The true Democrat., 1855-10-16
Mass Democratic Meeting at Phi
 ladelphia
PhlIudelphta, Sept. IT.

Oi GIlC Ol IuC lCttGldi COSJ- tuition. The square was illuminated and dele gati ons from the various wards marched in pro- cession with music, banners, etc. Speakers ad- dressed the assemblage from two stands
 At the prlnci pal one Frederick Stoeyer, esq, was chosen president.
 The following resolutions were read by James R. Ludlow:
 1. Res0lvea, That amid the wild fanaticism which in time past has shaken, and to this day threatens to shake this nation to to its centre we hail with. devout gratitude a returning an- niversary of the adoption of the constitution.
 2 ResOlved, That the true bond of perpe- tual union of the States is the federal constitu- tlon, construed as to restrain the general government within the legitimate sphere of it's granted powers and to secure to the States and the people all other powers not so granted, and so administered as to cultivate and preserve fraternal sentiments and relations between the different members of the confederacy; and to give strength and durability to such union the democracy of Pennsylvania stand always ready to pledge "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor"
 5. Resolved That the experience of more than three score of years demonstrates that our fathers who formed the constitution, and founded upon 1t the Union, were inspired with degree of wisdom, foresight, and patriotism more than human, and therefore we can best manifest our gratitude for their llustrous ser vices, and our reverence for their glorious me- morles, by resisting with all our energies every attempt to disturb or destroy the harmony or symmetry of their workmanship, or to defeat and nullty the efficacy of its provisions by false constructions or insidous attacks upon its fun damental principles as the sure guarantee of permanent federal union.
 A. Res0lOed, That, amongst the great princi- pies which animated the hearts and energzed the arms of our revolutionary fathers, we recog- nlZe as prominent those which looked to the obtaninent for every citizen of the rights of voting and being voted for without restraint or dlctatlon, and of worshpping God without in- reference or hlndrance; that we attribute no small share oI the present power, glory, and prosperity oi our government to the incorpora- ton of those principles into our constitution; and, as We are satisfied that they are as valua- be and essential now as when our fathers poured out their blood to secure them, we should prove ourselves unworthy of the rich inheri- tance bequeahed to us if We failed to resist with all our hearts and souls every effort, whc- ther by open assault or by secret combination to expunge from the constitution these great prin- clples of civil and religious liberty
 5. ResolUel That in the same manner and to the same extent, that a secret and insdious foe IS more dangerous than an open and manly opponent we regard the attempt now being made to create, by secret oath-bound associa- tions, law of public sentiment higher than the constitution guarantees, in behalf of the enjoyment by all citizens, whether native or adopted, of the rights of civil liberty and reli- glous toeratlon, as more dangerous and more vlglantly to be resisted, than an open and di- rect attempt to render those guarantees nugato- ry and of no effect
 6. Resol0ed, That a secret political organiza- ton winch secures the fidelity of its members to It's edlcts laws, and regulations by oaths of perpetual allegiance, and which proposes to ac- complish its objects by prescribing from civil offices one class of citizens on account of their religious creed, and still larger because they refuse to swear allegiance tpits rule, and which seeks by the means of the cohesive power of office to obtain control of the government both state and national, for the avowed purpose of ettectlng objects inconsistent with the constitu- tlon, Is necessarily anti-American, anti-republi- can, anti-whig, anti-democratic destructive of political morality, and calls for the united and ceaseess eXertiOnS of all truly conservative and national men for its overthrow
 z. ResolUed, That the scenes of violence, dis order and immortality which have marked the footsteps of the know nothing organization from its origin to the late dsgraceful and bloody tra- gedy enacted in a souther State ought to i'm press every lover of good order, of sound mo- ralty, and of pure christianity with the dan. gers of giving countenance and encouragement to an organization which has been seized upon hy Tiuuninn,tc ,,,1 ohol;+ o,,I servient to their unpatriotic and reasonable purposes, and which Is shown by sad experince to be constantly liable to be perverted by bad men to the destruction of law, morality, and re- ligion.
 8. Resolved That we adhere with unshaken fidelity to the doctrine that State sovereignty, in all matters of purely internal and domestic concern, is, and always has been, cardinal principle of the democratic faith; which great principle is endangered by the modes of reform, in the matter of suffrage, proposed by the know nothing party, and which proposed reforms we pledge ourselves to resist, because, by the true interpretation of the federal constitution, by the debates and votes in the convention which framed it, and by the actual practice of the States themselves, it is conclusively shown that the States have the absolute and exclusive con- trol of the suffrage.
 g. Resolved, That the perils which now threat en the integrity and peace of the confederacy, arising from the ascendency, in most of the free States, of spirit of sectional fanatcism, made successful and powerful by the aid of the se- cret machinery of know nottingham, call upon all national men, whether democrats or whigs, to unite in one common organization, and to make common cause against their common foe and the foe of the Union upon the platform fur nished by the compromise of the constitution in regard to slavery, and upon the principle of Congressional non intervention, applicable alike to the States and territories, adopted by the united votes of democrats and whigs in the passage of the series of measures in 1850, known as the compromise measures, and reafirmed by their united votes in the passage of the Kansas and Nebraska act in 1853; which provides that its "true intent and meaning is not to legislate slavery into any State or territory, nor to ex- clude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof free to form and regulate their domes- tic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States" and to this end, we hereby solemnly and earnestly renew the pledge of our devotion to the demo- cratic platform adopted in Baltimore in 1852; and as by that platform all true democrats are bound to abide by and adhere to faithful ex- ecution of the compromise measures of 1850, so now we pledge ourselves in like manner to abide by and adhere to faithful execution of the Kansas and Nebraska act passed in 1853, as a final settlement of all sectional questions in regard to slavery in the territories; and up- on this platform, and under the democratic or ganization, we tender the hand of cordial fel- lowship to all national men, north, south, east and west, and invite them to cooperate with us in averting the perils which threaten oul common Union.
 10. Resolvea, That the present distinguished