The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-06
DISCRIMINATION OF THE DEMO
CRATIC PARTY.

CRATIC PARTY.
The party which CLAIMS the title of Demo.
cratic has been in existence about thirty wears
We are aware that it claims identity with the
old Republican party founded by Jefferson, but
with no good reason The downfall of the Fed
eralists, which occurred during the Admin.
istration of Mr.. Madison, was followed by a
reorganization of parties, neither of which
would own any connection with the unpopular
and defeated Federalists and each of which
claimed affinity with the successful Republi.
cans. 1t may be doubted whether a majority
of the Federalists joined the Wings, or went into
the new Democratic organization, which very
soon dropped even the name of Republican.
1t is well known that the present President
was FederaEst, and that many of the leading
spirits in the original jackson organization
were of similar antecedents. 1t is equally well
ment of the Wing party, as his friends were
proud to style him, was Republican of the
old school. In all parts of the Union, the Fed
eralists and Republicans were to. be found in
each Of the new organizations of Democratic
and Wing parties and we think that we are
amply justified by the facts in denying the
identity of the modern sham Democracy with
that of the JeffersOnian Republican party
Indeed, the Democracy for many years
past has been so perverted from what it was
under General Jackson, that it would be Jun,
just to his memory not to draw the distinction.
! Il =, T.
holder, and that his policy was Pro-Slavery /;
but such were his moderation and fairness,
compared with those of his successors. that he
would have been voted ont Of the party at any
time during the last dozen years, had he lived,
for "unsoundness or lukewarmness.
1t is also true, and not to be omitted in his
torical retrospect, that bad as were the Admins
trations of Van Buren, and Polk, they were
moderate and liberal in comparison with those
of Pierce and Buchanan. Thousands of those
who assisted in the election of Mr.. Pierce are
now stanch Republicans and they maintain,
with a show of reason, that the Democratic
party ceased to exist after the perfdous policy
of repeating the Missouri Compromise was
adopted by his Administration. They insist
that thencelorward a new party was formed,
composed in large measure of Old Line
Wings, whose central and sole idea is the ex-
tension and perpetuation of Slavery
! Each of these eras in the history of Democ-
racy in this country has been marked by a
gradual development of the ProSlavery policy
and a consequent tendency to decay and disso:
luton. s
The Jefersonan Democracy, which began
with the doctrines of universal equality and
! freedom, insensibly lost its attachment to radi
cal principles; and although it never assumed
a Pro-Savery attitude, it never essayed to re-
duce its maXims of universal liberty to practice
The Jackson Democracy, while protesting 10
be continuation Of the Jeffersonian Repub
lcan party, from the beginning Pro-Sa-
very, if not in profession at least in practice
Van Buren, gloried in being " a Northern man
with Southern principles; y and it was only
after he had ceased to WELD the patronage ofthe
Federal Government that he exhibited any de-
gree of independence. Tyler, a renegade Wing
was practically adopted by the Democratic
party, and his ultra Pro-Slavery policy, incu.
ding the annexation of Texas, was cordially
sustained by that party. Polk precipitated the
country into a war with Mexico, in orde flr4aer
aggrandize the South and Slavery In the
interval of four years of Wing rule, under Tay
Ter and Fillmore, the Democracy waxed in
Pro-Savery intensity, the majority Of the party
in the South rejecting even the " Compromise :"
measures of 1850, because they failed TO con-
cede all that was demanded The election of
Mr.. Pierce, another" Northern man with South
ern principles" was the signal for renewed en-
croachments upon the rights of free labor, and
nothing short Of the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise would appease the naughty spirit
of Slavery Propagandism. The concession was
made; but was far from satisfying the slavehold-
ers They insisted not only upon the repeal
of legislative prohibitions against the introduc-
ton of Slavery into Territories, but demanded a
judicial decision declaring the right to hold
slaves so long as the Territorial condition
lasts and, as practical measure they insisted
that Slavery should be forced into Kansas by
the power of the Federal Government. These
demands, as the country knows, were acceded
to; and while they may be regarded as the
climax of usurpation and fraud they have been
attended with the compromising good of bring
ing to dissolution one of the most corrupt and
wicked political organizations which the world
ever saw.
! The truth is, that the Democracy, at every
stage of its descent into the slough of Slavery,
has weakened its hold upon the hearts of the
people. Even when apparently growing strong
er, by consolidating the South in its support it
was imbibing the seeds of decay and corruption.
| An oligarchy rules the South with more than
Austrian despotism; and the party which has
its stronghold in the attachment of an oligarchy
can never be popular with the American PEG.
| pie So long as the Democracy could by its
policy secure the support of the oligarchy, with
out openly avowing its slavish subsection to it,
and SO long as it could disguise its real Pro
/ Slavery purposes under some false pretence OF
| constitutional obligation or national interest,
all went on swimmingly; but the slave interest
has at last demanded that all DISCUSSES be
| thrown aside; that the party shall stand forth
as the champion of Slavery, and be ready to
prostitute itself in its domestic and foreign pol
! icy, to the extension and perpetuation of the
institution. Step by step, the. party has lost
! ground in the free States, in proportion as Its
! Pro-Slavery policy has secured it the almost
undivided South. The Northern masses are in
the nature of things essentially Democratic, in
! the absolute sense of the word They are in
e. % +bo Doo,Io. ond tho 6, M tbot Il 10 w. r+, Il