The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-19
.S7A7E DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARY Sth, 4. ID. 1867.


|-NN-AN ~ ~ ~ ~ Nv " wv
party as e~xpounded by the fathers, and APP
proved by experience thai In accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is n government of
limited powers, and that It possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated TO Il in the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved to the states or the people;
that n strict construction of the Csnstitu-
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
abTidge 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 IL would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
latedby a Federal Congressi in which she has
hut 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 irption OF power would. while
it lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
] tlAiAtA III dNSBNhleluQ VI "a utoAtN tllOu "a Nllt
Union that a National debt, besides i'm
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
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; tina unequal tax
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 enlarge its authority by usurpation, and
therefore government needs to be watched;
p that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and veXatiously
Interfering with the business and habits of
p the people; that the freedom of speech and
of the press is essential to the existence of
I liberty that no person not in the military
or naval service, or in the bounds where
I 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
o redress of grievances; that no eb post Jdcto
law should be made; that the right of the
: people to peaceably assemble and consult
4 upon public affairs is inviOlable; that the
: military should be held in due subsection
q to the civil power; that while the major
ity, as prescribed by the Constitution, have
tho rinbf 70 ornvarp fl,a rninnrifv ho,,o In
q defeasible rights and that a frequent re-
! currence to first principles is essential to
v the welfare of the State and the people.
) 2. RESOLVED. That the States lately in re-
Il bellion are States in the Union, and have
ia been recognized IA such by every depart
ment of the Government, and by Presi-
N dent Lincoln, who, in the midst of the war,
invited them to electmembers of Congress
NJ by President johnson, in various procla-
nations and official acts by Congress,
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit in
n the Senate rs a Senator from Tennessee
- and members from Virginia, TENNESSEE
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
yye sentatives after these States had seeded
n, and while the war was being carried on
no and which further recognized them a,
~ States in the Union by the Congressiona
an apportionment act providing for their du,
IS representation in Congress; by various
a. tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
nv by the resolutions submitting amendment
he to the Constitution for their approval, auC
n by various other acts and resolutions i'm
ar parting the same recognition all of whicl
~ were passed since the attempted secession
,a of those States, by the judiciary of tn
g United States, which holds Federal Court
al in all those States, and especially by tn
III Supreme Court, which entertains jurisdic
ya tion of cases coming from them, which
al could not do were they not in the Unior
nd That being thus in the Union, they stan
of on an equal footing with their sister State
States with unequal rights being a Thin
tlv unknown to the Constitution; that, by til
Wy express terms of the Constitution, eac
-bo State is entitled to have two Senators and
due proportion of Representatives in til
to Congress, and to vote in all elections {
President and Vice-president THAT, thong
ma these rights are subject to interruption b
Is a state of civil war, they can not, in time
peace, be suspended, much less destroye,
ro without a plain violation of the ConstitU
ton that Congress has no power to d,
cks prive a State of its reserved rights, an
reduce it to a Territorial condition tn
Ivs therefore the exclusions, by the so-calle
Congress, of all representation from tt
States, the proposed exclusion of tho
tbo States, from all voice in the next Presidel
,ne tial election, the threatened overthrow
Sit their State Governments and the reduetiC
" OF their States to the condition of terrific
tho les, are each and every one of them unCol
,rne stitutional, revolutionary and despot
measures, destructive not merely of Il
- rights of those States, but also of the RICH
of every other State in the Union tn
tbo those measures are parts ola plan to multi
re- the Constitution, virtually overthrow ii
the State Governments, to erect a cOnsolidat,
rcd despotism on their ruins; n to establil
and perpetuate a~tyrannical rule of mino
ity over a majority of the American pc
pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and hone
ced submit to such n result and we, therefor
oaii in the hope that the warning will
needed, and the danger to our situations
,oat peaceably averted, do sOlemnly warn d
lJie advocates of the plan, that it will n
be submitted to.
t to 8. Resolred, That Congress is not
It is omnipotent law-making power, That d
lion Constitution provides that no bill shall b
the come a law without the approval of Il
one President, unless it be passed by two-thir
of each House of Congress. That one
so the objects of the present so-called Co
gress i'm excluding States from represent
ven ton, is to pass bills by a two-thlrds vo
he which, were all the States represente
ant. could not so pass and thus TO virtual
BILE. abolish the constitutional provision afor
said. That If this precedent be ~acuuiesc