The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-05-30
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JdNUARr Sth, 4. d. 1907.



proved by experience; that In accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government IL government of
limited powers, and that II possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated 10 IL I'm the
Federal Constitution; that all other powers
are reserved 10 the states or the people
that strict construction of the Csnstitu-
ton Is Indispensable 70 the preseryation.of
1.-THE reserved rights Of the States and me
people that all grants Of power To Govern
meut. whether State or Federal. should he
strictly construed, because all such grants
labridge the natural rights ofmen 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 unified to
llegislate for or ADMINISTERING local concerns
OF the States; that 1t would be monstrons
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regti-
lated by a Federal COngressin which she has
but two Senators. and the New England
States. with but little greater population,
lhaye twelve; that the tendency of the Fed
lerl 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 am abs rption oi power would, while
1t lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
Interests of the people, and would end
leither In despOtism or destruction of the
Union that National debt, besides i'm
pOvcrishing the people. fosters an undue
increase of the powers of the Federal Gov
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 Governments
and that, therefore, economy Is essential
not only TO the prosperity, but also to the
liberties OF the people; that unequal tax
latiOn is 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
land all attempts to impair this right, either
by Congressional legislation or Constitu-
tonal amendments 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
lerty; 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 Omuch-unncCcSsarily 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 chat no ec 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
ny, rs prescribed by the Constitution. have
the right to govern, the minority have in
dcfcasible rights; and that II frequent re-
currcnce TO first principles is essential to
4 the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ReSOtred. That the States lately in re-
belliOn are States in the Union, and have
been recognized as such by every depart
meut of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war,
F.. 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 us Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
, SentativGs 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
apportionmcnt act providing for their due
representation in Congress; by various
: tax laws and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendments
by various other acts and resolutions i'm
parting the same recognition all of which
I were passed since the attempted secession
r 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 jurisdic-
tion of cases coming from them, which it
could not do were they not in the Union
2 That being thus in the Union, they stand
Oh an equal footing with their sister States
= States with unequal rights being thing
{ unknown to the Constitution; that by the
= express terms of the Constitution, each
Z State is entitled to have two Senators and a
a due proportion of Representatives in the
| Congress, aud to vote in all elections of
> President and Vice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
II state OF civil war, they can not, in time OF
It peace, be suspended, much less destroyed,
. without plain violation of the Constitu-
4 tiOp that Congress has no power to de-
" prive State of its reserved rights, and
n reduce it to Territorial condition; that
Y therefore the exclusion, by the so-called
70 Congress, of all representation from ten
! States, the proposed exclusion of those
II States, from all voice in the next Presiden-
r 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 dcspotiC
Il rights of those States, but also of the rights
a Of every other State in the Union. That
re those measures are parts ofa plan to nulify
\ the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
81 State Governments, to erect consolidated
re despotism on their ruins; and to establish
l. and perpetuate tyrannical rule of minor
ity over "a majority of the American peo.
Pile. That the people cannot, without q
+ loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor
n submit to such II result; and we, therefore
" in the hope that the warning will be
~ needed, and the danger to our situations be
~ peaceably averted, do solemnly warn the
~ advocates of the plan, that it will moi
"a be submitted to.
8. Resol5ed, That Congress is not an
omnipOtent law-making power. That tn,
ar Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
+ come law without the approval of the
oil President, unless it be passed by two-thirds
of each House of Congress. That one OF
d. tile objects of the present sO-called Con-
8 gress IN excluding States from representa-
le ton, is to pass bills by 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 acuuiesced