The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-06
|S7AHE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
q Sth, 4. ID. 1857.


INV ~ WV AAANNN ~ HhEHAE"Nn Nl
powers but such as are expressly, or bv
necessary implication delegated TO IL In the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved TO the states or the people :
chat a strict construction Of the Censtitu-
ton Is Indispensable to the preservation Of
the reserved rights of the States and the
people that an grants of power to Govern
mcnt. whether State or Fede raj, should be
strictly construed. because all such grnuts
abridge the natural rights of men; that the
preservation of the equality aud rights OF
the States and the rights of the people Is
necessary TO the preservation OF the Union /;
that the Federal Government vs. untitled to
legislate for rad Binlstert the local concerns
of the States that it Would be INDUSTRIOUS
lated by a Federal Congressin which shehas
hut two senators. and tho New England
States, with but u little greater population.
have twelve; that the tendency of the Fed
cral Government Is 10 usurp the reserved
rights of the Sta,es and uf the people and
that. therefore, q Capitalization of power in
its hands is an ever pending dagger. That
such nm abs ,rption OF power would. while
il lasted, be destructive OF the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either In despOtism or a destruction of the
Union that a National debt. besidrs i'm
pOvcrishing the people. fosters an undue
increase of the powers of the Federal Gov
ernmeut 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 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 Coustitu-
tional amendment, are unwise and dcspOt-
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 veNatiOusly
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 i'm the military
or naval service, or in the bounds where
mactial law legitimaiely 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 &c post fdcto
law should be maae; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble and consulC
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
defeasiblc rights; and that a frequent re-
currcnce to first principles Is essential 10
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. ReSOiced, That the States lately in re-
helliou are States in the Union, and have
been recognized az such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Prcsi-
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 to sit in
the Senate as a Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
scntatives 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
a"pportionment 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 the
United States, which holds Federal Courts
In all those States, and especially by the
supreme Court, which entcrtains iurisdic-
ton of cases coming from them, which il
could not do were they not inf the Union
That being thus in the Union, they stand
on an equal footing with their sister State.
States with unequal rights being a thing
unknown to the Constitution that, by tho
express terms Of the Constitution, eacl
State is entitled TO have two Senators aud
due proportion of Representatives In tht
Congress, and to vote In all elections o
President and Vice-president that, thOugl
these rights are subject to interruption by
: n state of civil war, they can not, In time o
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
without II plain violation of the Constitu
ton: that Congress has no power to de
prive 4 State of its reserved rights, an(
reduce 1t to a Territorial condition; tina
! therefore the exclusion, by the s~o-calleI
Congress, Of al representation from tel
: States, the proposed exclusion of thos,
States, from all voice in the next Fresiden,
, tial election, the threatened overthrow o
[ their state Governments and the reduction
OF their States to the condition of t~erritor
t les, are each and every one of them unoon
! stitutional, revolutionary and despoti
D measures. destructive not merely of tn
I rights of those States, hut also of the right
of every other State In the Union. Tha
those measures are parts Ola plan to MULTI,
the Constitution, virtually overthrow til
=. State Governments, 10 erect acOnsolidatc,
despotism on their ruins, and to establish
and perpetuate a t|yranniCal rule Of minor
A ity over Il majority of the American PEG
pie. That the people cannot, without
loss Of their liberties, prosperity and honol
submit to such Il result; and we, therefore
u in the hope that the warning will b
E needed. and the danger to our situations b
peaceably ayerted, do sOiemnly warn tn
advocates of the plan, that it win no
e be submitted to.
II 3. ReSolUed, That Congress is not a
= OmnipOLeut law-making power. That tn
! Constitution provides that no bill shall be
come Il law without the approval of tn
e President, unless it be passed. by twO-third
4 of each House of Congress, That ono o
= the objects Of the present sO-called Con
: grcSs IN excluding States from representa-
+ ton, IS to pass bills by q tWO-thirds vot
: which, were all the States represented
y could not SO pass; and thus to virtual,
- abolish the constitutional provision afore
said. That if this precedent be acquiesce,
in, there will be nothing to prevent q bar
!, majority of Congress, Mt any time ia tn
r., future. from nulifvinO the constitutions