Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-10-30
DEMOCRACY OF I848 VS. THE DEMOCRACY
or, 1875

Z Nothing Is more common than to hcarIInn
ker- orators daily assert that it is Democracy
to Icaye the people Of the Territories T PEI
fsetly..t ..teey I'd say whether theys shall have
Slavery or not Let us appeal to the record,
and see if this is Democracy of former years.
The Convention that nominated Gen Cass
in l84S, ,repudiatcd the following resolution from
the platform which contained the principles
of the party, by vote of s246z 6zZagainst it, to
So for it -.
Resored. That the doctrine Of non;intercrence With
the rights Of properly Of any portion of this confedera
on, be it in the States h the Territories, BY any other
than the parties Interested IN them the republican
doctrine recognized by this body "a s-rss-s~ 80
( On the 4th of July, IS49, the doctrine of
the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania, was
set forth in regard TO the subject of Slavery,
in the following resolution offered by Col, S.
w Black. 1t Vas unanimously adopted =
z RESOLVED That the Democratic party adferes nows
has done, 10 the Constitution Of the county
Its letter and spirit they will neither weaken nor destroy
and they redeciars- they announce new doctrine
they do declare for the first time that slavery is
local domestic uttuon of the South, subject TO- State
law alone and with which the General Government has
nothing do. Whrever the State LAW exteI d. its urs
dction, the local Institution can continac to exist rs.
kernng IL a uioidoa Of Stafesishs to carry IL beyond
Stale limits deny the power Of any citizen to extend
the arca,o bondage beyond. its present ominnn nor
do consider il part the compromise OF the Con
stit,tion that slavery should forever travel with the ad
yancing colnmn of our territorial progress"
Such was the doctrine of the Democratic
party as declared by the Pittsburg Convention
in l849. .A.Such, too, was the doctrine of the
Wing Party in regard to the question of Sla-
very extension. Such was the doctrine of the
entire country Who advocates that doctrine
to-day ? He is a traitor to the democracy
who dares {" deny the power of any citizen to
extend the area of bondage beyond its prescott
dominion" To be Democrat you must be
in favor of leaving the people perfectly free"
to introduce Slavery into Kansas if they think.
proper, and in the same breath declare that
the territorial legislature has no power to pro-
hibit Slavery, and the people themselves have
no control over the question, until they assem-
BILE in convention to form constitution, pre-
paratory to be admitted into the Union. At
that time Slavery may exist in the territory,
control the convention as the federal govern
ment is now controlled by it, and Kansas come
in as a Slave State. Such is the practical eff
feet of the Democracy of 1856 Shame on
the men, who called themselves Democrats in
AS and 40, who claim to be Democrats still,
when they advocate such doctrines and when
they support James Buchanan as their stan
dard-bcarer, who was in favor of extending
the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific Ocean
in lS47 but now declares it unjust and uncon-
sttutona who subscribed to the doctrines con
tanned in those resolutions, but who now ig-
nores that doctrine, and loses his identity in a
Platform where Popular Sovereignty means
Slavery extension and this is o test of De-
mocracy.
This principle was an after thought in the
Democratic party, the offspring of Southern
disunionists adopted by Northern men with
Southern principles, and christened Democra-
cy, and they now hug it to their hoSoms, as
the mother does the unfortunate one, forget
ting her shame No! it was not born until
after virtue died.