Political text-book for 1860 : comprising a brief view of presidential nominations and elections, including all the national platforms ever yet adopted ... with the most notable speeches and letters of Messrs. Lincoln, Douglas, Bell, Cass, Seward, Everett, Breckinridge, H.V. Johnson, etc., etc., touching the questions of the day : and returns of all presidential elections since 1836

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A PO LIT I CAL TEXT- BOOK FOR 1 860. (For later views of Mr. Everett, sec his letter / n fuslo~ of the Rc p';lblicans with the othe.r Opposit.ion cleo ncccptinrr the nomination fot· the Vice-Presi- mt.>nt.s m tho cnm1nu gn of 1. 60, has been r eceived. d · b 1860 ] I J\Ja.ssachuactls 1!1 a st~ ve rcign a nd independent State and cocy lU • I ha~c no .right to advi e her ln her p olicy . Yet, if' nny one 18 desirous to draw a conclusion us to what 1 woultl .ADRAilA;\{ LINCOLN ON THOMAS JEFI<'ERSON. do,, from wha t PhC hag dono, lmny speak wit hout impr()- 'f. I · 1 h ,· " b · · d b l R pnety. I !l:l.V, then, that so far us I mule rstanu the 111~ n ~ · .. mco n 3.\ mb een lllVIte Y t _1e ~- >~ach utletts provision, 1 am against itt~ a doption , not only publican of lloston, to attend a Festival 1!1 in lllinoi!l, IJut in e ve ry other place in which 1 have the honor of the nnn~ ve1· tu·y of J efl'erson's birthday, rl~h t .to opp<?;,e it.. As I unde r:;ta nd the spi l'lt of our in· on the 13th of April 1 59 replied as follows . stltutiOIIS, It IS des igned to prom.ote the e levation or me.o. ' ' £ • l am, therefore, hostile to anytlung U1at tends to their uo- SPRit>GFIELD, Ill., .April 6, l&~P. IJusoment. G~>NTLEMRN: Your kind note, Inviting me to att r.nd n fcstiv;LI ln lloston, on the 18t.h iost., in h ooot· of the birth­day of Thomas J ellc rson, was duly received. My engage­ml ·ots arc such that I cannot attend. Dearing in mind th a t ahou t s~venty years ago two great political pa rties wer tl first formed in th is country; that '!'homa.s J eiferson was the head of one of th em auu lloston the h ea dqua rte rs of the other, H is both curious and interesting that those supposeu to descend politically from the pa r ty opposed to J ctfet" on, should n ow be celebrating his birthday in thei r own or igi nal seat of cmpirl', while those chLi ml ng political dCJlcent from him have n early ceased to brea the his name everywhe re. ll emembering, too, th;lt the J effers on party wne formed upon it ~ supposed superior devotion to the personal fl!(hts of men , holding the rights or prop erty to be seeondury only, ancl greatly in fe rior; and then a ssum­ing that the so-calleu Democracy of to·da.y are the J cJrer­son, and thei r opponents tho anti-J efferson parties it will he equa lly interesting to n ote h ow completely the two hnvc cha nged ground us to the principle upon which they w en~ or igi nally supposed to be u ivit..l e<l. It is well known tha t I deplore tho oppressed con<lltlon of the blncks ; ami it would, t he refore, he very luconsist.eut for me to look with approval upon any mcn:mrcs tha t ln. fringes upon the inalie nal>lc rights of whiLe men, whether or not thoy arc hom In anoth er land, or speak a diiTcrcn' language from my own. In respect to a fusion, I nm In favor of it whenever tt can be cffc?t~d ou Hcp u~)li c an principl es, hut upon 1W oilier CO!tliltwn. A fu:uon u pon nny other pla tfo rm woultl be ns lrumne as u np rincipled. It woultl thereby lose the wholo North, while the common e nellly would s till have the support of th o entire 'outh. The question In relation to moo is diiTe rent. '1'hcro a rc good an<l patri­otic men ant! able statesmen in tho !'louth \\ hom I woul41 willl n~jly snpport if they woulu place the:nselvcs on 1(.(;. puiJUcan ground; bnt 1 sha ll oppose the lowering of tho Hcpublicnn 8tandartl even by a. halr'IJ breadth. '!'he Democra cy of to-day hold the liberty of one mlln to be ab~o lu tely noth ing, when In confli ct with anoth er man's r ight of p roperty. Hcpuhlicans, on the contrary, nrc both for tl1e man !liHI the dollar, but in ca se of cou­fi ict the man before the doll a r. l l:emet~b·!r ?eing once much amused at seeing two pan1ally Jn tox1cat eu men cngageu in a fight wit11 the1 r grea t-coats on , which fight, aft er a long and rather IHu·m­lt:~ s contest., ended in each having fo ught himself out of lti11 own coat nutl into th ;Lt or the oth er. If the two leauing parties of th i~ uay are really identi cal with the tw,> in tile dayl:l of J efferson a nti Adams, they have p cr­formeu th e same feat u11 the two drunken men. llut soberlf, it Is now no ch ild's play to save the prin­ciples of JeU ~.:: rso n from total overthrow in this nation. One would st ate with great confidence that he could c:onvince any sane child that the elm pier propositions of Eucltd ure true; but neverth eless, hd would fail, with one -;ho should deny the dcfi nitionl:l and a.xioms. The priu­Clp~ es of Jeffason arc tl1e udlnitions and axioms of free soctety. Aorl y et they arc de nied and evaded, with no small show of success. One dashingly cnlls them "gllt­te\ ing ge1~ eral ities." Another blunlly styles them" self­evulent he~ ." And others insidiously !lrguo ~hat they apply only to ' ' superior race ~." '~'heMe cxpr~:~sio ns, diiTcring in form, are identical In l)hJ ect and eUect- thc supplanting the principles or free go\'ernmen t, and restoring those of classification caste a nd legitimacy. They wo uld delight a convoca'tion of crowned he a d::~ plotting against the people. They are the ''t~nguard, the suppers aut! miners, of r eturning de~pottsul. We must repulse them, or they will subj u­g ;Ltc us. Thill Is a world of compensntions ; and he who would be no slave 111ust consent to have no slave. '!'hose who deuy freedom. to others deserve it n ot for thewsel ves ; a nd, under a Just God, cannot long retain it. All honor to JdTcrson- to the man who, in the concr ete ~ressure of a struggle for national independence by n. ll111gle peo~lc, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity, to introuuce 1nto a me rely r evolutionary document an ab­stract trutl!, a pplicable to all men and all times, and so to emiJalm 1t the1·e, that to-day and In all corning days it !ha ll be a rebuke and a stumtling-block to the harbin­f: t:rs or reappearing tyranny and. oppression. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN, M·:~ars. II. L. Pu:ncE, anu others, etc. ADR.UIAM LINCOLN ON NATURALIZATION. Dn, TUEODOR CANIBIUI:I: SrniNGFIELD, J[UIJI 17, 18.'19. DEAR Sm- Your letter, In which you inquire on your own account, and in behalf of certain other German ctt\­~ cns, whether J approve or oppose the constitutional pro­v~ ion in. relatiOn to naturalized citlzens which was lat,Qly enacted m Massachusetts, and whether I favor oc oppooo I have written in haste, but I believe that I have nD­swcreu y our questions ~Substantially. Hcspcctfully y ours, AJlfiAIIAM LIMOOLJI. NEW-YORK FOR THE W1LM01' l' ROVI:;O. In January, 1847, Col. Samuel Younrr intro­duced the following r esolve into the Nenw-York tate Senate, n.nd on the 27th of that month i& was adopted by a vote of 22 to 6 : Re.~ohed, Thnt if any Territory Is he r eafter ncquired !Jy tlw Un ited Sta tes, or a nnex ed ther eto the act. by which such Territory is acquired or annex ed, \~hat evcr such n·~t ruay te, ~:~ h o ul d contain an unalt c ra hle funcl ;uncntal 11 r· ticle or provi~io n whereby Shvcry or i'nvol11nta y SL'IT\­tude, except us a puui s hl t~c •• l f, r ~.:rinre, s hall he fore ver excluucu from the Terri tory a cq ui red ·•r a nut·xed. 'l'his resolve subsequently pa. S<'d the Assellluly by u. vote wllich was almost unanimou::;. NEW-YORK FOR FREI:DO.M IN 1868. The following preamble n.nd r esolutions were adopted by the Assembly of the Sttttc of New­Yoi ·k on the l Oth day of January, 1848, by n vote of 108 to 6, and by the Senate n few dayll later, by a majority nearly as cmpi1atic as tb!U of the Assembly: Wltereas, The Presideu\ or the United State~, in hts last annual mcHsage, has recommended the e~tnbllsh rnc n' by C? ngress of territorial government ov er the conquered provinces of New Mexico, and the C1ll i fornias, a n(l the rete ntion the reof as an indemnity iu which said Tc rr~ toritls t he institution of Slavery 'dues n ot n o\V exiijl., the r efore R osol!oed (if the Sennte con cur), That om Senators In Congress be instructecl, and our Representati ves r&­que. Ht cd, to u ~e th.eir. best efforts to ln•er t into a ny act or ordu~ a n ce, estllblisl11ng any or nil such provlMional or ter · ritonal government or governmeu ts n fundamental article or provision, wh lch shall pro ~lde, d ecla re, and guaranty, that Slaver):' or involuntary servitud e, exceJ" as a punishment for cnme, whereof the p arty shall hava been Urst duly convicted, shall be prohibited therein so long as the same shall remain a Territory. ' Resolved, That ~he President or the Senate, and the Spcaktlr of the Assembly, be requt.•ted to transm it a copy of the foregoing resolutions and preamble to each of Lh~ said Senators and Representatives. NEW-YORK AGAIN FOR FREE TF.RRITORI.Jo:S IN J84~. The following preamble nnd r esolves were in.­troduced into the New-York Senate on the 2d of January, 1840, passed that body by a unaui· ruous vote on tho 4th, and wero concurrod iz NEW-YORK ON SLAVERY. 20'7 by the AR~embl y two days later, on the Gth of j followi ng nrc ext l'acts from tho address then January : I adopted : JVAo1·eal! The p eople of the State of New-Mex ico l<'r.LLow-CtTir: ENS : Hith erto when we have assemtled In have pet.ltl ~u e\1 Congr es:l for the e:~tablillhmen t of a 'l'er- Con vention, there were well known nnd well r ecogtlizcd ntorial Go,·ernmcnt which shall protect them against the bounus to our count ry, but now that the sp irit or con­Inst itution of 'lomcstic ~ l avery wh ile they remain a t e r- quest has l>een let loose, who can t ell where is his coun­ritory of the United tates, and hnvc a lso p etiti.oned Con- tr!, w.bether on the Hio Gr_and ~, the iena Nevada, t he grc s for protection ngainst t he unfound ed cla1ms of t he RIO G1la or the Gulf of Ca h fonua , or whether pn.rt pau­)< tate or 'J'cx ns to a hHgc portion of their ter ritory lying Ish, much Indlsu t, and SO:JlC Negr o, Snnta }'L·nn or Onll ~ast of t.he ltio (}ramie· and, w ltllr enll, it would be u u- fornhm m:Ly not be as good an America n citizen as him­J~~ t to the people of New-Mexico and California, and ~elf ? Our Hag is borne, with fi xed bayonets to surround re volting to the spirit of the age, to p ermit domestic 1t, and ':lnmuzzl ed grape-shot to cl'!ar the way, lu the Blavcry-:w ln st.it ution frorn which they nrc n ow f ree- conquenng foot.,t eps of Cortes-by the base of the snowy t.o be Introduced among them : a n d, '1ohoroa.9, since the peaks of J>opocnta petl, to the Eternal city of the acquisition uf New Mexico by the United States tho p co- Aztecs-aml M exican~ of every color, and e v e ~·y b reed, pie th ereo f hn ve a right to expect the protection of the sprung fr om conunlughn~ Moor and s t ralght-har red Afri­Oenernl Go vernment, and should be s.ecured In the full can, ~s. well as from Oust1lc a nd Leon, nre mado Ameri­possesslon and enjoymen t of their Tern tory: therefore can C1t1zcns, or prepared for being made so, by t he gen- Rellolved, '!'hat our Senat01·s. nnd ReprescntaUves In tl~ lo_glc of red-mouthed a,,·ti llcry, th undering fi'O!l' the Congress be requested to use the1r best ciTorts to procure bnsthng heights of Cerro Gorrlo to the hloo,ly p l~ms .of the passa ge of laws for the esta bllshment of govern- Contreras anu Cl~urub us co. Wherever that nag IS, \VJUl ments for the 'r crri tor les acquired t y tho t reaty of peace its stars and str1pcs, the emblem of our Nation ali ty , with J\Iexlco, and that by such laws involuntary I!Crv!- there our he~rts aro; but woe l woe 1 .to. the m e r~ , we cry, tude except for crime IJc ex clu ded from such 'I'crn- who have d1spntclted it upon Its IUISSIOU of Conquest, torle; . ' nnd what. 11.1 y et \~orse, tho couver~ion of a .Free in to a Resolved Tha t the terr itory lying between the Nue- Siaveholulllg Tcmtory. ces and th~ ltio Orn.nde is the common p roperty of Jo' ellow-cit Jzcns, disguise the Mex ican war as sophistry the United ' tn.tes, a.ml that our Sen a tors nne! ltcprescnta- may, the grc11t tru th c a ~ n ot be put d own, t h a t It exll!ts ,ives in C ongre~~ be reques ted to use t heir test efforts to becau:;c of t he. nnneXIl tiOn of Tc:xas; that from ~uch a preserve the same as such common p roperty, and p rotect ca use we pret11cte<l such a conseq uence would fol~mv ~ it (rom the unfounded claim of the Sta te of 'l'exas, and an(l that, _but fo ~ th n.t ca use, no war would !Ia vc eXJ(jte<l prohib~ t the extension over it of the laws of Tex as, or the at all. D1sgulsc 1ts in tent, purposes and con~cq ue n cc 11 illlltltutlon of d omestic Slavery. as sophl!lt ry may !!t ruggle to d o, the fu rther g reat truth Rasotved 'l'hat the ex istence of pr isons for the con- cannot be hidden, thn.t Its main obj ect Is t he co11~1 ues~ of fln ement a1;d marts for the snlc of slaves, a t the scat of u. ~Iurket for Sla ves, and tJIO.t the flag our vr~ to n ou:l the National (l ovcrnmcnt, is viewed by t his legislature legiOns rally around , fight under, and . fall fo r, ~ ~ to be with deep r e~ret and mortifi cation; thn.t such prisons and d~sec_ratc~l fr om its holy character o f L1her l~ anJ Ellla u­mnrts ought fo1 thwitb to be abolished · U1er efore be It c1patJon tnto an e rrant of Dondnge and Slavery. In fur ther . ' o_bed icnce to the laws, a nd in a due and fait hful suiJm ls- Jt,•sof;ved That our Senato r!~ nod Repr esenta tives In s1on to t he r egularly constituted government of our Congress be' requested to use their strenuous eJTorts to count rJ:', we will rally by _ a~d defend 011r 1lug on wh_lll ­procurc the passage o f a law that sha.11 protect s laves ev er so1l or wh!Ltc vcr se<_L 1t IB unfurled.; but befo_re I ~J I{h from unj ust. imprhwnmcnt, and sha ll effectu ally p ut a n Heaven we p rotest nga1nst the miss10n on whrch 1t '" eocl to the sl a ve-trade iu the District~ Columbia. sen t, ami we demand Its recall to the t rue a ncl p rowr R, sole eel That the Go vernor be requested to forward boumls or our country, us soo ~ as In honor it. e n~ he copies of th'e p receding resolutions to each Sena tor and br ought horne. \~e protest, too, m the name of th c_r ,ghts llepreseutative in Congress from this State. of Man, ~n d of l,lberty,_ ngainKt the fur thc_r extcus1on of MR. D!X FOR SLAVF.RY PROniUITIO.N. These resolutions were presented in the U. S. Sennte by the ITo n. J ohn A. Dix (now, 1860,) Po tmaster of New-York, and defended by him in an elaborate and a.IJlc speech. On the fi rst resolu tion, he aid : This resolution waq i n s entiment, If n ot In words, tlcoUcal with those which have been passed by fifteen of the thirty , tates of the Un ion. With a single ex cep­tion, all the non-shwcholding nnd one of the slaveholding States have deda red themselves op posed to the exten· sion of Slavery into terr itory now free. Sir, I fully con­cur in the propriety of this d eclaration. I b elieve that Congress hn' the power to prohibit Slavery In Cnlifornln and New Mexico; that it is our duty to exercise the power, and t hat i t should be exercised n ow. I am always for a cting when the proper time fo r a ct ion has come. I am utt er ly opposed to any course which shall csst upon others the responsibility which belongs to our­selves. 'I'hc resolutio n looks to the exclusion of Slavery from Ne'" Mexico :tnd California during their t erritorial condition only . It docs not look beyond that con dition w!th a view to control the people when they shall have come into the Union . It contemp lates no Inva sion of S~ate sovereignty. In th is view or the subject, one of the New-York presses which has resisted a ll interference with Bla\•cry, even in the 'J'crritor ies, pron ounced. t hese r esolu­Uons conciliatory in UJ c[r charact er. I do not kno'v that I should CILil th em either conciliatory or the r eve rse. They take fi rmly the ground that New-York has ahva.ys Laken, that Sla very sh;Lil by no act of h ers lo>e further ex­tendeu. She belicvOtl it to be the ground or principle, or Justice, o.nd of 1·ight ,and I do not hi'Sitate to say she will never abandon it- never, never. TirE NEW-YORK WJl[GS FOR FREEDOM IN 184.7. At the Whig State Convention held nt Syrn­ousc, October G, 1847t the lion. James Brooks reported a brief address to the \Vhirrs of the State, which was unanimously ndopt~d. Tho Slavory 1n North A men ca. 'l'he curse wh1ch ou1· mother country inflicted upon u~, in spite of our fathers' remon· strances, we dcmaud shall never blight the v irgin soil of t he North l'aci fi c. • . • • We will not pour ou t the blood of our count rymen, if we can help IL, to turn a .Fre;l in to a Slcwe soil, We will not spend from fi fty to a hundred millions of d ollars per y oar to rn a ke 11 Sin ve ~I a r ke t for a ny p or tion of our count rymen. We will never, for such n purpose, consent to run up an u ntold Na tional debt, anu sarldle our posteri ty with Fund­monge rs, 'l'ax-llrokcrs, Tax-gatherers, lay ing an excise or nn impost on everything th ey taste, touch or live hy. The Uuion a.3 it IH, the w kole Union, and not/tina but tl1e Union, we will stand by to the lu.str--hutNo ..Jlvre 'li>rr i­WMJ is our watch-word, unless it be F ree. R ESOLVES. .Among the Resolutions unanimously adopted by this Conven tion was the following : Resolefd, Tha t while the Wh ig Freemen of New-York, r epresented in this Conventio n , will fai thfully arlhere Lr1 all the compromises of the Constitution, and j ea lously maln1ain all thu r eserYed r ights of t.he St<ttes, tlley d eclare-since the c risis has arr ive,l when tht' question must he mclr-their uncompromising hos ti li ty to the Ex­tcndion of Slavery into a ny Territory n ow l<'rf>e, or which may be herc ;~ft e r acquircu by a ny act ion o f the Gover n· mcnt of our Union. FREE DEMOCRACY OF NEW-YORK CITY AGAINST SLAVERY EXTENSION. At a. Free Democratic Meeting held in tho Park nt New-York, October 9, 1848, at which IIenry Ever son pl'esidcd, and S. J. Tilden, J ohn Vn.n BureL', nnd John Cochrane spoke, Mr. Cochrane introduced the following ResolveS!, which we re adopted: R e3olmed, That tlle politics of the times indicate pr e­cisely to whom remain the principles of the Democracy ; that the absence from the field of di~cusslo n or the fina n· clal and commercia l quClltions which formerly defined