The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-02-11
S7AYE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED
JANUARY Sth, 4. ID, 1867.
RESOLUTIONS.

... RESOLUTIONS.
| |. Resolved, That the Democracy ofOhio
steadiastly adhere to the principles of the
party as expounded by the fathers, and ap-
| proved by experience; that In accordance
| with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is government of
| limited powers. and that It possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or sby
necessary implication delegated to It in the
Federal Constitution; that allother powers
are reserved to the states or the people ;
that a strict construction OF the Constitu-
| 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 alfsuch grants
abridge the natural rights of men that the
preservation Of the equality and 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
! lcgislate 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 Congress in which she has
| but two Senators. and the New England
States. with but 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 and
| that therefore, a Capitalization of power in
It's hands is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs rptiOn OF power would, while
it lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either in despotism or q destruction Of the
Union; that National debt, besides i'm
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 the right TO
determine the qualification of Its electors.
and all attempts to impair this right, either
by Congressional legislation or Consttu-
tional amendment, are unwise and despot-
ici 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 j.
to enlarge its authority by usurpation, and
therefore government needs to he watc he'd /;
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 i'm the bounds where
martial law legitimately prevails, can law
fully be deprived of life, liberty or proper
lty, without due process of civil law; that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances; Chat no er post tdctO
law should be made; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble aud consult
upon public affairs is inviola BILE; that the
military should be held in due subsection
to the civil power: that while the major
ity, as prescribed by the Cons titution, huyr
the right to govern, the minority have III
deieasible rights; and that a frequent re-
Icurrence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
2, RESOLVED. That the States lately i'm re-
bellion are States in the Union. and have
been recognized as such by every depart
ment of Che Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln. who, in the midst of the war.
invited them to eleCtmcmbcrs of Congress
by President johnson, IN various procH-
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 ~
States in the Union by the Congressional
Iapportionment 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 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 il
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 thing
unknown to the Constitutions 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
a state of civil war, they can not, in time Of
peace be suspended, much less destroyed
without plain violation of the COnstitu-
ton that Congress has no power to de-
prive a State of its reserved rights, and
reduce 1t to a Territorial condition, that
Congress, of all representation from ten
States the proposed exclusion of those
States, from all voice in the next Presiden-
cial election, the threatened 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 despotic
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 a consolidated
despOtism on their ruins; and 20 establish
and perpetuate atyrannical 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 to such a result; and we, therefore
I'm the hope that the warning will be
needed, and the danger to our situations be
peaceably averted, do solemnly warn the
advocates of the plan, that it will not
be submitted to,
3. Resolved, That Congress is not an
omnipotent law-making power. That the
Constitution provides that no bill shall be-