The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-28
STATE %otAATIC CONVENTION.
de PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARr Sth, 4. d. ISO7.


NNNN - - ~ - 49, $500 INV ~
proved by experience; that In accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government is a government Of.
limited powers, and that II possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated to it I'm the
Federal Constitution that aliothCr powers
are reserved to the states or the people;
that a strict construction OF the Constltu-
ton is indispensable to the preservation Of
the reserved rights Of the States and the
people that all grants of power 70 Govern
ment. whether State or Federal, should he
strictly construed, because all such grants
abridgc the natural rights OF men that the
preservation Of the equality and rights Of
the States and the rights of the people is
necessary 20 the preservation Of the Union ;
that the Federal Government Is untitled %
legislate for or admiuister the local concerns
Of the States that it would be INDUSTRIOUS
that thelocal affairs ofOhio should be rcyu-
lated hy "a Federal OugrCssiu which she has
hut two senators. and the New England
States, with but u little greater population,
have twelve that the tendency OF the led
eral Government Is 20 usurp the pScrVcd
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 an abs )rptiuu OF power would. while
Il lasted. he destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either In despotism or a destruction Of the
Union that Il National debt, besides im-
poverishiug 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 emOlumeuts of the few, and
plainly violating the equity aud spirit of
the Constitution: that the collection and
disbursement of enormous revenues by the
Federal Government have the same ten
49, til. -A..Ng-..NN
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 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
crty = hat 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-uuneceSSarily and vcXatiOusly
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 lcgitimately prevails, can law
fully he 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 iuviOlable; that the
military should be held in due subsection
to the civil power: that While the major
ity, rs prescribed by the Constitution, have
the right to govern. the minority nave in
deteaSiblc rights and that n frequent re-
currcnce TO first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. ReSoiUed. That the States lately in re-
bcllion are States in the Union, and have
been recognized "a such by every depart
ncnt of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln. who, in the midst of the war.
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 rs atSenatOr from Tennessee.
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
ScntatiYCS 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
apportiOnment 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 inn
parting the same recognition; all of which
were passed inCe 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
lSupreme Court. which entertains iurisdic-
| tiAp. of aaena nntpinn from than aarIinI, a
could not 10 were they not in the Union
THAT being thus in the Union, they stant
on an equal footing with their sister State,
States with unequal rights being a thins
unknown to the Constitution that, by thu
express terms of the Constitution, eacl
State is entitled to nave two Senators and
, due proportion of Representatives in tn,
Congress, n to vote in all elections o
President and Nice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
Il state of civil war, they can not, in timeo
peace, be suspended, much less DESTROYED
without Il plain violation of the COnstitu
ton that Congress has no power to de
prive a State of its reserved rights, an
reduce it to q Territorial condition: tina
therefore the exclusion, by the s~o-calle.
Congress, of all representation from tie
States, the proposed exclusion of thos
States, from all voice in the next Presiden
tial election, the threatened overthrow c
their State Governments m the reductiO
OF their States to the condition of territoI
les, are each and every one of them uncon
stitutional, revolutionary and despOti
measures, destructive not merely Of th
rights of those States, hut also of the right
of every other State In the Union. This
those measures are parts Ola plan to nullif
the Constitution, virtually overthrow tn
State Governments, to erect consolidate
~dcspotism on their ruins; and to establis
and perpetuate Il tyrannical rule of minor
ity over IA majority of the American pee
pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and homo
submit to such n result; and we, therefor
in the hope that the warning will /
needed, and the danger to our situations /
peaceably averted, do sOlemnly warn til
advocates of the plan, that it will NJ
be submitted to.
3. Resolced, That Congress is not a
omnipotcnt law-making power. That I'll
Constitution provides that no bill shah III
come II law without the approval of tI
President, unless 1t be passed by two-thirl
of each House of Congress. That one
the objects of the present so-callcd Coz
greSs In excluding States from represent;
ton, is to pass bills by II two-thirds voI
which, were all the States representel
s could not so pass and thus to virtual
/ abolish the constitutional provision afor,
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