23 on the Kansas matter, coming up behind him and beating him with his cane till he was unconscious, fired the whole North. The JOHN BROWN RAID in 1859, was the begining of the end. Having suffered in the border warfare in Kansas, he invaded Harper’s Ferry, October 17th, with seventeen white men and five negroes, calling upon the slaves to rise and demand their liberty. His two sons were killed and he was arrested and hanged by the State of Virginia, December 2nd. The election of Abraham Lincoln the following year showed to the South that the issue of the slavery question was probably near. Under Democratic rule, with James Buchanan at the head, the South had made themselves ready for war. They secured forts and arsenals with 100,000 stands of arms, and fired on Sumter April 12th, 1861. Four years of terrible .war followed. EXTRACTS FROM PLATFORM, 1884. We, therefore, demand that the imposition of duties on foreign imports shall be made not for “revenue only,” but that in raising the requisite revenues for the Government, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capital, may have its just reward and the laboring man his full share in the national prosperity. * * We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge tjiat an effort be made to unite all commercial nations in the establishment of the international standard, which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage. * * We favor the establishment of a National Bureau of Labor, the enforcement of the eight-hour-law, and a wise and judicious system of General Education by adequate appropriation from the national revenues wherever the same is needed. * * * * * “The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States, and should be reserved as far as possible for small holdings by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations, or individuals, especially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil." * * * * * “The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union soldiers and sailors of the late war, and the Republican party stands pledged to suitable pensions to all who were disabled and for the widowsand orphans of those who died in the war. The Republican party pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the Arrears act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers shall share alike, and their pensions shall begin with the date of disability or discharge and not with the date of the application."
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