Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/46

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render a judgment which met the approval of his conscience upon the trial of a bitter political opponent. Time has vindicated his judgment and the brave act which for a time overwhelmed the strong man and eminent statesman. He did not live to see the day, but it soon came, in which every citizen of the State he served so long and well honored his memory as one of the ablest and noblest public men.

The Republican State Convention assembled at Des Moines on the 7th of May, 1868, and renominated the State officers whose terms were about to expire. Henry O’Connor was nominated for Attorney-General in place of F. E. Bissell who died before the expiration of his term. The platform reaffirmed the principles declared in the last convention and unanimously recommended the nomination of General U. S. Grant for President.

The Democratic State Convention was held at Des Moines on the 26th of February and nominated the following candidates for State officers: Secretary of State, David Hammer; Treasurer, L. McCarty; Auditor, Harvey Dunlavey; Register Land Officer, A. D. Anderson; Attorney-General, J. E. Williamson. The resolutions declared the reconstruction policy of Congress to be unconstitutional; in favor of abolishing the National Bank system and the substitution of United States notes in place of bank currency; in favor of the repeal of the prohibitory liquor law and the enactment of a license law; opposed negro suffrage in Iowa and interference by the General Government with suffrage in the States, and in favor of George H. Pendleton for President. The two conventions nominated candidates for Presidential electors and chose delegates to their respective National conventions to nominate candidates for President.

The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on the 20th of May and nominated General Grant for President and Schuyler Colfax for Vice-President. It approved the reconstruction policy of Congress and de-