The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-02
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JAYUARY sth, 4. d. 1907.


: with these principles we declare that q
Federal Government Is a government
limited powers, and that 10 possesses u
powers but such rs are expressly, or b
/, necessary implication delegated to IL I'm IN
Federal Constitution that all other powel
l are reserved 10 the states or the people
that a strict construction of the COnstitu
a ton is Indispensable to the preservation {
/. the reserved rights Of the States aud IN
people that all grants of power to Govern
1nCnt, whether State or Federal, should b
/, strictly construed, because all such grant
abridge the natural rights of men that th
/. preservation Of the equality and rights q
the States and the rights Of the people
necessary TO the preservation Of the Union
that the Federal Government Is untitled &
legislate for or administer the local concern
of the States that II would be- mOnstrOu
that the local affairs ofOhiO should be regu
lated by a Federal COngressin which she ha
but two Senators. and the New England
States, with but Il 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: aut
that, therefore, a Capitalization of power In
its hands is an ever pending danger. That
such an absorption OF power would, while
10 lasted, be destructive Of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either In despOtism or a destruction of the
Union chat a National debt, besides inn
poyerishing 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 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 II 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 unwisc and despot-
ic; that the tendency of power is to steal
from the many to the few, aud 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
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 inviolablp: that the
military should be held in due subsection
to the civil pswer; that while the major
ity, rs prescribed by the Constitution. have
the right to govern, the minority have in
deieasible rights; and that n frequent re-
currence to first principles Is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. Resoiged, That the States lately in re-
bcllion are States in the Union, and have
been recognized as such by every drplrt-
ment of the Government, and Wv Prc,i-
dent Lincoln, who, in the mid, ufthc war.
invited them TO electmemhrrs urCudgres,;
by President johnson, In various procla-
nations and official acts; ~ Congress,
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit i'm
the Senate AS a enator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
after those States had seeded,
and while the war was being carried on, |
and which further recognized them AS
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
10 the Constitution for their approval, and
by various other acts and resolutions inn
the same recognition ; all of which
were passed since the attempted secession
those States, by the Judiciary of the
United States, which holds Federal Courts
In all those States, n especially by the
Court, which entertains jurlsdic-
ton OF cases coming from them, which it
could not do We're they not in the Union
That being thus in the Union, they stand
an equal footing with their sister States
with unequal rights being a thing
to the Constitution that. bv the
terms of the Constitution, each
State is entitled to nave two Senators and n
due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, and to vote in all elections of
and Nice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruDtion nv
a state of civil war, they can not, in time Of
peace, be suspended, much less DESTROYED,
without a plain violation of the Constitu-
ton that Congress has no power to de-
prive a State of its reserved rights. and
reduce 1t to II Territorial condition; that
the exclusion, by the so-called
Congress, of all representation from ten
the proposed exclusion of those
from all voice in the next Presiden-
NiNA wv Nv AtdAtlltu 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 despotlc
destructive not merely of the
of those States, but also of the riultts
of every other State in the Union. That
measures are parts ola plan to nulllfy |
the Constitution, virtually overthrow tie
State Governments, to erect consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and TO establish
and perpetuatc Il tyrannical rule of minor
lty over a majority of the American peo-
pie. Thai the people cannot, without n
loss OF their liberties, prosperity and honor,
submit to such 4 result; and we, therefore
in the hope that the warning will he
needed, and the danger to orr situations he
peaceably ayerted, do solemnly warn the
advocates of the plan, that II will not
be submitted to.
3. RESOLVED, That Congress Is not an
omnipotent law-making power. That the
provides that no bill shall he
4 law without the approval of the
President, unless it be pasSedby two-tbirds
of each House of Congress. That one az
the objects of the present so-called Con-
gresS In excluding States from represeuto-
ton, is to pass bills by q t~wO-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 ne apnuiasca1