The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-14
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVECTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED,
JANUABY SUI. 4. d. 1907.


party as ~eNpounded by the fathers, and ap-
proved by experience that In accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government is a 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 to the states or the people:
that q 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 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 t0the preservation of the Union;
that the Federal Government is untitled to
legislate for or administer the local concerns
| of the States that il would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
lated byn Federal Congressin which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
States. with but Il little greater population,
have twelve; that the tendency of the Fed
eral Government Is TO usurp the reserved
rights Of thu States and of the people; and
that. therefore, a Capitalization of power in
its hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an absorption OF power would, while
It lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people. and would end
either I'm despOtism or a destruction of the
Union that a National debt, besides inn
poverishiug the people, fosters an undue
Increase Of the powers of the Federal Gov
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 and 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
liberties OF the people; that unequal AK
alton is a 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
erty - that the tendency of government is
to e~nlargeits authority by usurpation, and
| therefore government needs to be watched;
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too muCh-unnecesSarily and yeXatiOusly
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 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
redress of grievances; that no eI post fdctO
law should be made; that the right of the
people to ~peaceably assemble and consult
/ upon public affairs is inviolable; 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 have in
defeasible rights; and that 4 frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
r ,. Resolved, That the States lately in re-
| bellion are States in the Union, and have
been recognized "a such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
l 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 a Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
; and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
sentatiyes 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
- ap~portionment act providing for their due
f representation in Congress; by various
, tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
7 by the resolutions submitting amendments
i to the Constitution for their approval, and
e 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 Che
United States, which holds Federal Court
A in all those States, and especially by thu
Supreme Court, which enteTtains jurisdic
" ton of cases coming from them, which i
lcould not do were they not in the Union
y That being thus in the Union, they STAN
$ on an equal footing with their sister State
OF States with unequal rights being a thin
unknown to the Constitution; that, by tn
I'd express terms of the Constitution, eae
I'd State is entitled to have two Senators and
n due proportion of Representatives in tn
Congress, and to vote in all elections {
IS. President and Vice-president that, thong
3 these rights are subject to interruption b
a state of civil war, they can not, in time
D. peace, be suspended, much less destroye'
lie without n plain violation of the Constitl
IT. ton; that Congress has no power to d.
IS prive a State of its reserved rights, al
3. reduce it to a Territorial condition; tn
of therefore the exclusion, by the sO-calit
i54 Congress, of all representation from tt
IL States. the proposed exclusion of tho
ng States, from all voice in the next Presidel
k,) tial election, the threatened overthrow
)tT their state government anu Jnp TeuuCIlI
of their States to the condition of terrific
est les, are each and every one of them unco
stitutional, revolutionary and despoI
of measures, destructive not merely of t
TT rights of those States, but also of the rigl
of every other State in the Union. III
!. those measuresa are parts Ota plan TO nu4li
BILE the Constitution, virtually overthrow I
State Governments, TO erect aconsolidat
despotism on their ruins; and to establi
Inc and perpetuate a tyrannicalrule of a minC
old ity over Il majority of the American pc
pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and hon
submit to such n result; and We, thereto
." lin the hope that the warning will
needed, and the danger to our situations
81 peacefully averted, do solemnly warn
advocates of the plan, that it will !
be submitted to.
n 3. RESOLVED, That Congress is not
omnipotent law-making power. That
aye Constitution provides that no bill shall
the come a law without the approval of
for President, unless it be passed by two-thi
of each House of Congress. That one
the objects of the present so-called @,
III gress In excluding States from represen
had ton. is to pass bills by a twO-thirds v
tate which, were all the States represent
could not so pass and thus to Virtua