The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-26
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVECTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.


IaANN a. N1INNhNiAA AAAiAAAaf Anh up
proved by experience; that in accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government is u government of
limited powers, and that IL possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated to It in the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved 90 the states or the people;
that a Strict eOustructiOnsof the Ceustitu-
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 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 n Federal COngTcssin which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
states, with but a 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
its 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 a destruction of the
Union that n National debt, besides inn
pOyerishing the people, fosters an undue
increase of the powers of the Federal Gov
eminent that high protective tariffs have
4 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 q 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 attemptSt 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 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
or naval service, or in the bounds where
martial law l~egitimately 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 er post tdcto
law should be made; that the right of the
peoplet to peaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is iuYiOlable 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 Il frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ReS0(Ued, That the States lately in re-
bellion are States in the Union, and lave
been recognized as such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war,
2 invited them to electmembers of Congress ;
by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts; by Congress,
| which permitted andrew johnson to sit in
!. the Senate as a Senator from Tennessee,
. and members from Virginia, Tennessee
G and Louisiana to sit in the HOuse of Repre-
e Sentatives after these States had seeded,
+ and While the wal was being carried on.
T and which further recognized them as
States in the Union by the Congressional
t ap"portiOnment act providing for their due
/ representation. in Congress; by various
e 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
We're passed since the attempted secession
n of those States, by the Judiciary of the
+ United States, which holds Federal Court.
i in all those States, and especially by thu
Y supreme Court, which entertains iurisdic.
tion of cases coming from them, which i
could not do were they not i'll the Union
d That being thus in the Union, they stanC
o on an equal footing with their sister State
States with unequal rights being a thinl
d unknown to the Constitution; that, by tn,
t, express terms of the Constitution, eacl
It State is entitled to have two Senators and
if due proportion of Representatives in tn
= Congress, and to vote in all elections o
President and Vice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption b,
is n state of civil war, they can not, in time o
70 peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
without a plain violation of the Coustitu
y ton that Congress has no power to de
Is prive n State of its reserved rights, an
t. reduce it to Il Territorial condition tina
NJ therefore the exclusion, by the s~o-callet
~ Congress, of all representation from teI
Y States, the proposed exclusion of thos
of States, from all voice in4he next Presiden
tial election, the threatened overthrow o
their State Governments and the reduction
: OF their States to the condition of territOr
l. les, are each and every one of them uncon
s. stitutional, revolutionary and despoti
IN measures, destructive not merely of tn
rights of those States, but also of the right
y of every other State in the Union. Tina
TO those measures are parts ola plan to MULTI
ID the Constitution, virtually overthrow tn
nj State Governments, to erect a consolidate
despotism on their ruins; and to establish
and perpetuate a tyrannical rule of aminor
ity over a majority of the American PEG
50 pie. That the people cannot, without
as loss of their liberties prosperity and honor
ed submit TO such Il result; and we, therefore
in the hope that the warning will b
~ needed, and the danger to our situations b
peaceably averted, do sOlemnly warn tn
IN advocates of the plan, that it will nc
n be submitted to.
3. ReSOlUed, That Congress is not a
omnipotent law-making power. That til
Constitution provides that no bill shall be
come a law without the approval of til
50 President, unless it be passed by two-third
he of each House of Congress. That one G
ds the objects of the present sO-called Con
~ gress in excluding States from representa-
~ ton, is to pass bills by a two. thirds vot
which, We're all the States represented
could not so pass; and thus to virtual
abolish the constitutional provision afore
said. That il this precedent be acquiesce
hA in, there will be nothing to prevent a bar