The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-06-29
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
The PLATFORM ADOPTED
J1NU1RY Sth, 4. ID. fSG5.



with these principles we declare that the 1
Federal Government is a government Of
limited powers, and that it possesses 40
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated tO IL in the
| Federal Constitution; that all other powers
are reserved To the states or the people
that strict construction OF the Censtitu
| tiOn Is indispensable TO the preservation Of
| the reserved rights OF the States and the
! poOple 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 aud 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
| llegislate for or administer the local concerns
OF the States that II would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhiO should be regu-
lated by Federal COugrcssin 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 aud
that. therefore, a Capitalization OF power in
its hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs Irption OF power would, while
IL lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
Ieither in deSpOtiSm 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
erument; that high protective tariffs have
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 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 !;
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and veXatiously
interfering with the business and habits of
2 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 lcgitimately 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
Y redress of grievances; that no eI post JdctO
, law should be made; that the right of the
j people to pcaceably assemble aud consult
upon public affairs is nVOlable; that the
e military should be held in due subsection
, to the civil power; that while the major
ity, as prescribed by the Constitution, have
i the right to govern, the minority have in
defeasible rights; and that frequent re-
f currence TO first principles is essential to
the welfare Of the State and the people.
2. ResOtued. That the States lately in re-
belliOn are States in the Union, and have
: been recognized IA such by every depart
( ment of the Government and by Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war,
Invited them to elect tmcmbers of Congress
lbv President Johnson, in various procla-
Z nations and official acts; by Congress,
/ which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in
d the Senate as a Senator from Tennessee,
n and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
u sentativcs after these States had seeded,
> and while the war was being carried on,
n and which further recognized them as
a States in the Union by the Congressional
- apportonment act providing for their due
= representation in Congress; by various
tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendments
u to the Constitution for their approval, and
= by various other acts and resolutions i'm
A. 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 entertams jursdic
l. tion of cases coming from them, which i
IN could not do were they not in the Union
That being thus in the Union, they stant
I'd on an equal footing with their sister State
n! States with unequal rights being a thin
id unknown to the Constitution; that. by tn
te express terms of the Constitution, eacI
nu State is entitled to have two Senators and
eli due proportion of Representatives in tn
be Congress, auu to vote in all elections G
ad President and Vice president; that, thong
in in these rights are subject to interruption b
state of civil war, they can not in time
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
; without plain violation of the Constitu
y tion; that Congress has no power to De
prive a State of its reserved rights, an
,,e reduce IL to Territorial condition; tn,
in therefore the exclusion, by the so-calle
go. Congress, of all representation from t.
'ac States, the proposed exclusion of thos
,in States, from all voice In the next Presider
of tial election, the threatened overthrow
aid their State Governments and the reductio
,nnd OF their States to the condition of terrific
tie, les are each and every one of them uncOT
18th stitutional, revolutionary and dcspOt
'e9 measures, destructive not merely of Il
eet rights of those States, but also of the Figh
ith of every other State in the Union. Tn
Y, those measures are parts ofa plan to nulli
nu the Constitution, virtually overthrow IL
II State Governments, to erect consolidate
inc despotsm on their ruins; and to establi'
lOO and perpetuate atyranniCal rule of mino
aiia ity over a majority of the American pc
pie. That the people cannot, without
ent loss of their liberties, prosperity and hone
sde aIS submit to such II result; and we, therefor
/ In the hope that the warning will
lay needed, and the danger to our situations
be peaceably averted, do solemnly warn b
/. advocates of the plan, that it Will n
be submitted to.
8. Resolved, That Congress Is not
n omnipotent law making power. That d
'"' Constitution provides that no bill shall b
come law without the approval of Il
President, unless it be passed BY two-thir
of each House of Congress. That one
the objects of the present sO-called Co
KE gress In excluding States from represent
iall tion, is to pass bills by a two-thirds vo
|, az which, were all the States represents
T 'me could not so pass; and thus TO virtual
the abolish the constitutional provision afor
pee said. That II this precedent be acquiesc
NE " in, there will be nothing TO prevent ba
n. tfn,a In,