The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-22
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JlNUAkr SM. i. D. 1907.


!. Res0ired, That the Democracy Of Ohio
~steadtastly adhere to the principles of the
party as oXpounded by the fathers, and ap-
proved by experience; that I'M accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is q government Of
limited powers, and that Il possesses no
powers but such rs are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated to 1t I'm the
Federal Constitution that nj lother power
are reserved To the states or the people;
that n strict construction of the Censtltu-
ton Is indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights of the States and the
people 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 aud the rights of the people Is
necessary to the preservation of the Union;
that the Federal Government Is untitled to
legislate for or administer the local concerns
of the States that il would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
lated by a Federal CongTessin which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
states, with but a little greater population,
"havetwelve 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
II 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, besides inn
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
Increase ofthe powers of the Federal Gov
eminent; that high protective tariifs have
A like effect, sacrificing the interests Of the
many for the cmoluments Of the few. and
plainly violating the equity aIhl spirit of
the Constitutions; 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 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 he watched;
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily 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 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 es post Jdcto
law should be made; that the right Of the
people to pcaccably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is inviolable; 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 have in
defeasible rights; and that a frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. 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
p 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 . Repre.
G sentatives after these States had seeded
4 and while the war was being carried on
, and which further recognized them a
l States in the Union by the Congressional
e apportiomment act providing for their dul
e representation in Congress; by variou
tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendment
to the Constitution for their approval, an,
by various other acts and resolutions i'm
parting the same recognition all of whicl
were passed since the attempted secession
o of those States, by the Judiciary of tn
United States, which holds Federal Court
in all those States, and especially by tn
Supreme Court, which entertains jurisdic
II ton of cases coming from them, which
5. could not do were they not in the UnioI
Ie That being thus in the Union, they stan
on an equal footing with their sister State
States with unequal rights being a thin
unknown to the Constitution; that, by tn
express terms of the Constitution, eac
pr State is entitled to have two Senators and
due proportion of Representatives in til
)" Congress, and to vote in all elections {
m President and Vice-president that, thong
these rights are subject to interruption b
Il state of civil war, they can not, in time {
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
VI without n plain violation of the Constitu
II ton that Congress has no power to de
prive a State of its reserved rights, an
reduce it to a Territorial condition; thi
te therefore the exclusion, by the sO-calle
Congress, of all representation from te
" States, the proposed exclusion of thos
H. States, from all voice in the next PresideI
in tial election, the threatened overthrow {
their State Governments and the reductiO
OF their States to the condition of territol
Vi les, are each and every one of them uncon
Al stitutional, revolutionary and despot
Il measures, destructive not merely of I'll
rights of those States, but also of the RICH
of every other State in the Union. Thi
RI those measures are parts ofa plan to MULTI
the Constitution, virtually overthrow I'll
u State Governments, to erect consolidate
IS despotism on their ruins; and to establis
lie and perpetuate a |tyrannical rule of n minoi
ha ity over a majority of the American pee
" pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and none
- 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 Il
:, advocates of the plan, that il will n,
7 be submitted to.
3. ReSolred, That Congress is not a
G omnipotent law-making power. That IL
- Constitution provides that no bill shall b.
come a law without the approval of Il
President, unless it be passedby two-thirt
rs of each House of Congress. That one
, the objects of the present so-called Con
J greSS in excluding States from represents