The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-06-05
S7A7V DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARY sth, A. ID. 1907.
RESOLUTIONS.

WIN thesc principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is government OF
limited powers, and that Il Possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated 10 IL In the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved to the states or the people
that strict construction OF the Csnstitu-
tiou is Indispensable To the preservation of
the reserved rights Of the States and the
people that all grants of power TO Govern
nent. 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
| lcglslate for or administer the local concerns
Of the States that II would be monstrous
that the local affairs Of Ohio should be regu-
| lated by u Federal Congress In which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
States, with but q little greater population,
have twelve; that the tendency OF the Fed
eral Government Is to usurp the reserved
rights ofthe States and of the people; aud
that, therefore, a Capitalization of power Ia
Its hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs brptiOn OF power would, while
| y lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
Interests of the people, and would end
either In despOtism or destruction of the
| Union that a National debt, besides i'm
poNtIloilHk tlt people, lOstcrs an Onuuc
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 emoluments of the few, aud
| 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 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,
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 y 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
| lNlll DllNth w me llDtIll OT proper
| ty, without due process of civil law; that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances; that no eb post JdctO
law should be made; that the right of the
people to pcaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs Is invioable 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 n frequent re-
currence to first principles is cssentiafto
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ResoiUed, That the States lately in re-
bellion 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 electmembers of Congress
by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts; by Congress,
i which permitted Andrew johnson to sit In
the Senate as n 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 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 and resolutions inn
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
Supreme Court which entertains jursdic-
tion of cases coming from them, which it
could not do were they not In the Union.
That being thus in the Union, they stand
on an equal footing with their sister States
States with unequal rights being u thing
unknown to the Constitution; that, by the
express terms of the Constitution, each
State Is entitled to have two Senators and
due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, and to vote in all elections of
President and president; that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
u state of civil war, they can not, in time Of
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed,
without plain violation of the Cousttu-
ton; that Congress has no power to de-
prive n State of its reserved rights, and
reduce 1t to n Territorial condition; that
therefore the exclusion, by the so-called
r Congress, of all representation from ten
States, the proposed exclusion of those
States, from all voice in the next Presiden-
tial election, the threatened overthrow OF
| their State Governments and the reduction
OF their States to the condition of territor-
les, are each and every one of them uncon-
stitutional, revolutionary and dcsputiC
measures, destructive not merely OF the
rights of those States, hut also of the rights
4 Of every other State in the Union. That
!, those measures are parts of a plan 10 nulliy
, the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect consolidated
despotsm on their ruins; and to establish
and perpetuate atyrannical rule of minor
] lty over majority of the American peo-
pie. That the people cannot, without n
: loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor
submit to such result and we, therefore
In the hope that the warning will be
needed, aud the danger to our situations be
t peaceably averted, do soemnly warn the
1 advocates of the plan, that 1t will not
, be submitted to.
5. Resolved, That Congress Is not an
p, omnipotent law-making power. That tn,
u Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
0 come II 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-
0 tion, Is to pass bills by two-thirds vote
= which, were all the States represented,
could not so pass aud thus to virtually