The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-12
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
HI PLATFORM ADOPTED,
JANUARY So, 4. d. 1897.


HH ~ AAAAANA NNNAN III
Federal Government Is n government q
limited powers, aud that Il possesses n,
powers but such as are expressly. or h,
necessary Implication delegated TO Il In m
Federal Constitution that all other power
are reserved TO the states or the people
that q strict construction Of the Constltu
zion Is indispensable to the preservation o
the reserved rights of the States and IN,
people that all grants OF power to Govern
ment, whether State or Federal, should b,
strictly construed, because all such grant.
abridge the natural rights of men that In,
preservation of the equality and rights o
the States and the rights Of the people 4
necessary to the preservation of the Union
that the Federal Government Is untitled 1,
legislate for or administer the local concern
Of the States that IL would be monstrou,
that thel local affairs ofOhio should be repu.
lated by a Federal Congress In which she la,
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 of the States and of the people; and
that, therefore, n Capitalization of power IN
It's hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs irption OF power would, while
IL lasted, be destructive of the liberties and
interests OF the people. and would end
either In %despotiSm or a destruction OF the
Union that a National debt, besides linz
poverlshing the people, fosters an undue
increase ofth 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 eyenues by the
Federal Government have the same ten
dency, beside corrupting tho 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 n plain violation of Justice, OF
which no Government can safely be guilty.
That to each State belongs the right to
determine the qualification Of It's electors,
and all attempts to Impair this right, either
by Congressional legislation or Constitu-
tlonal amendment, are unwise and despot-
ic; that the tendency of power is TO steal
from the many to the few, and thai there
fore, "eternal vigilance is the price of lib
erty y that the tendency of government l.
to enlarge Its authority by usurpatiOn, and
therefore government needs 10 he watched A.;
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 aud
of the press Is essential to the existence of
liberty that no person not In the military
or naval service, or In the bounds wher
martial law legitimately prevails, can law
fully be deprived of life, liberty or propcr-
ty, without due process of civil law that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances; that no e1 post IactO
law should be made; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is inYiolable that the
military should ho hold In due subsection
to the civil power that while the major
ity, rs prescribed by the Constitution, have
the right to govern, the minority nave in
defcasible rights; n that a frequent re-
c%urrence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
,. RESOLVED. That the States lately in re-
bellion are States in the Union, and have
been recognized as such by, every depart
mcnt 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 rs 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 wal was being carried on,
and which further recognized them rs
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, n especially by the
Supreme Court, which entertains iurlsdic-
tion of cases coming from them, which 1t
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 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, and to vote in all elections OF
President and Vice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption by
n state of civil war, they can not, in time OF
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed.
without a plain violation of the COnstitu-
ton that Congress has NJ power to de-
prive a State of its reserved rights, and
reduce 1t 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-
tinl election, the threatened overthrow OF
tllelf SLhUe Governments anu the reduction
OF their States to the condition of territor.
les, are each and every one of them uncon-
stitutional, revolutionary and despotiC
measures, destructive not merely of tn,
rights Of those States, but also of the right.
of every other State In the Union. Tina
those measures are parts ofa plan to nullify
the Constitution, virtually overthrow the
State Governments, to erect n consolidated
~despOtism on their ruins; and to establish
and p~erpetuate q tyrannical rule ofaminOr,
ity over a majority of the American PEG.
pie. That the people cannot, without /
loss Of their liberties, prosperity and honor
submit to such II result; and we, therefore
in the hope that the warning will b,
needed, and the danger to our situations b,
p%oaceably averted, do solemnly warn til,
advocates of the plan, that it will no
be submitted TO.
3. RESOLVED, That Congress is not Al
omnipOtent law-making power. That tn,
Constitution provides that no bill shall be
comesa law without the approval of th,
President, unless 1t be passed by twO-third
of each House of Congress. That one q
the objects of the present sO-called Con
greSs in excluding States from representa-
tion, is TO pass bills by a two-thlrds vot
which, were all the States represented
could not so pass; and thus to virtual,
abolish the constitutional provision afore
said. That II this precedent be acquiesce,
in. there will be nothing To prevent n bar