The true Democrat., 1856-07-01


 DERALIsT-THE DEMOCRAT AND wHIG-THE
 DEMOCRAT AND KNOW NOTHING.
 No. V.
 The issue of national independence having been settled by the war of the revolution the dis cusson of those domestic questions involving principles of government was no longer inter- rupted; every man was left at liberty to return to his old predilections-to follow his natural proclivites, with regard to the amount of poli- tical power, with which the people should be ntrusted. The people of the United States had, as c people, arrived to maturity; they were endowed with all the elements natural to so- clety, and with none more completely than those which give character and peculiarity to government; and having form of government to constitute, they were placed in condition which called those elements most powerfully into action. Unlike the people of France in their revolution of l796, they were versed in all the subtleties Of political dscussion-in all the tactics of partizan warfare-t was a part of their education.
 The revolution threw no dust in the eyes of the followers of Jefferson and Madison on the one side, or of the followers of Hamilton and Adams on the other, upon the great question of political liberty. It could not destroy that composition of their natures which made them democrats or servatves-republicans or ie- deralists; which made one party believe that men should be governed Jess, and the other believe that men should be governed naore.-- The revolution made truce upon these sub- jects necessary as between the two domestic antagonisms, yet every man knew where he | left off at-knew the relative positions of the two great parties in the Anglo saxon family upon the great political question on both sides of the Atlantic.
 The framing Of constitution for the govern ment of the nation presented the great oppor- tunty for a commencement of hostilities between the two contending spirits. Their sphere of ac- ton had heretofore, been limited to depen- dent colonial--now it was extended to an in- dependent national jurisdiction. It was the first time that such great principles had to be settled between the two powers without the convenience of partizan designations. The ap- pellatives a0hig and tory were out of the ques- tion. The term whig had lost none of its de. mocratic character, but tory had been used of late in such all olious transaction that it was compelled in the United States to fall from its time -honored position into eternal dsgrace- These were the only two family names that had been used from the beginning, as designa- tions of the two great principles. And no ap- proprate incident had transpired, throwing up a name to supply the place of the unfortunate tory, until some time afterwards, the term te- deralist, from our federative system of govern ment, was seized upon as the very thing sought for, an appellation sufficiently identified with the new order of things, and innocent enough within itself to answer all those purposes, the nature of which gives significance and depth to the proverb-" There is nothing in name"
 But names are only for the crowd-a consti- tuition had to be framed and the Hamiltons and Jetfersons advocated principles only from a knowledge of their natures. Shall there be king-a president for lfe-a senate for life, or durirg good behavior? were questions among the great issues. These and other great points that had been the subjects for two centuries past, of violent partizan warfare, that had caused the shedding of rivers of blood and a world of suffering, these too had to be settled in black and white" in the forth coming "great charter" The revolution had united the elementary forces but dropping upon the mass of political proposition, instantly sepa- rated them again into their ancient hostile ar ray. The War was, necessarily, of short dura- ton. The belligerants came to a compromise, and the letter of the constitution was agreed upon the spirit is not settled yet. Certainly the constitution intends to make the citizens the sovereign source of all political power, and con. sequently, in political rights, equal to each other, therefore provided for the abrogation of all those practical measures which they knew from experience, and the history of the subject had been used for the purpose of producing inequality-henc the religious test clause Re- ligious belief had been made a pretext for es- tablishng among the people a political inc quality, which was effected by requiring all of ficers, after their appointment or election, to take an oath which was so tran1ea, that none but Protestants could qualify. But the consti- tutional remedy i'll this case, as it often hap pens in constructing prohibtory laws, was fram- ed to close up the avenue through which alone the particular injury was ever known to have been nficted-unconscious leaving it to the ingenuity of the wrong doer to find out another one-to hit upon some scheme to evade the law and defeat its object. But the federalists of tlat day did not attempt to circumscribe the popular power by an evasion of the test clause. Such an effort at that time would have been too barefaced an oppression. Although the power of the Pope was necessarily much greater than 1t Is now, yet the subject had been so thorough Iy investigated on both sides of the Atlantic, and public opinion so we'll known that no statesman of responsibility would attempt it. In the same period about the year 1SOO it was admitted on all hands, that even in England majority of the people were for repeating the Catholic test law. It is true, however, some of the State constitutions at that early period, still retained the Catholic restriction, but they all, except New Hampshire, soon gave way to the spirit of the age. No, the anti ti-democratic element was aimed at what was deemed more vulnerable question. It was we'll known that the democratic element would ever be the strongest among the poorer classes of society, and that the great majority of emgrants would always be of that class-hence the extraordi- nary effort of the federalists to destroy that par ticular source of democratic strength as mani fested in their "alien" laws of that day. The printing press too, it easily foreseen, in fact we'll ascertaned, would be powerful engine in favor of the popular cause. Hence their ef- fort hv the " sedition', law to mnzz1o tha praeS