The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-09
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVECTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED,
JANUARr Sh, 4. n. 1897.


limited powers, and that ii possesses ~,
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary Implication delegated to Il in en-,
Federal Constitution that all other W
are reserved to the states or the people
that a strict construction of the Censtitu.
ton Is Indispensable to the preservation OF
the reserved rights of the States and tn,
people that all grants of power to Govern
ment. whether state or Federal, should be
strictly construed, because all such grants
abridgo 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 te
legislate for or administer the local concerns
OF the States; that it would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhiO should be reuu-
lated by a Federal Congressin which she has
but W Senators. and the New England
States, with but a little greater population,
hayctwelve; 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 owe ( N
its hands is an ever pending danger. That
such nm abs irptiOn OF power would. while
It lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either In despOtism or a destruction of the
Union that u National debt. besides inn
poyerishlng che people, fosters an undue
AhtANd0b VI WV DOhtiE VI lllt TfNeTal NHON@
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 aud spirit of
the Constitution; that the collection and
disbursement OF enormous revenues by the
Federal Government have the same ten
dency. beside c~orrupting the Government,
and that, therefore, economy is essential
not only to the prosperity, but also to the
/ HhpTtipG nt fha Ianpf1p. that t,,,na,,,1 80
alton is n 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 : 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 YeXatiouslv
interfering with the business and habits Of
the people; that the freedomof 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 l~cgitimately 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 &c post tactO
law should be made; that the right Of the
people to pCacCably 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. as prescribed by the Constitution. have
the right to govern, the minority nave in
defeaSiblc rights; and that a frequent re-
cirrence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. Res0ired. That the States lately in re-
bellion are States in the Union, and have
been recognized IA such by every DEPART
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln. who, in the midst of the war,
invited them to electmcmbers of Congress ;
by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts; by Congress,
which permitted Andrew Johnson to sit i'm
the Senate as a 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 as
States 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
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 iurisdic-
ton of cases coming from them, which il
could not do We're they not in the Union.
That being thus in the Union, they stand
| On IN aCuu1 tnntinn VI fth fhaf- uf.Na.. GN,A.a
States with unequal rights being thing
unknown to the Constitution : that, by the
express terms of the Constitution, each
State is entitled to have two Senators and a
due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, and to vote in all elections OF
President and Vice-president that, thou IN
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 a plain violation of the Constitu-
ton that Congress has no power To de-
prive Il State of its reserved rights, and
reduce it TO a Territorial condition that
therefore the exclusion, by the so-called
Congress, of all representation from ten
States, the proposed exclusion Of those
States, from all voice in the next Presiden-
tial election, the threatened overthrow OF
their State Governments and the reduction
OF their States to the condition of t%erritor.
les, are each and every one Of them uncon-
stitutional, revolutionary and despotiC
measures, destructive not merely of til,
rights of those States, but also of the right,
of every other State in the Union. 1hai
those measures are parts ola plan to nullify
the Constitution, virtually overthrow thu
State Governments, to erect consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and to establish
2 and perpetuate Il %tyrannical rule of aminor.
= ity over a majority of the American PEG,
: Pile. That the people cannot, without {
e loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor
submit to such II result and we, therefore
= in the hope that the warming will b,
needed, and the danger to our situations b,
: peaceably averted, do solemnly warn til,
advocates of the plan, that it viii no
be submitted to.
3. ReSOiUed, That Congress is not an
o%mnipotent law-making power. That the
d Constitution provides that no bill shall be.
come a law without the approval of tho
: President, unless it be passed by twO-third,
: of each Hous of Congress- That one o
y the objects of the present sO-called Con
. greSS In excluding States from represents
{ ton, is to pass bills by Il twO-thirds vot,
which, were all the States represented
icould not so pass and thus to virtually
abolish the constitutional provision afore.
said, That ii this precedent be acquiesced
in, there will be nothing 70 prevent a bar,
VI majority of Congress, at any time in tI,
r future, from multiplying the constitutions
veto of the President and usurpinp uncon,
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