The Republican Party and Its Presidential Candidates

THE high public necessity which required the re-formation of the Republican party in the United States, suggested the want of such a descriptive history of Republicanism as would remind the old and inform the young men of the country, of the principles and policy of the administrations of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and the younger Adams, and indicate when, under what pretexts and disguises, and by what processes, the slave power, which was left in certain states in the form of a local despotism by the framers of the constitution, assailed the original theory of the republic, and arose by consecutive steps during subsequent administrations, into its present ascendency in the government, where it now controls its purse, its sword, and its national flag. Whilst the circulation of congressional documents, and current newspapers and periodicals are contributing greatly to relieve this want, such publications are, from their nature, so exclusively devoted to matters of present interest, as, in general, to leave untraced their connection with their antecedents. Something more historical, and reaching further into the past, where the usurpations and aggressions of the slave power began, appeared to be needed for the masses in the present emergency.

Not without the deepest consciousness that there were many others who could perform the duty better, but in the hope that such a work as he might prepare would be of some service to the cause of civil liberty, the author consented to write the following chapters. In them he has endeavered to indicate, but with neces sary brevity, the attempts of the Federalists, during the administrations of Washington and the elder Adams, to monarchize the constitution by the forms of its administration, and by their alien, sedition, and franchise laws, to invade the natural rights of the people; the high public necessity which called into existence, under the guidance of Jefferson, a Republican party in the country, with a dis

tinct, liberal, and dispensable system of domestic and foreign policy, and raised it into ascendency in the government; the progress of Republican principles under the successive administrations of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams; the several and consecutive platforms of the Whig and Democratic parties, from 1833 to 1856; the conduct of the slave power, as the same was represented in congress in relation to Missouri, the Indian lands in Georgia, and the Central and South American republics; its coöperation with the friends of General Jackson to overbear Mr. Adams and defeat his reëlection; its warlike defiance of, and triumph over, the general government, with the assent of the Whig party, during the administration of General Jackson; its usurpations under the administrations of Mr. Van Buren and General Harrison, and its great exaltation during that of Tyler; its uninterrupted sway under Mr. Polk's administration, in pursuance of a previously formed coalition with Mr. Calhoun; its temporary repulse under President Taylor, and its restored vigor and audacity under Mr. Fillmore; and its full, final, and bloody culmination under the administration of Franklin Pierce. It is believed that the work will be found to be essentially faithful in respect to the subjects of which it treats. If it shall be found to add anything to the common stock of political information, or contribute toward the advancement of the Republican cause, the aim and purpose of the author will have been answered.

Knihy