Part 8 (1/2)

CHAPTER XIII.

GRANT.

” ... I endorse their resolutions, and, if elected to the office of President of the United States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the laws in good faith, with economy, and with a view of giving peace, quiet and protection everywhere... Peace, and universal prosperity, its sequence, with economy of administration, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the national debt. Let us have peace.”

_Ulysses S. Grant's Letter of Acceptance_, _May_ 29, 1868.

The impeachment of President Johnson had not been finally disposed of in the Senate when the Fourth Republican National Convention a.s.sembled in Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, on May 20, 1868, for the purpose of nominating one whom, it was confidently believed, would succeed President Johnson and thus end the long controversy between the President and Congress, and between the North and the South. There was absolutely no question as to who would be the presidential nominee, for the overwhelming sentiment of the party had long since crystallized in favor of a man whose wonderful career and talents had made him pre-eminently the strongest candidate in the party.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ulysses S. Grant.]

Ulysses S. Grant was born in Ohio in 1822, and had graduated from West Point in 1843. He took part in the Mexican War, and was brevetted Captain for gallant services. A few years after the close of that war he resigned his commission and engaged in business until the call to arms in 1861. His great success in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson brought him the rank of Major General and made him at once one of the most prominent and promising of the Union Generals. His subsequent successes in Tennessee, the capture of Vicksburg and the opening of the Mississippi caused him to be appointed to the revived rank of Lieutenant-General, and taking personal command of the campaign against Richmond, he had, by his dogged persistence, brought success and ended the great conflict. He continued to remain at the head of the Army, and in the bitter contest between the President and Congress during the reconstruction period, though placed in a most trying position, he had displayed rare qualities of tact and judgment, and had gained the confidence of the entire party, and indeed of the American people. Such, briefly, was the career of the man who was now called to accept a presidential nomination.

The a.s.sembling at Chicago of a great convention of soldiers and sailors at the same time the Republican Convention met, made the latter even more enthusiastic than the convention of 1860, and the number in attendance was much larger. The Soldiers' Convention met before the Republican Convention, and amid scenes of the wildest enthusiasm, nominated Gen. Grant for the presidency, and condemned the seven Republicans--”traitors” as they were then called--who had voted against the impeachment of President Johnson. At noon, May 20th, the Republican Convention was called to order by Governor Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey. He named Carl Schurz, of Wisconsin, as temporary Chairman.

The temporary Secretaries were B. R. Cowen, of Ohio, Luther Caldwell, of New York, and Frank S. Richards, of Tennessee. Committees on Credentials, Permanent Organization, Resolutions and Rules were then appointed, each of the committees, with some few exceptions, having on it a representative from each of the States. The name of Joseph R.

Hawley was reported for President of the Convention, and the names of one representative from each State as Vice-President, and also thirty-six secretaries. A delegation from the Soldiers' and Sailors'

Convention now presented a resolution nominating Gen. Grant for President, and it caused great enthusiasm. Such a procedure was contrary to the rules of the Convention, but the delegates were almost unanimous in desiring the nomination to be made at once, but order was finally restored. After some debate it was decided to give representation in the Convention to the Territories, and to the States not yet reconstructed.

The Convention then adjourned until the following morning at ten o'clock, at which time, on a.s.sembling, impatient attempts were again made to nominate Gen. Grant contrary to the rules, but the Convention finally quieted down and listened to speeches delivered by F. Ha.s.saurek, John M. Palmer and John W. Forney. The platform, reported by Richard W.

Thompson, of Indiana, was adopted with many cheers.

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1868.

The National Republican Party of the United States, a.s.sembled in national convention in the City of Chicago on the 21st day of May, 1868, make the following declaration of principles:

1. We congratulate the country on the a.s.sured success of the reconstruction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the states lately in rebellion, of Const.i.tutions securing equal civil and political rights to all; and it is the duty of the government to sustain those inst.i.tutions and to prevent the people of such states from being remitted to a state of anarchy.

2. The guaranty by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of grat.i.tude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal states properly belongs to the people of those states.

3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime; and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted.

4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit.

5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honestly done.

6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay, so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected.

7. The government of the United States should be administered with the strictest economy; and the corruptions which have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical reform.

8. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession of the Presidency of Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to execute the laws; who has used his high office to induce other officers to ignore and violate the laws; who has employed his executive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, the liberty and life of the citizen; who has abused the pardoning power; who has denounced the national legislature as unconst.i.tutional; who has persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption; and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly p.r.o.nounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty-five senators.

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are ent.i.tled to protection in all their rights of citizens.h.i.+p as though they were native born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the government to interfere in his behalf.

10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war there were none ent.i.tled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hards.h.i.+ps of campaign and cruise, and imperilled their lives in the service of the country; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation are obligations never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people--a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care.

11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development, and resources, and increase of power to this republic--the asylum of the oppressed of all nations--should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.

12. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed people struggling for their rights.

13. That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with which men who have served in the rebellion but who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring the peace of the country and reconstructing the Southern state governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are received back into the communion of the loyal people; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the late rebels in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people.