NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS CAMPAIGN OF 1840 Prior to 1840 there was only one document that had been considered a true platform. On December 12, 1831, the National Republican Party held a convention in Baltimore and nominated candidates for president and vice-president. This convention did not, however, draw up a platform. On May 11 following, a gathering of so-called "young men" of the party met in Washington, D. C. They went through various ceremonies, visited the tomb of Washington, conducted a "solemn procession" and adopted a list of resolutions that have been called the platform of the National Republican Party. A contemporary account of this meeting is to be found in Niles' National Register. Aside from this document, which is not exactly a true platform, no platform, in the proper sense of the term, was adopted in this year or in 1836. The National Republican Party had by this time become the Whig Party. Under these circumstances it is fair to assert that the real business of platform making did not begin until 1840. And in that year the Democrats alone drew up and adopted a platform in their national nominating convention. It is presented in this volume as the first national party platform. Democratic Platform of 1840 1. Resolved, That the federal government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the constitution, and the grants of power shown therein, ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 2. Resolved, That the constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on, a general system of internal improvements. 3. Resolved, That the constitution does not confer authority upon the federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several states, contracted for local internal improvements, or other state purposes; nor would such assumption be just or expedient. 4. Resolved, That justice and sound policy forbid the federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country-that every citizen and every section of the country, has a right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of person and property from domestic violence, or foreign aggression. 5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the government, to enforce and practice the most rigid economy, in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised, than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government. 6. Resolved, That congress has no power to charter a national bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power, and above the laws and the will of the people. 7. Resolved, That congress has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the constitution; that all efforts by abolitionists or others, made to induce congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the |