The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-02-21
STATE ,ITNOERATIE CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORm ADOPTED.
sth, 4. y. Ise7.
"

MlGh THESE principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is a government of
limited powers, and that Il possesses no
powers but such as are expressly, or by
necessary implication delegated to It in the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved TO the states or the people :
that n strict construction of the COnstltu-
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 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 it would be monstrous
that the local affairs of Ohio should be regu-
lated by a Federal Congress in 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 OF the States and of the people; and
that. therefore, a Capitalization of power in
It's hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs lrption 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 a National debt, besides i'm
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
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
the qualification of its electors,
and all attempts to impair this right, either
by Congressional legislation or Constitu-
tional amendment, are unwise and despot-
tc; 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 y that the tendency of government is
to enlarge its authority by usurpation, and
government needs to he watched /;
that another of its tendencies is to govern
too much-unnecessarily and veXatiouslv
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 be deprived of life, liberty or proper
ty, without due process of civil law: that
the courts should always be open for the
of grievances that no eB post Cacto
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 a frequent re-
currence to first principles is essential to
the welfare of the State and the people.
2. ResOIUed, That the States lately in re-
belllon 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 ofthe war,
them to electmembers of Congress
by President johnson, in various procla-
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 Renre-
sentatives after these States had seeded
and while the war was being carried on,
md which further recognized them as
in the Union by the Congressional
l%pportlonment act providing for their due
GDleSGlIdLlOU Ill congress. DIV various |
laws, and especially by the direct tax
~ the resolutions submitting amendments
o the Constitution for their approval. and
" various other acts and resolutions i'm
the same recognition; all of which
we're passed since the attempted secession
# those States, by the Judiciary of the
States, which holds Federal Courts
n all those States. and especially by the
Court, which entertains iurisdic-
ion of cases coming from them, which it
,ould not do were they not In the Union
chat being thus in the Union, they stand
m an equal footing with their sister 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
lue proportion of Representatives in the
congress, and to vote in all elections OIL
resident and Vice-president that, though
hese rights are subject to interruption by
state Of civil war, they can not, In tim OIL
,eace, be suspended, much less DESTROYED
Without a plain violation of the Constitu-
ion; that Congress has no power TO de-
a State of its reserved rights, and
'educe it to q Territorial condition; that
therefore, the exclusion, by the so-called
of all representation from ten
the proposed exclusion of those
states, from all voice in the next Presiden-
election, the threatened overthrow of
heir State Governmpnts and tho reductiou