Republican Party Platform

Resolved

2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution ‘That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed’ is essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions; and the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the Union of the States, and the Union of the States, must and shall be preserved.

4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgement exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory.

8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United State is that of freedom and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States.