Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-09-20
A DIR f. s s

1862, being The 10th Anniversary o.
The formation Of the Constitution Of III
United States.
The Constitution of the United State.
was signed 18th September, 1887, ant
went into effect on the first Wednesday il
March, 1889. 1t is therefore seventy five
years old and has been In force for seventy.
three and a alf.
. 1t deserves the veneration and attach
ment of the people of the United States
and profound respect from the whole world
As an instrument of union, as frame ol
government, and as security for liberty
and justice, its merits are of the highest
order, and have commanded Just approval
both at home and abroad.
Ii contains the terms of compact or
bargain between the people Of the sever al
States considered as composing dstinc.
aud sovereign communities, and establishes
q government Of defined jurisdic ton and
powers. And most clearly, except SO far
as it delegates powers to the government
established by it, the powers and rights Of
the State governments aud of the people
of each State, remain as before. This
would be true in the absence of any pro-
vision on the subject, but to put the point
beyond all question the Constitution ex-
pressly declares, ''that the powers not del.
egated to the United States by the Con-
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States respectively, or
to the people,
In consequence Of strong measures of
legislation under Presidents Washington
and Adams (and particularly under the
latter, Republican party was founded
by Mr.. jefferson and came into power by
his election, in the first year of the present
century. Its views of public policy and
its construction of the Constitution, are to
be found in the early Congressional de-
bates and in the writings Of Jefferson and
Madison, and must be studied by any one
who would understand our system Of gov
ernment, or fairly judge the political party
which has usually held control in the ad-
ministration of our public affairs. That
parties should have arisen early in the
history Of the government need not excite
surprise. For they will inevitably spring
up IN all free States, because of the men,
tai activity Of the people and of their di.
rect participation in public affairs and it
must always be idle and futile to denounce
their existence or labor for their extinction.
The nature of men is such, that free de-
bate must produce various opinions upon
sundry questions of government, aud pop.
ular suffrage will associate together those
whose opi Mons are identical or similar.
Hence popular parties have always existed
with US and will continue to exist SO long
as our form of government is maintained.
1t is not optional with. US to choose whether
this shall be so or not. The fact is Ger
tain--not subject to denial or doubt--and
must be accepted in any intelligent or use.
full examination of our system of govern
meht.
The particular creed of the Republican
or Democratic party Of 1898, as it came to
be established by Mr.. Jefferson, was die.
tated by the circumstances Of the time, but
it was happily adapted to other circum-
stances and to future times. Then, q pa.
per.money scheme or system had been es.
tablished ; the jurisdiction of the Federal
Courts had been made extensive and the
number Of judges was about to be increas.
ed by eighteen; the treasury projects of
funding the public debt and of assuming
the debts of the States, had prevailed I;
liberal expenditures had neeessitated in.
ternal taxes q navy was to be built; the
army was increased; war with France
was threatened; and measures Of repress-
ion upon the press and upon free speech
were proposed, as we'll as one for the con-
troll or expulsion ofrcsident aliens.
The Democratic creed, being that Of the
party of opposition, naturally antagonized
these measures, and received a strong ten
dency against the policy of Capitalization
J and consolidation of power in the Federal
government. And as question of power
in the government must always raise a
question Of grant by the Constitution the
construction and meaning of that instru-
ment came into debate The Democracy
held then, and have always held, that
government must confne itself to the juris.
diction clearly granted it--that it must
not by strained or loose construction give
more extended meaning to the grants of
the Con stitution than its makers intended
in short, that where a power is reason-
ably doubtful it is not to be exercised.
And in regard to the powers really YES
ted in the government, they held that they
were to be used in good faith for the
equal advantage of the whole people, and
to promote only the particular objects for
which the government was instituted.
They were opposed to splendid, costly,
repressve rule, proceeding upon distrust
of popular intelligence and virtue, and
distributing favors to particular classes or
interests TO concilate their support.
his was the creed, ever memorable
and glorious, introduced into the admins.
tration of public affairs under the auspices
of Virginia statesmen, at the commence
ment of the present century. How it
was honestly and successfully applied in
practice by Mr.. Jefferson for the eight
years of his administration history through
all time will testify. He swept away all
internal taxes-struck from the judiciary