JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE,

THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.

MR. BRECKENRIDGE is a striking evidence of the transmissibility of talent his grandfather and father both achieved an enviable reputa tion, which has been well sustained by their descendant, who is yet comparatively a very young man. He was born at Cabellsdale, Fayette county, Ky., January 21, 1821, and was educated at Center college, Danville, Ky., where he graduated with distinction. He then

studied law at the Transylvania University, and after being licensed to practice, settled for some time in Burlington, Iowa; but as his prospects were not quite satisfactory, he returned to his native state, and located himself at Georgetown, where he afterwards married Miss Birch, with whom he not long after removed to Lexington, where he has since resided, enjoying a leading position at the bar.

During the Mexican war he was elected major of the third regiment of Kentucky Volunteers; but as this corps was not mustered into service until late in the campaign, he had no opportunity of "gaining a name in arms." However, as counsel for General Pillow, in those extraordinary prosecutions and counter-prosecutions which were instituted between General Scott and his subordinates, he acquired much popularity for his skill and acuteness.

On returning to Lexington, he was elected to the legislature, where his readiness and ability as a debater gained him many friends, who early predicted his rapid advancement.

In 1851 he was nominated as representative in Congress from the Ashland district, where no democrat had been elected for twenty years previous. His competitor, General Leslie Coombs, well known as a popular legislator and orator, possessed in a high degree the confidence and affections of the whig party, and the contest promised to be a hard one; but such was the superiority of Breckenridge's eloquence, that after they had stumped the district together, as is customary at the west, he was returned by over 600 majority. So well did he acquit himself in this important trust, that he was unanimously re-nominated in 1853, when his opponents determined to defeat him, if possible. They brought forward the Hon. Robert Letcher, a gentleman who had been several years in Congress, and who had also done acceptable service as Governor of the state. The friends of either candidate were indefatigable in the exercise of every species of political tactics, and immense sums of money were lavished upon the election, which resulted in a majority of 520 for Mr. Breckenridge. At the expira. tion of this term, he again returned to his professional business, in which he has since continued, although offered the flattering appointment of minister to Spain by President Pierce.

In June last he was a delegate to the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, and unexpectedly received the unanimous nomination for the Vice-Presidency. In acknowledging this high mark of favor, he alluded felicitously to the claims of Mr. Buchanan, regarding him “as the last survivor of that noble band of American statesmen and orators whose names are associated with the brightest glories of our country." In conclusion, he said: "The platform you have so unanimously adopted I need not, as a State-rights man, say I cordially approve and endorse. I will therefore conclude by expressing my purpose to devote all my heart and mind to the great duty which has been so unexpectedly conferred upon me, and to strive to justify the confidence you have manifested."

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PLATFORM OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

AT the Democratic Convention held in Cincinnati in June last, the Committee on Resolutions submitted the following resolutions, which were adopted as the Democratic Platform:

Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating justice of the American people.

Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world, as the great moral element in a form of government springing from and upheld by the popular will, and we contrast it with the creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which conceives no imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity.

Resolved, therefore, That entertaining these views, the Democratic party of this Union, through their delegates assembled in a general Convention, coming together in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and re-assert before the American people the declarations of principles avowed by them when on former occasions, in general Convention, they have presented their candidates for popular suffrages.

I. That the federal government is one of limited power, derived solely from the Constitution; and the grants of power made therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government; and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers.

II. That the Constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements.

III. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several states, contracted for local and internal improvements, or other state purposes, nor would such assumption be just or expedient.

IV. That justice and sound policy forbid the federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of any other, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country; that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression.

V. That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government, and for the gradual, but certain extinction of the public debt.

VI. That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the Constitution; and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the states, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the Constitution.

VII. That Congress has no power to charter a national bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power, and above the laws and the will of the people; and that the results of democratic legislation in this and all other financial measures upon which issues have been made between the two political parties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties, their soundness, safety and utility, in all business pursuits.

VIII. That the separation of the monies of the government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people.

IX. That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the President the qualified veto power, by which he is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities amply sufficient to guard the public interests, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of the Bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of general internal improvements.

X. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the democratic faith, and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition laws from our statute books.

And WHEREAS, Since the foregoing declaration was uniformly adopted by our predecessors in National Conventions, an adverse political and religious test has been secretly organized by a party claiming to be exclusively American, it is proper that the American Democracy should clearly define it relations thereto, and declare its determined opposition to all secret political societies, by whatever name they may be called.

Resolved, That the foundation of this union of states having been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and pre-eminent example in free government built upon entire freedom in matters of religious concernment, and no respect of person in regard to rank or place of birth: no

party can justly be deemed national, constitutional, or in accordance with American principles, which bases its exclusive organization upon religious opinions and accidental birth-place. And hence a political crusade in the nineteenth century, and in the United States of America, against Catholics and foreign-born, is neither justified by the past history or the future prospects of the country, nor in unison with the spirit of toleration and enlarged freedom which peculiarly distinguishes the American system of popular government.

Resolved, That we reiterate with renewed energy of purpose, the well-considered declarations of former Conventions upon the sectional issue of Domestic Slavery, and concerning the reserved rights of the states:

1. That Congress has no power under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous conse quences; and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency t diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions.

2. That the foregoing proposition covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and therefore, the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the Congress of 1850; "the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor," included; which act being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.

3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.

4. That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature, in 1799; that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.

And that we may more distinctly meet the issue on which a sectional party, subsisting exclusively on slavery agitation now relies, to test the fidelity of the people, North and South, to the Constitution and the Union :

1. Resolved, That claiming fellowship with, and desiring the co-oper