The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-02-15
SYATN sIIN6CRATiE CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARF stA, 4. D. 1sc1.
RESOLUTIONS.

Hlth tlese pflhcipieS we declare that the
Federal Government is government of
| limited powers, and that lt possesses no
powers but such AS are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated to- It in the
Federal Constitution; that all other powers
are reseWed to the states or the people /:
that strict construction of the Constitu-
ton Is indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights of the States and the
| people; that all grants Ofpower 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 united to
legislate for or administer the local concerns
| OF the States that it would be mOnstrous
that the local affairs of Ohio should be regu-
lated by a Federal Congress in which shehas
| but two Senator'S and the New England
states, with but little greater population,
nave twelve; that the tendency of the Fed
eral Government is to usurp the reserved
rights of the States and of the people; and
that. therefore, a Capitalization of power In
It's hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs lrption OF power would, while
lt 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 Inn
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
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, 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 She 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
eTty !" that the tendency of government Is
to enlarge its authority by usurpation, and
| therefore government needs to he watched
that another of les 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
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 er post fdcto
law should be made; that the right of the
| people to peaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is invioable; that the
military should be held in due subjection
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 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 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,
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in
the Senate as 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 Il
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 amendmehtsl
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 entertains jurisdic-
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 a 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 Vice-president; that though
these rights are subject to interruption by
state OF civil war they can not In time of
peace, be suspended, much less DESTROYED
without main violation OF the Constitn-
tlon that Congress has no power to de-
prive a State of its reserved rights, and
reduce it to a Territorial condition; thatI
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 PTesiden-
cial election, the threatened overthrow Ofl
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 despotlc
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 ofa plan to nullify
the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and 70 establish
and dperpetuate tyrannical rule of minor
ity over a majority of the American peo-
pie. That the people cannot, without a
loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor,
submit 70 such result; and we, therefore,
in the hope that the warning will be
Needed and the dsnger 10 our situations be
peaeeably averted, do solemnly warn the
advocates of the plan, that it win not
be submitted to.
3. ResOIVed, That Congress Is not an
omnipotent law making power. That the
Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
come a law without the approval Of the
President, unless 1t be passed by two-thirds
of each House of Congress. That one ofl
the objects of the present sO-called Con-
Rress In excluding States from representa-
ton, is to pass bills by a two-thirds vote
which. were all the States reDrpsented