The Formative Period
years had demonstrated the necessity of the perpetuation of the Republican party and its peaceful and constitutional triumph. It reaffirmed the principles of the Declaration of Independence relating to the equality of men and their rights and the purpose of government to secure those rights. It demanded the maintenance of the Union and the rights of states to order their own domestic affairs. It scathingly condemned the Buchanan administration for its course toward Kansas and by direct implication denounced and repudiated the Dred Scott decision. There was no hint of interference with slavery in any state where it already existed, but inexorable opposition to its extension into the territories was expressed and the reopening of the African slave trade was denounced as a crime against humanity.
No fewer than five of the planks were devoted to matters other than those pertaining to the contest over slavery, indicating the purpose of the party to undertake the general work of constructive statesmanship for the Nation. Of these the first related to the tariff. At that time the nation was suffering great distress and depression, due largely to the non-protective tariff policy of the Democratic party. The Republican platform called for such an adjustment of duties on imports as would "encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country" and for a policy which would secure "to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence." The second plank demanded a proper homestead act for the distribution
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