PARTIES AND THEIR PRINCIPLES: A Manual of Political Intelligence, EXHIBITING THE ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND CHARACTER OF NATIONAL PARTIES. WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING VALUABLE AND GENERAL STATISTICAL INFORMATION. BY ARTHUR HOLMES. K NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, M.DCCC.LIX. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by D. APPLETON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. THIS Volume has grown up in answer to a want experienced in the study of the political history of our country. It aims to bring within the means and easy reference of all classes of persons the chief political and legislative acts of the Government, the formation, history, and practices of the various political organizations which have acted a part in national politics, and the operation of Constitutional Government in the United States. Under a government where every man is a sovereign, the character and operations of that government cannot be too well or too universally understood. If danger threatens our civil institutions, it arises from a want of requisite information on the part of those who assume the duties and responsibilities of citizen electors, or actual participators in the administration of public affairs. In counteracting any such tendencies, and in disseminating that correct political intelligence which is essential to |