The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-04-24
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
Sth, Il. d. 1897.


" VI q wv NAAAAhA0 NAlAN III
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 il In the
Federal Constitution that allother powers
are reserved to the states or the people;
that q strict construction of the Censtltu-
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 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 1t would be monstrous
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 of the States and of the people and
that, therefore, a Capitalization of power In
its hands Is an ever pending danger. That
such an abs ,rptiOn 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 u National debt, besides Inn
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
increase ofthe powers of the Federal Gov
eminent that high protective tariffs have
q 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 c%orruptlng 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 y 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 vexatiously
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
| IullI Dt utDTlNfu VI lllt, llutTl1 VI DTODpT-
ty, without due process of civil law that
the courts should always be open for the
redress of grievances that no en- 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.
,. Res0lred, 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
o the Senat as a Senator from Tennessee
and members from Virginia, Tennessee
, and Louisiana to sit in the House of Repre-.
d sentatives after these States had seeded
f and while the war was being carried on
g and which further recognized them a.
States in the Union by the Congressional
U a~pportionment act providing for their du(
representation in Congress; by various
o tax laws, and especially by the direct tax
q by the resolutions submitting amendment
to the Constitution for their approval, anC
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
y 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 UnioI
That being thus in the Union, they stan
y on an equal footing with their sister State
~ States with unequal rights being a thin
.e. unknown to the Constitution; that, by til
rs express terms of the Constitution, eac
al State is entitled to nave two Senators and
=, due proportion of Representatives in IL
Congress, and to vote in all elections
vo President and Vice-president that, thong
rs these rights are subject to interruption b
Il state of civil war, they can not, in time
peace, be suspended, much less destroye
=. without Il plain violation of the Constitl
III ton that Congress has no power to d
mt prive a State of its reserved rights, al
at reduce it to a Territorial condition; tn
therefore the exclusion, by the so-calle
Congress, of all representation from tt
ne States, the proposed exclusion of tho
EN- States, from all voice in the next Presidel
lv tial election, the threatened overthrow
10 their State Governments and the reductiC
ne OF their States to the condition of terrific
IN les, are each and every one of them uncol
U.s. ISlllullOllhlN lSNOlhbhpllhA ttih hNSDON
n measures, destructive not merely of d
rights of those States, but also of the RICH
of every other State in the Union. TIL
, those measures are parts ola plan to multi
ne the Constitution, virtually overthrow Il
rk State Governments, to erect a cOnsolidat,
mt ~despotism on their ruins; and to establi
In and perpetuate a %tyrannical rule ofamino
!" ity over II majority of the American pc
les pie. That the people cannot, without
SEES loss of their liberties, prosperity and hone
not submit to such n result; and we, therefor
In the hope that the warning will
needed, and the danger to our situations
she peaceably averted, do solemnly warn &
err advocates of the plan, that it will n
III be submitted to.
3. ResolUed, That Congress is not
omnipotent law-making power. That t
Constitution provides that no bill shall b
come "A law without the approval of t
no President, unless it be passed by two-thir
of each House of Congress. That one
lot, the objects of the present so-called Co
md gresS in excluding States from represent
ton, is to pass bills by a two-thirds va
which, were all the States representt
he could not so pass; and thus to virtual
ads abolish the constitutional provision afoi
for said. That If this precedent be acquiesc