The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-06-20
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
ThePLATFoRM ADOPTED
JISUARY sth, 4. ID. 1861.



| proved by experience; that in Accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is government of
limited powers, and that it possesses 10
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegnted TO IL IN the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved To the states or the people
that strict construction of the Csnst1tu-
tiOn 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 20 the preservation OF the Union;
that the Federal Government Is untitled 70
legislate for or administer the local concerns
of the States that il would be moustrous
that the local affairs ofOhiO should be regu-
lated by a Federal Congressin 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 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 lrption oil power would. while
II lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests of the people, and would end
either in despOtism or a destruction of the
| Unioa; that National debt, besides i'm
! Ipoverishing, the people, fosters an undue
1 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 pmoluments of the few and
plainly violating the equity aud 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 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
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and ycXatiously
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 bc 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 eL 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 a frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to
| the welfare of the State and the people
= ResOlued. That the States lately i'm re- |
| belllon are States in the Union, and have
| been recognized as such by every depart |
lnent 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 i'm
| the Senate as "A Senator from Tennessee,
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-
sentativcs 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-
tiOn of cases coming from them, which it
could not do were they not in the Union.
That being thus in the Union, they stand
| n p1IIul tnDtinU with thpir aiatat. Sfoto
States with unequal rights being a thing
unknown to the Constitution; that, by the
| express terms of the Constitution, each
State is entitled TO have two Senators and a
due proportion of Representatives in the
| Congress, ana to vote in all elections of
President and Vice-presidcnt that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
& state of civil war, they can not, in time of
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed
without plain violation of the Constitu-
ton; that Congress has no power TO de-
prive Il State of its reserved rights, and
reduce it to Il Territorial condition that
therefore the exclusion, by the so-caled
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-
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 nullify
the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect a consolidated
despotism on their ruins; and to establish
, and perpetuate tyrannicalru ofaminor-
ity over a majority of the American peo-
pie. That the people cannot, without a
loss of their liberties, prosperity and honor,
submit to such n 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
Z be submitted to.
8. Resolved, That Congress is not an
omnipotent making power. That TIA
Constitution provides that no bill shall be-
e come law without the approval of the
President unless it be passed by two-thirds
of each House of Congress. That one OF
the objects of the present so-called Con-
greSs IN excluding States from representa-
ton, is to pass bills by a twO-thirds vote
which, were all the States represented,
could not so pass and tlals to virtually
abolish the constitutional nrOvisior n ofora