The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-04
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUABY sen, 4. y. 1867.


Federal Government rs a government Of
limited powers. and that It possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated 10 It In the
Federal Constitution that allother powers
are reserved to the states or the people (;
that a strict construction of the Constitu-
ton is indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights Of tile States and the
people that all grants of power TO Govern
ment, whether State or Federal, should be
strictly construed, because all snch 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 to the preservation of the Union /;
that the Federal Government is untitled to
Ilcgislate for or administer the local concerns
of the States that IL would be monstrous
that the local affairs ofOhio should be rcgu-
lated by a Federal Congressi in which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
States, with but a little greater population,
have twelve; that the tendency Of tile Fed
eral Government is TO usurp the reserved
rights of the States and Of the people; and
that, therefore, a Capitalization of power in
It's hands is an ever pending danger. That
snch an abs DrptiOn OF power would, while
it lasted. be destructive Of the liberties and
interests of the people. and would end
either IN %despotism or a destruction Of the
Union that II National debt, besides Inn
] DNNtIlSlllIlE lNt iNblits lUSltAF III WllAlAAN
Increase of the powers of the Federal Cow
eminent; that high protective tariffs AVE
n like effect, sacrificing the interests of the
many for the emOluments of the few. aud.
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%OrTupting the Government,
and that, therefore, economy is essential
not pn1vF To fhn vVspaparifU lint 1lgn fn afhn
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: thai the tendency of power is TO steal
from the many to the few, and that, there
fore, 'eternal vigilance is the price of ] b.
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 ve~Xatiousiy
interfering with the business II 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 l~egitimately 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 &c post tdctO
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.
,. Resolved, 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 as
States in the Union by the Congressional
ap]portionment 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, aud
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 eutertains jurisdic-
ton of cases coming from them, which it
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 u thing
unknown to the Constitution that, by the
express terms of the Constitution. each
State is entitled to nave two Senators aud a
due proportion of Representatives in the
Congress, aud to vote in all elections OF
President and Vice-president that, though
these rights are subject to interruption bV
n state of civil war, they cannot, Ia time Of
peace, be suspended, much less destroyed,
without Il plain violation of the COnsplCu-
ton; that Congress has no power to de
Drive a State of its reserved rights, arc
reduce it To a Territorial condition; tina
therefore the exclusion, by the so-calle(
Congress, of all representation from tel
States, the proposed exclusion of thos,
, States, from all voice in the next Presiden.
tial election, the threatened overthrow o
, their State Governments and the reduction
OF their states 10 Vne cOnululOn OF tefrlVOr
les, are each and every one of them uncon.
I. stitutional, revolutionary and despoti
: 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 ola plan tonullif
Z the Constitution, virtually overthrow tn
State Governments. to erect acOnsOlidate
. despOtism on their ruins; and to cstablis
and perpetuate a tyrannical rule Of minor
ity over Il majority of the American PEG
pie. That the people cannot, without
60 loss oftheir liberties. prosperity and homo
submit to such n result; and we, therefor,
in the hope that the warming will b
Needed. and the danger TO our situations b
peaceably averted, do solemnly warn tn
!, advocates of the plan, that it will nc
be submitted to.
3. RESOLVED, That Congress is not a
4 omnipOtent law-making power. That th
Constitution provides that no bill shall bC
come n law without the approval of th
President, unless it be passed by twO-thirt
of each House of Congress. That one {
the objects of the present so-called Cor
greSs IN excluding States from represents
ton, is to pass bills by q twO-thirds vol
which. We're all the States representel
could not so pass; and thus to virtual
abolish the constitutional provision afort
said, That If this precedent be aequiesce
i'm. there will be nothing to prevent a bal
majority of Congress, ut any time la II
usE -