The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-04
STATV DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
Sth, 4. ID. 1901.


proved Dy experiences thAt IN accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is a government OF
limited powers, and that Il possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated TO it IN the
Federal Constitution that allUther powers
are reserved to the states or the people (;
that a strict construction OF the Constltu-
ton is indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights of the States and the
people that all grants of power to Govern
ment, 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 aud 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
of the States that 1t would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio shouldb be regu-
lated by a Federal Congressin which she has
but two Senators. and the New England
States. with but a 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 I'm
its hands is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs ,rption OF power would. while
it lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of Che people, and would end
either irtlespotiSm or a destruction of the
Union that a National debt, besides i'm
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
increase of the powers of the Federal Gov
erumcnt that high protective tariffs have
a like effect, sacrificing the interests of the
many for the emoluments of the few, and
plainly violating the equity and spirit of
the Constitution that the collection and
disbursement of enormous venues 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 n 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,
and 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 4;
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and VeXatiOusly
interfering with the business and habits of
the people; hat the freedom of speech and
Of the press is essential to the existence of
liberty that no person not in the military
| VI AAaA - 0'A \ VI ~ viz bbAANAAAN w AANl =
martial law l~egitimately prevails, can law
fully be deprived of life, liberty or proper
lty, without due process of civil law that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances that no eb post facto
law should be made; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble aud consult
upon public affairs is inyiolable; that the
military should be held in due subsection
to the civil power; that while the major
ity, as prescribed by the Constitution, have
the right to govern, the minority have in
defeasible rights; and that a frequent re-
currCnce to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. ReSolUed, That the States lately in re-
bclliOn are States in the Union, and have
been recognized IA such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln. wfro, in the midst of the war,
invited them to eleCtmemberS of Congress
by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts; by Congress,
which permitted Andrew Johnson to sit I'm
the Senate as a Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit In the House of Repre-
sentatlvcs after these States had seeded,
and while the war was being carried on,
and which further recognized them as
States in the Union by the Congressional
appOrtionment 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 ant resolutions i'm
parting the same recognition; all of which
were passed since the attempted secession
of those States, by the Judiciary of the
United States, which holds Federal Courts
in all those States, M especially by the
Supreme Court, which entertains jurisdic.
ton of cases coming from them, which 4
, an,,ll not 10 .xrapa tl,au ,at In NI,a IT,s,.
That being thus in the Union, they stanC
= on an equal footing with their sister State
: States with unequal rights being a thin!
unknown to the Constitution that, by tn
express terms of the Constitution, eacl
!" State is entitled to have two Senators and
= due proportion of Representatives in tn
y Congress. and to vote in all elections o
: President and Vice-president that, thougI
: these rights are subject to Interruption b
q a state of civil war, they can not, in time G
peace, be suspended, much less DESTROYED
- without n plain violation of the Constitu
ton that Congress has no power to de
prive Il State of its reserved rights, an
reduce 1t to a Territorial condition this
" therefore the exclusion, by the s~o-calle
= Congress, of all representation from tie
States, the proposed exclusion of thos
States, from all voice in the next Presiden
a tial election, the threatened overthrow {
their State Governments and the reductiO
es OF their States to the condition of territol
III les, are each and every one of them uncor
stitutional, revolutionary and despot
y measures. destructive not merely of II
It, rights of those States, but also of the RICH
of every other State in the Union. TIL
e. those Measure are parts Ola plan to MULTI
IN the Constitution, virtually overthrow ii
= State Governments, to erect aconsOlidatC
despotism on their ruins; and to establis
he and perpctuate a tyrannical rule ofaminol
II ity over a majority of the American pee
r. Pile. That the people cannot without
e, loss of their liberties, prosperity and homo
IN submit to such n result; and we, therefor
u, in the hope that the warning will |
he needed, and the danger to our situations /
by peaceably averted, do solemnly warn u
GS advocates of the plan, that it will n,
vi be submitted to.
net :. ResoiUed, That Congress is not q
O%mnipotent law-making power. That Il
Of Constitution provides that no bill shall b,
of come Il law without the approval of Il
Oh President, unless it be passed by two-thirI
of of each House of Congress. That one
CO the objects of the present so-called Coz
"a greSs In excluding States from Representa-
no tion, is to pass bills by q twO-thirds vo
w which, were all the States represente
Se, could not so pass; and thus to virtual
~ abolish the constitutional provision afor
N said. That il this precedent be acquiesct
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