登陆注册
4699800000012

第12章 THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION.(2)

'Mr. President, we but represent the sentiment of those who sent here the delegation from Tennessee, when we announce that if no one else had made the nomination of Andrew Johnson, which is now before the Convention, it would have been our duty to make it by one of our own delegation. That citizen, known, honored, distinguished, has been presented to this Convention for the second place in the gift of the American people. It needs not that I should add words of commendation of him here. From the time he rose in the Senate of the United States, where he then was, on the 17th day of December, 1860, and met the leaders of treason face to face, and denounced them there, and declared that the laws of the country must and should be enforced, for which he was hanged in a effigy in the City of Memphis, in his own State, by the hands of a negro slave, and burned in effigy, I know not in how many places throughout that portion of the country--from that time, on during the residue of that session of the Senate until he returned to Tennessee after the firing upon Fort Sumter, when he was mobbed in the City of Lynchburg, Virginia--on through the memorable canvass that followed in Tennessee, till he passed through Cumberland Gap on his way North to invoke the aid of the Government for his people--his position of determined and undying hostility to this rebellion that now ravages the land, has been so well known that it is a part of the household knowledge of many loyal families in the country. * * * When he sees your resolutions that you have adopted here by acclamation, he will respond to them as his sentiments, and I pledge myself by all that I have to pledge before such an assemblage as this, that whether he be elected to this high place, or whether he retire to private life, he will adhere to those sentiments, and to the doctrine of those resolutions, as long as his reason remains unimpaired, and as long as breath is given him by his God.

Two ballots were taken on the nomination for Vice President. Mr.

Johnson, whose nomination was known to be desired by Mr. Lincoln and his friends because of his prominence as a Southern Democrat and an influential supporter of the Union cause in his State, received 200 votes on the first ballot, and 404 on the second--the delegations of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, West Virginia, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Nevada, voting solidly for him--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota, only, being divided.

Thus a Republican and a Democrat were made the nominees of the Convention, and its non-partisan character found further expression in the first three Resolutions of the Platform adopted, which were as follows:

Resolved, 1st. That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that laying aside ALL DIFFERENCESOF POLITICAL OPINION, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the Government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it.

2nd. That we approve the determination of the Government of the United States not to compromise with Rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that we call upon the Government to maintain their position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the Rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor and the undying devotion of the American people to their country and its free institutions.

3rd. That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican Government, justice and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic; and that, while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamation by which the Government in its own defense, has aimed a death blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States.

So there seems to be good ground for saying that this was in no sense a partisan Convention, but, on the contrary, that it was a Convention of the loyal people of the Northern and Border States, of all parties, who were ready to lay aside party creeds and partisan considerations, the better to make common cause for the preservation of the Union.

同类推荐
  • 丹台玉案

    丹台玉案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 回春录

    回春录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 自在王菩萨经

    自在王菩萨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 人天宝鉴

    人天宝鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说楞伽经禅门悉谈章

    佛说楞伽经禅门悉谈章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 大师的作文课

    大师的作文课

    全书分为总论篇,运思篇,文体篇,练习篇四大部分,选取20世纪中国最优秀的作文大师与教育大家有关写作的精粹文章结集而成,将作文写作的每一个细部一一拆解,一一阐述,内容通俗易懂,大师们的文笔优美,讲解深入浅出,生动形象。选文都是有关作文的经典之作,无论是对于当下作文的教学,还是指导中学生的具体写作,都具有极大的现实意义。
  • 东周列国志上

    东周列国志上

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 一生三万

    一生三万

    这本《一生三万》阐述了以人为主旋律的世界,在家有亲人缘,在校有师生缘,在外有朋友缘,在单位有同事领导缘,在陌生的环境里,有萍水相逢缘……面对林林总总、形形色色的人缘,我们怎能不懂一点观人之法、识人之道呢?正所谓“人海茫茫,各有各的心肠”;又有谓“四海之内皆兄弟也”;还有谓“害人之心不可有,防人之心不可无。”爱人乎?防人乎?避人乎?交人乎?……其尺寸把握皆源于一个“识”字。识人方能鉴人、方能交人、方能用人、方能远人……识人之用大矣哉!
  • 蛇王魔姬

    蛇王魔姬

    你这一生只能锁我于你的心内,除了我之外,任何试图接近你的人,我都会让他不得好死。所以,你这辈子注定是我的。别用这样的眼神看我,因为我不会因此而放过你。以前你是高高在上的护法,任何人都必须匍匐在你的脚下。但是现在,哼,你不过是一个毫无法力的废物。所以,我劝你还是老老实实的呆在这里,乖乖做我的男人吧。
  • 欢歌犹在意微醺

    欢歌犹在意微醺

    三个性格不同的女孩儿,拥有着各自不同的颠簸命运,在郁郁葱葱的明朗少女时光里,她们曾挽手并肩,甜蜜微笑,然而,时间化作冰凉的风雨,吹乱淋湿了每个人的头发……她们都曾遇见爱,却也同时被爱推下时间的阶梯。一部青春版的《霸王别姬》,绝美演绎戏词般幽婉的年华,青春作家雨微醺为你演绎几段无法回头的爱情。究竟是什么样的惊天秘密让一群人兵荒马乱?绝望的郁欢,又将以怎样的姿态面对这空荡荡的世界?
  • 修仙之仙道魔途

    修仙之仙道魔途

    皇族弃儿,巧遇魔兽抚养成人,一朝沦落佣兵,陷害之下,逆天运气不死,锻造狂天魔功!别人修炼元气,他修炼玄气!别人只能掌握武技剑技刀法其中之一,他却能全部领悟,莫欺少年穷,十年河东,十年河西,待少年崛起之日,便是禽兽家族湮灭之时!
  • 天赋好到爆

    天赋好到爆

    一次火急火燎的天赋测试,从此让世间多出了一位无敌的守护!无论炼丹,炼器,还是武技,一学就会。灵术,符文,信手沾来。国家危难,魔人入侵,生灵涂炭?不用怕,有他在,就足够了....(放心收藏,吐血完本!)
  • 不焦虑的活法

    不焦虑的活法

    焦虑是我们在这个时代的宿命。但是我们真的就无法改变了么?不,正是由于焦虑情绪可能导致的可怕后果,我们一定要找到抑止焦虑的办法。本书没有任何结论,只是一种启迪,一种指引,指引你彻底地自我解放,清楚地认识到自己到底需要的是什么,不会再为一些无谓的事情变得焦虑不安。拥有一颗淡定的平常心,从容地去面对生活中的一切。
  • 早春夜宴

    早春夜宴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大霹雳系统

    大霹雳系统

    这个江湖有两种人。制定规则的强者;遵守规则的弱者。我都不想做,所以……我早就不在这个……江湖了。异世界获得霹雳布袋戏武学系统。我生在华夏,但霹雳负我,所以抱歉,停更!