The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-25
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.


e. 81. 80 NV
with these principles We declare that the
Federal Government is q government of
limited powers, and that IL possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated 10 IL In the
Federal Constitution that allothcr powers
are reserved TO the states or the people /;
that a strict construction of the Censtltu-
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 aud 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
ofthe States that it would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regu-
lated by a Federal COngressin which shehas
but W Senators, and the New England
States, with but little greater population,
hayctwelye that the tendency of the Fed
eral Government Is to usuTp the reserved
rights of the States and Of the people; and
that, therefore, "a Capitalization of power I'm
It's hands Is an ever pending danger, That
such an abs lrptiou OF power would, while
it lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either in despOtism or Il destruction of the
CiAtNh iAah u EhiihihA ntUts DtHlntN iu-
poverishing 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 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 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 veNatiously
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 hat no person not In the military
or naval service, or in the bounds where
martial law lcgitimatcly 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 ca post Jdcto
law should be made that the right of the
people TO peaceably 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 have in
defeasible rights; and that q frequent re-
currence TO first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ReSolUed, 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 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 al
States in the Union by the Congressional
apportionment act providing for their du,
representation in Congress; by varioui
tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendment
to the Constitution for their approval, ant
by various other acts and resolutions i'm
parting the same recognition all of whicl
were passed since the attempted secession
of those States, by the judiciary of tn,
United States, which holds Federal Court
in all those States, and especially by tn
, Supreme Court, which entertains jurisdic
ton of cases coming from them, which !
could not do were they not in the Union
: That being thus in the Union, they stauI
2 on an equal footing with their sister State
. States with unequal rights being a thin,
unknown to the Constitution that, by tn
e express terms of the Constitution, eael
. State is entitled to have two Senators and
due proportion of Representatives in tn
Congress, and to vote in all elections O
President and Vice-prcsident that, thougl
G these rights are subject to interruption b.
o a state of civil war, they can not, in time O
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
; without Il plain violation of the Constitu
ton that Congress has no power to de
prive n State of its reserved rights, an
: reduce it to a Territorial condition; tina
therefore the exclusion, by the s~O-calle.
Z Congress, of all representation from te
n States, the proposed exclusion of thos
States, from all voice in the next Presiden
tial election, the threatened overthrow Q
o. their State Governments and the reductio
: OF their States to the condition of territor
" les, are each and every one of them uneon
stitutional, revolutionary and despoti
: measures, destructive rot merely of tn
p rights o thOse States, but also of the right
of every other State in the Union. Tha
: those measures are parts ola plan to MULTI
d the Constitution, virtually overthrow tn
State Governments, to erect consolidate
ldespotism on their ruins; and to establis
and perpetuate atyraunical rule of a minor
. ity over Il majority of the American PEG
/, pie. That the people cannot, without
loss of their liberties, prosperity and hoIlaI
If submit to such n 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 th
advocates of the plan, that it will ne
be submitted to.
D 8. ResOl1ed, That Congress is not a
Ie omuipOtent law-maling power. That I'll
Constitution provides that no bill shall be
20 come Il law without the approval of III
. President, unless it be passed by two-thirt
l. of each House of Congress. That one {
is the objects of the present so-called Cor
gress in excluding States from represents
- ton, is to pass bills by a two-thirds vol
which, were all the States represente,
could not so pass; and thus to virtual
abolish the constitutional provision afor,
Of I--sl nI.N "a Att ,,aan1nrN h. uaA.E....