A platform is a political programme or manifesto; a plank, one of its constituent parts.
1803. “The platform of Federalism.” Heading of an article from a late Northcarolina paper.—Mass. Spy, April 27.
1838. It has been said that these resolutions were intended as a platform on which we of the North might stand.—Mr. Buchanan of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, Jan. 11: Congressional Globe, p. 73, App.
1844. These are our doctrines—this the broad platform on which we stand. Here is our confession of faith—not new, but old—old as the constitution—old as the days of our fathers.—Address of the Democratic State Convention of Virginia, Feb. 3: Niles’ National Register, lxv. Feb. 24, p. 408/1. (N.E.D.)
1848. The Whigs, whether on the Lexington platform or some other non-committal platform, will be … at once known and doomed.—N.Y. Herald, May 6. (N.E.D.)
1848. The 1844 resolutions now constituting the Democratic creed—platform is the fashionable phrase—were drawn by a Mr. Gillett.—Mr. Thompson of Kentucky, House of Repr., June 30: Cong. Globe, p. 819, App.
1848. You had erected what you called a “platform” at Baltimore, which was to make all things easy.—Mr. Duer of N.Y., the same, July 29: id., p. 1049, App.
1848. Was this the first time the Whig party had refused to establish a platform upon which to rally throughout the Union?—Mr. Howell Cobb of Georgia, the same, July 1: id., p. 888. [The phrase was much used during this debate.]
1848. [They] have admitted that the principal plank of the Cass platform had fallen to the ground, and precipitated him and them with it.—Mr. Crozier of Tennessee, the same, Aug. 3: id., p. 1082, App.
1848. Another plank in the platform is, no Cass or other plank to be added.—Boston Courier, Sept. 28. (N.E.D.)
1850. Mr. Webster congratulates [the Northern Whig party] that the Buffalo platform, though having some rotten planks (free trade and sub-treasury, I suppose), gives him and them a secure place to stand upon.—Mr. Venable of North Carolina, House of Repr., Feb. 19: Cong. Globe, p. 160, App.
1850. [All were summoned] to go a pilgrimage to Buffalo, where a platform was to be laid down, upon which the North could stand as one man…. And a platform was erected, and upon it crowded men of all political complexions.—Mr. Ashmun of Mass., the same, March 27: id., p. 398, App.
1850. I tell honorable gentlemen again that I am upon the platform of non-intervention, reared by the genius of John C. Calhoun.—Mr. Foote of Mississippi, U.S. Senate, June 27: id., p. 992, App.
1852. There were no platforms until Mr. Van Buren quarreled with Mr. Calhoun, and thought to get the start of him by platform resolutions. That was when they commenced.—Mr. Stanly of North Carolina, House of Repr., id., p. 694, App.
1853. The plank in our platform, which we place at the head of this column.—Oregonian, Aug. 13.
1853. A great deal is said of ‘platforms’ lately in the public prints.—Knick. Mag., xlii. 532 (Nov.).
1854. I stand flat-footed, square-toed, hump-shouldered, upon the platform of free rights and true republicanism.—Id., xliii. 439 (April).
1854. These candidates for office had a ‘platform’ … some planks of which were thrown in merely to catch votes, and some for future fame.—H. H. Riley, ‘Puddleford,’ p. 100 (N.Y.).
1856. That plank in the platform was stricken out by the convention.—Mr. Watkins of Tennessee, House of Repr., May 6: Cong. Globe, p. 1127.
1856. I have no great confidence in platforms. I think that, generally, they are cunningly devised schemes of modern invention, intended to catch votes and to gull the people.—Mr. Jones of Tennessee, U.S. Senate, Aug. 9: id., p. 2010.
1856. Dr. Cutter at a recent Fusion meeting in Montpelier, Vt., said: “If you would carry the election, keep bloody outrages in Kansas before the people. You have no other plank.”—Oregon Weekly Times, Nov. 29.
1857. He greatly enjoyed defining his position on every possible subject, and once favored us with his “platform,” which was ultra-Garrisonian.—T. B. Gunn, ‘New York Boarding-houses,’ p. 69.
1859. The two or three last platform Presidents we have had, when they got into the car of State and safely seated, all around, everywhere, you could see, “Do not stand on the platform when the cars are in motion.” That is the way they manage it.—Mr. Thompson of Kentucky, U.S. Senate, Feb. 16: Cong. Globe, p. 1062.
1860. (Dec.) Mr. Toombs submitted a series of resolutions, embracing substantially the principles of the Breckenridge platform, but final action was not taken on them.—O. J. Victor, ‘The History … of the Southern Rebellion,’ i. 106 (1861).
1860. He [Mr. Nicholson] quoted from the platform of the Republican party in regard to Slavery in the Territories, to show that it was the basis of all sectionalism.—Id., i. 119.
1861. The “platforms” of the various parties are regarded as [their] constitution, or declaration of principles.—Id., i. 137.
1861. (Jan.) I trust we are to have no war for a platform. I can fight for my country, but there never was a political platform that I would go to war for.—Mr. Douglas in the U.S. Senate.—Id., i. 160.
1861. Our past experience has given me no great respect for party platforms made in the tumult of a crowded convention. I do not know of anything in the materials or the mode of construction of the one built at Chicago, that entitles it to more than the ordinary respect.—Mr. John W. Killinger, of Pa., House of Repr., Feb. 1: Cong. Globe, p. 697/2.
1861. It is said to me, “You believed in the Chicago platform.” Suppose I did.—Senator Baker in the Olympia Pioneer, April 26.
1908. [The Omaha Bee was] attacking what it thought was Mr. Bryan’s plank.—N.Y. Evening Post, Oct. 22.
1910. The Premier made the absolute and unlimited supremacy of the party which at any time commands a majority in the House of Commons ‘a plank in the platform’—to use odious but appropriate slang borrowed from transatlantic politics—of the Liberal party.—Quarterly Review, vol. 212, p. 287 (Jan.).
