While the Republicans had been seriously divided by Johnson’s defection, chiefly because of the large patronage he had to dispense, their columns became gradually reunited, and in 1868 it was practically a solid Republican party arrayed against Johnson with a very few deserters; and the Democrats, while appreciating Johnson’s betrayal of the Republicans, had no love and little respect for the betrayer. From the time that Grant’s candidacy was announced no other aspirant was seriously discussed in Republican circles, and his name brought not only most of the later stragglers of the party into the fold, but commanded the support of a large Democratic element in addition. The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on the 20th of May, and easily finished its work in two days. Carl Schurz was temporary president, and General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, was the permanent president. The usual preliminaries were disposed of without jar during the first day, and the committee on resolutions reported promptly on the morning of the second day. The following is the full text of the platform as adopted by a unanimous vote: The National Republican party of the United States, assembled in national convention in the city of Chicago, on the 21st day of May, 1868, make the following declaration of principles: 1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the reconstruction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the States lately in rebellion, of constitutions securing equal civil and political rights to all; and it is the duty of the Government to sustain those institutions and to prevent the people of such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy. 2. The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the people of those States. 3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime; and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted. 4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit. 5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon, whenever it can be honestly done.