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main for ages to benefit our people, strengthen the
Union, and contribute far more to the national defense than the costly machinery of war ever could.
III.
As to
Foreign Policy:— “Do unto others [the weak and oppressed as well as the powerful and mighty] as we would have them do unto us.”
No shuffling, no evasion of duties nor shirking responsibilities, but a firm front to despots, a prompt rebuke to every outrage on the law of Nations, and a generous, active sympathy with the victims of tyranny and usurpation.
IV.
As to
Slavery:—No interference by Congress with its existence in any slave State, but a firm and vigilant resistance to its legalization in any national Territory, or the acquisition of any foreign Territory wherein slavery may exist.
A perpetual protest against the hunting of fugitive slaves in free States as an irresistible cause of agitation, ill feeling and alienation between the
North and the
South.
A firm, earnest, inflexible testimony, in common with the whole non-slaveholding Christian world, that human slavery, though legally protected, is morally wrong, and ought to be speedily terminated.
V. As to
State rights:—More regard for and less cant about them.
VI. One presidential term, and no man a candidate for any office while wielding the vast patronage of the national executive.
VII.
Reform in Congress:—Payment by the session, with a rigorous deduction for each day's absence, and a reduction and straightening of mileage.
We would suggest $2,000 compensation for the first (or long), and $1,000 for the second (or short) session; with ten cents per mile for traveling (by a beeline) to and from
Washington.
