The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-05-16
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARY Sth. 1. d. 1907.


IL htbNtGghs IndN lllt lltllOGfACN oil ONO
steadiastly adhere to the principles of the |
party as eXpoundcd by the fathers, and ap-
proved by experience; that in accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government is a government of
limited powers, and that it possesses no
powers but such Us are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated TO 1t I'm the
Federal Constitution; that all other powers
are reserved to the states or the people
that a strict construction OF the Censtitu-
ton is Indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights OF the States and the
people that all grants of power to Govern
meut, whether state or Federal, should be
strictly construed, because all such grants
abridge the natural rights of men; that the
preservation of the equality and rights of
the States and the rights of the people Is
necessary to the preservation of the Union
that the Federal Government Is untitled to
legislate for or administer the local concerns
ofthe states that 1t would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
lated by "A Federal Congress in which she has
but two Senators. and the New England
States, with but little greater population,
have twelve; that the tendency of the Fed
eral Government Is TO usurp the reserved
rights of the States and of the people and
that, therefore, a Capitalization of power in
its hands is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs ,rptiou OF power would, while
it lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either in despotism or destruction of the
Union; that u National debt, besides inn
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
increase Of the powers Of the Federal Gov
ernment; that high protective tariffs have
a like effect, sacrificing the interests of the
many for the cmoluments of the few, and
plainly violating the equity and spirit of
the Constitutions that the collection and
disbursement of enormous revenues by the
Federal Government have the same ten
dency,. beside corrupting the Government,
and that, therefore, economy is essential
not only to the prosperity, but also to the
liberties of the people; that unequal tax
alton is a plain violation of justice, of
which no Government can safely be guilty.
That to each State belongs the right to
determine the qualification of its electors,
aud all attempts to impair this right, either
by Congressional legislation or Constitu-
tional amendment, are unwise and despot-
ic; that the tendency of power is to steal
from the many to the few, and that, there
fore, eternal vigilance is the price of lib
erty;" that the tendency of government is
to enlarge its authority by usurpation, and
| therefore government needs to be watched (;
that another of its tendencies Is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and vexatiously
interfering with the business and habits Of
the people; that the freedom of speech and
of the press is essential to the existence of
| liberty: that no person not in the military
or naval service, or in the bounds where
martial law legitimately prevails, can law
| fully be deprived of life, liberty or proper
| ty, without due process of civil law; that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances; that no er post fact0
law should be made; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is inviolable; that the
military should be held in due subjection
to the civil power; that while the ma jor-
ity, rs prescribed by the Constitution, have
the right to govern, the minority have in
deleasible rights; aud that n frequent re-
curreuce to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. ReSOloed, That the States lately in re-
bellon are States in the Union, and have
been recognized as such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war,
invited them to elect members of Congress
by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts; by Congress,
, which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in
the Senate rs II Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
sentatives after these States had seeded
and while the war was being carried on,
and which further recognized them rs
OJdJCS III JuC ClllOu ny llC NpuSTtSSlOnul
appOrtiOnmcnt act providing for their due
representation in Congress; by various
tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendments
to the Constitution for their approval, and
by various other acts and resolutions i'm.
parting the same recognition all of which
were passed since the attempted secession
of those States, by the judiciary of thC
United States, which holds Federal Court
in all those States, and especially by thu
Supreme Court, which entertains jursdic
tion of cases coming from them, which /
! could not do were they not in the Union
That being thus in the Union, they stant
on an equal footing with their sister State
States with unequal rights being a thin
unknown to the Constitution; that, by til
, express terms of the Constitution, eac
,, State is entitled to have two Senators and
: due proportion of Representatives in tn
Congress, and to vote in all elections c
President and president; that, thong
7, these rights are subject to interruption b
g n state of civil war, they can not, in time
e peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
d without plain violation of the Constitu
: tion; that Congress has no power to Dc
If prive n State of its reserved rights, an
ID reduce it to q Territorial condition; thi
J. therefore the exclusion, by the so-calle
st Congress, of all representation from te
le States, the proposed exclusion of tho!
y states, from all voice III Jne next IreSluef
IN tial election, the threatened overthrow
IN their State Governments and the reductc
he OF their States to the condition of terrific
er les, are each and every one of them uncor
st stitutional, revolutionary and despot
~ measures, destructive not merely of Il
lis rights of those States, but also of the righ
T. of every other State in the Union. Tn
those measures are parts of plan to null
the Constitution, virtually overthrow Il
State Governments, to erect consolidate
a, despotism on their ruins; and to establii
he audperpetuate tyrannical rule of a mino
m ity over majority of the American pc
he pie. That the people cannot, without
of loss of their liberties, prosperity and hone
lv submit to such result; and we, therefor
TX in the hope that the warning will
in needed, and the danger to our situations
he peaceably averted, do solemnly warn d
,se advocates of the plan, that 1t will n
nv be submitted to.
tc, 3. ResolUed, That Congress is not
re omnipotent law-malSing power. That B
of Constitution provides that no bill shall b
an come law without the approval of L
b. President, unless it be passed by two -thir