The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-05-03
STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
JANUARY StA, 4. ID. ISG7.


party rs |NpOundcd ny tile iathcrs, anu np-
proved by experience that In accordance
with these principles we declare that the
Federal Government Is n government Of
limited powers, and that II possesses no
powers but such as are expressly. or by
necessary Implication delegated TO IL Ia the
Federal Constitution that all other powers
are reserved to the states or the people;
that a strict construction OF the Censtitu-
ton Is Indispensable to the preservation of
the reserved rights of the States aud the
people that all grants of power 20 Govern
mcnt, whether State or Federal, should be
strictly construed, because all such grants
abridge the natural rights ufmeu that the
preservation OF the equality and rights of
the States md therights of the people Is
necessary to the preservation OF the Union ;
that the Federal Government Is untitled TO
llegislate for or administrative local concerns
of the States that 1t would be monstrOus
that the local affairs ofOhio should be regII-
lated by a Federal CongrCSsin which she has
but two Senators, and the New England
States, with but u little'greater population,
have twelve that the tendency of the Fed
cral Government is to usurp the reserved
rights Of the States and of the people; and
that, therefore, q Capitalization Of power in
It's hands is an ever pending danger. That
such an absorption 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 Il National debt, besides inn
poverishing the people, fosters an undue
Increase of the powers of the Federal Gov
ernment; that high protective tariffs have
a like effect, sacrificing the interests of the
many for the cmOluments 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 corruptipg the Government,
aud 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 dcspOt-
lie; 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
70 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 hat 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
redress of grievances that no eb posi- tdctO
law should be made; that the right of the
people to peaceably assemble and consult
upon public affairs is inviolablc; that the
military should be held in due subsection
to the civil power; that while the major
ity, rs 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. ReSolUed, That the States lately in re-
/ bellion are States in the Union, and have
| been recognized az such by every depart
l ment of the Government, and by Presi.
, dent Lincoln. who, in the midst of the war
invited them to electmcmbers of Congress
z by President johnson, in various procla
# nations and official acts; by Congress
which permitted Andrew johnson to sit il
> the Senate as II Senator from Tennessee
c and members from Virginia, Tennessee
and Louisiana to sit in the Hous of Repre-
sentatives after these States had seeded
and while the war was being carried OIL
, and which further recognized them a
= States III the Union by the Congressiona
apportionment act providing for their du
n representation in Congress; by Yariou
l. tax laws, mi especially by the direct tax
by the resolutions submitting amendment
to the Constitution for their approval, an
by various other acts and resolutions i'm
parting the same recognition all of whic
10 were passed since the attempted %secessio
of those States, by the Judiciary of til
Z United States, which holds Federal Cour
in all those States, and especially by I'll
lSupreme Court. which entertains jurisdit
IA ton Of cases coming from them, which
could not DO were they not in tire Uniol
TO That being thus in the Union, they star
e on an equal footing with their sister Stat
Il, States with unequal rights being q thin
40 unknown to the Constitution; that, by II
= express terms of the Constitution, eat
~ State is entitled to have two Senators and
due proportion OF Representatives IN ii
Ell Congress, and to vote in all elections
President and Vice-president that, thong
these rights are subject to interruption |
X a state of civil war, they can not, in time
W peace, be suspended, much less deStroye
TO- without a plain violation of the Constit
&C. ton that Congress has no power to d
nc prive a State of its reserved rights, a.
10 reduce it to Territorial condition; til
ms therefore the exclusion, by the so-call'
.uC Congress, of all representation from t
TO- States, the proposed exclusion of the
States, from all voice in the next Preside
he tial election, the Threatened overthrow
re their State Governments and the reducti
OF their States to the condition of terrific
~ les, are each and every one of them unco
stitutional, revolutionary and despoI
in measures, destructive not merely of t
he rights of those States, hut also of the rigl
49, of every other State in the Union. III
y those measures are parts of plan to null
re- the Constitution, virtually overthrow t
State Governments, to erect II cOns0lidat
~despotism on their ruins; and to establi
and perpetuate a %tyrannicAl rule of amino
no. ity over Il majority of the American pc
'"t pie. That the people cannot, without
on loss of their liberties, prosperity and hon,
ION submit to such n result; II we, thereto
CIV in the hope that the warming will
needed, and the danger to our situations
peaceably averted, do solemnly warn [
the advocates of the plan, that it will l
a be submitted to. t|
.ci- 3. RESOLVED, That Congress is not
omnipotent law-making power. That I
Constitution provides that no bill hal
IhI come a law without the approval of
zen President, unless it be passedby two-thil
to of each House of Congress. That one
m. the objects of the present so-Galled CO
vs. greSs In excluding States from rcpresen
'a's ton, is to pass bills by a twO-thirds "
r. which, were all the States represent
could not so pass |; and thus to virtua
abolish the constitutional provision afo