The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-02-14
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARY Sth, 4. ID. 1s07.

/ proved Dy experience; Jnab III acCOruunce |
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government is a government of
limited powers, and that it possesses 10 |
powers but such rs are expressly, or by |
necessary implication delegated TO it IN the |
Federal Constitution; that all other powers
are reserved to the states or the people |
that n strict construction of the Constltu- |
tion 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
abrldge 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 untitled to
legislate for or administer the local concerns
of the States that it would be monstrOus
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu
lated by Federal Congress i'm which she has
but two Senators, 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
: its hands Is an ever pending danger That
{ such an abs rption OF power would. while
IL lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
: interests of the people, and would end
z 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
r 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 a plain violation of justice, of
which no Government can bafelNbe guilty.
II That to each State belongs the right to
Y determine the qualification of its electors,
e and all attempts to impair this right either
d by Congressional legislation or Consttu-
q tional amendment, are unwise and despOt-
!, ic; that the tendency of power is to steal
i from the many to the few, and that, there
- fore, "eternal vigilance Is the price of lib
re 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
p 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
b. redress of grievances that no eG post fdcto
law should be made; that the right of the
d. people to peaceably assemble and consult
tie upon public affairs is mviolable; that the
" military should be held in due subjection
to the civil power; that while the maj Or
- ity, as 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.
" 2. Resolved That the States lately in re-
NJ bellon are States in the Union, and have
rs been recognized as such by every depart
ment of the Government and by Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war
n invited them to electmembers of Congress
Il by President johnson, in various prOcla-
nations and official acts; by Congress
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in
r, the Senate as Senator from Tennessee
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
nd 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
I States in the Union by the Congressional
L 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 i'm
l. parting the same recognition; all of which
ut were passed since the attempted secession
d. of those States, by the judiciary of the
nc United States, which holds Federal Courts
~ in all those States, and especially by the
- ISupreme Court. which entertains iursdc-
y 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
N on an equal footing with their sister States
ug States with unequal rights being thing
n unknown to the Constitution; that, by the
express terms of the Constitution, each
;, State is entitled to have two Senators and q
= due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, and to vote in all elections oi
,, President and president; that, though
ry these rights are subject to interruption by
an a state of civil war, they can not, in time OF
aaSS peace be suspended, much less destroyed
without a plain violation of the Constitu.
. tion; that Congress has no power to de-
= priye State of its reserved rights, anC
reduce it to a Territorial condition; thai
therefore the exclusion by the so-calleC
= Congress, of all representation from ter
81 - States the proposed exclusion of thosC
Y States from all voice in the next Presiden-
cial election, the threatened overthrow o
- 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 despotit
70 measures, destructive not merely of tho
~ rights of those States, but also of the rights
of every other state IN the Union. ina
those measures are parts ofa plan to nullify
,rr the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
y State Governments, to erect a consolidated
- despotism on their ruins; and to establish
and perpetuate a tyrannical rule of minor
ity over majority of the American peo
pie. That the people cannot without I
loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor
IS, submit to such result; and We therefore
N. i'm the hope that the warning will b'
4 needed, and the danger to our situations b,
- peaceably averted do solemnly warn th'
. advocates of the plan, that IL will no
be submitted to.
e. 3. Resolved, That Congress is not al
omnlpotent laN-making power. That th'
n Constitution provides that no bill shall be
come a law without the approval of TIN
iiccih President, unless it be passed by third
of each House of Congress. That one o
n the objects of the present so-called Con
1 gress In excluding States from representa-
DDS tion, is to pass bills by two-thirds yot
viii which, were all the States represented
could not so pass; and thus 10 virtually
abolish the constitutional provision sfore
- said. That II this precedent be acquiesceC