The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-02-23
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORm ADOPTED.
U Sth, a. d. 1897.


with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is u government OF
limited powers and that IL POSSESSES no
powers but such rs are expressly, or by
necessary Implication delegated to It In the
Federal Constitution that all other power
are reserved 20 the states or the people
that n strict construction of the Constitu-
Ion Is Indispensable 10 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 and the rights Of the people is
necessary to the preservation Of the Union ;
that the Federal Government Is untitled to
leglslate for or administer the local concerns
OF the States that it would be monstrous
that thel local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
lated by u Federal Congress In which she has
put W senators. and the New England
States, with but n little greater population,
have twelve that the tendency Of the Fcd-
cral 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 lrptiOn OF power would. while
~ lasted, be destructive Of the liberties and
Interests of the people, and would end
either In despotism or a destruction of the
Union that n National debt, besides i'm
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
increase of the powers of the Federal GovA
eminent 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 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 u 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, aud 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 mucll-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
~, without due process of civil law that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances that no eg post JdctO
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 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-
currence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ResOlUed, That the States lately In re-
bellion are States In the Union, and have
been recognized ms such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln. who. 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 10 sit In
the Senate as a 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 wal was being carried on,
aud which further recognized them rs
States In the Union by the Congressional
a~ppoTtlonment act providing for their due
representation III IOlkTthS ny various
tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendments
to the Constitution for their approval, and
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 the
United States, which holds Federal Courts
In all those States, and especially by the
Court, which entertains iurisdic-
egnY, &c men opNttun from fln.,N uvht,l, IL |
could not do were they not in the Union.
That being thus in the Union, they stand
an equal footing with their sister States
with unequal rights being a thing
unknown to the Constitution that, by the
express terms of the Constitution, each
State Is entitled to have 1--WE Senators and a
due proportion of Representatives In the
Congress, and to vote In all elections OF
President and Vioe-presldent that, though
these rights are subject TO interruption by
a state of civil war, they can not, In time Of
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed.
without a plain violation of the Constitu-
ton that Congress has no power TO de-
prive n State of its reserved rights, and
reduce It to a Territorial condition; that
therefore the exclusion, by the so-called
Congress, Of all representation from ten
States, the proposed exclusion of those
States, from all voice in the next Presiden-
cial election, the threatened overthrow of
their State Governments and the reduction
OF their States to the condition of t%erritor-
les, are each and every one of them uncon-
stitutional, revolutionary and despotic
measures. destructive not merely of the
rights of those States, but also of the rights
Of every other State In the Union. That
those measures are parts ola plan 10 nullify
the Consultation, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and to establish
and pe~rpetuate n ty%rannical rule of a minor
ity over a majority Of the American peo-
pie. That the people cannot, without n
loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor.
submit to such q result; and we, therefore,
in the hope that the warning will be
needed, and the danger 10 our situations be
peaceably averted, do solemnly warn the
advocates of the plan, that IL will not
be submitted to.
3. Resolped, That Congress is not an
omnipotent law-making power. That the
Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
come Il law without the approval of the
President, unless II be passed by two-thirds
of each House of Congress. That one Of
the objects Of the present so-called Con
gress In excluding States from representa-
ton, Is TO pass bills by a two-thirds vote
which, were all the States represented,
could not so pass; and thus TO virtually
abolish the constitutional provision afore-
said. That Il this precedent be acquiesced
in. there will be nothing TO prevent q bare
of Congress, at any time la the