on the 3d of April, 

 and resulted in the choice of the Republican 

 and Prohibition candidates. The total vote 

 for Governor was 19,681, of which Van Zandt 

 received 11,436; Lawrence, 7,631; Foster, 

 Greenback candidate, 583 ; and 31 were scat- 

 tering. Van Zandfs plurality over La.vrence 

 was 3,805; majority over all, 3,191. The 

 Legislature, chosen at the same time, con- 

 sisted of 25 Republicans and 11 Democrats in 

 the Senate, and 55 Republicans and 17 Demo- 

 crats in the House, making the Republican 

 majority 14 in the Senate, 38 in the House, 

 and 52 on joint ballot. 



In view of the prospective repeal of the 

 national bankrupt law, the Governor called a 

 special session of the Legislature, which was 

 held on the 26th and 27th of April, " to con- 

 sider what reasonable and proper amendments 

 are essential to the general statutes." The 

 following insolvency act, to prevent pref- 

 erence and secure an equal distribution of 

 the property of debtors among creditors, was 

 passed : 



SECTION 1. Whenever the property of any. debtor 

 shall have been attached or levied upon by any 

 creditor, the debtor may at any time before such 

 property shall be sold and the proceeds thereof ap- 

 plied to the payment of the claim or judgment upon 

 which such attachment or levy shall have been made, 

 within sixty days after such attachment or levy, dis- 

 solve such attachment or levy by making and having 

 recorded in the records of the town or city where 

 the assignor resides, or where any of the real estate 

 is located, an assignment of all the property and 

 estate of such debtor, not exempt by law from at- 

 tachment, to some citizen of this State, for the equal 

 benefit of all his creditors, in proportion to their 



