The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-06-03
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
IJ4NUARY sfh, 4. u. 1884.


RESOLUTIONS.
/. ResOlred, That the Democracy ofOhio
steadastly adhere TO the principles of the
party as eXpOunded BY the fathers. and an
proved by experience; that in accordance
with these principles we declare that the
rederal Government Is government of
limited powers, and that IL possesses no
powers but such as are expressly. or bv
necessary implication delegated 10 il in the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved TO the states or the people I:
that strict construction OF the Csnstitu-
tlon Is Indispensable 10 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
lstrictly construed, because all such grants
iabridge the natural rights ofmen 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
lleKislate for or administer the local concerns
of the States that It would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhiO should be regu-
iatedby q Federal Congress i'm which she has
but two Senators. and the New England
states, with but little greater population,
lhaye 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, 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 destruction of the
Union; that National debt, besides inn
| poverishing the people, fosters an undue
Increase of che powers OF the Federal Gov
ernment; that high protective tariffs have
a like eject, sacrificing the interests of the
| many Tor the cmOluments 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,
ana 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 Constitu-
ti0nal 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 1
liberty that no person not in the military
or naval service. or in the bounds where
martial law lcgitimately 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 eI Dost fdcto |
law should be made; that the right of the |
people TO peaceably assemble and consult |
1,ls ~ I'll. -
military should be held in due subjection |
to the civil power; that while the major
ity, as prescribed by the Constitution, have |
the right to govern, the minority have in
defeasibe rights; and that frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to |
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. Res0lUed, 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,
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in |
the Senate as u 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 |
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 |
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- |
ton of cases coming from them, which it |
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 Constitution that, by the
express terms of the Constitution, each
State is entitled to have two Senators and n
due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, and TO vote in all elections of
President and ce-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
Il state of civil war, they can not in time of
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed,
without plain violation of the Constitu-
| tion; that Congress has no power to de
| prive 4 State of its reserved rights, and
reduce it to 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 territor-
| les, are each and every one of them,uncon-
stltutional, revolutionary and dcspotic
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 nulify
the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect n consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and to establish
and perpetuate tyrannical rule of minor
ity over a majority of the American peo-
pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor.
submit TO such result; and we therefore,
in 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 aw-making power. That tn
Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
come n law without the approval of the
President, unless it be passed by two thirds
of each House of Congress. That one Of