Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1868-08-27

the organic law, it has converted the Amer;:
can Capitol into a bastie il has established a
| system OF spies and official espionage to which
! no constitutional monarch of Europe would
now dars to resort; it has abolished the right
| OF appeal on important constitutional questions
! to The supre me judicial tribunal and threatens
TO furiail or destroy its original jurisdiction.
whlchls lrrevocably vested by be constitution.
| While the learned Chief Justice has been suh.
Jected to the most atrocious calumuies. merely
because he would not prostitute his high offiee
to the support ofthe false and partisan charges
| preferred against he. President Its corrups
ton and extravaganza have exceeded anything
known IN history. and by its frauds and mo-
| nopoiles II has nearly doubled the burdens os
| tie debt created by The war. 1t has stripped
| the President of his constitutional power OF
| appointment, even of his own Cabinet Under
its repeated assaults The pillars of the govern
Lent are rocking on heir base, and should it
succeed in November next and inaugurate it's
| President, We will meet as a subjected and
conquered people amid the ruins of liberty
and the scattered fragments of he constitution.
| And We do declare and resolve that ever
since The people of the United States threw off
| all subsection to the British Crown the pri4i
| lege ami trust OF suffrage have belonged to
| the several States, and have been granted
/ regulated and controlled exclusively by the
! political power Of each State, respectively,
and h'' any attempt by Congress, on any
[ pretext whatever, to deprive any State of the
light, or interfere with It's exercise, is fa-
grant usurpation which can find 10 warrant in
the Constitution. and if sanctioned by the
people will subvert our form of government,
and can only end in a single centralized and
/ consolidated government in which The separate
existence of the States will be entirely absor
| bed, and an unqualified despotism he estab-
lished IN place OF Federal Union of coeaual
| States
| And that we regard the reconstruction acts
| (so-called) OF Congress. as such, as usurpatons
and unconstitutional, revolutionary and void
! That our soldiers and sailors who carried
| The flag OF our country to victory against a
most gallant and determined foe must ever be
! gratefully remembered. and all the guarantees
| gwen IN their favor must be faithfully carried
into execution.
| That the public lands should be distributed
as widely as possible among the people, and
honld be disposed o. either under the pre-
emptitn of homestead lands, or sold in reason
! able quantities, and to none but actual occu
| pants at the minimum price established by
the Government. When grants of the public
lands MAY be allowed, necessary for the en-
enlargement ofmportant public improvements,
| the proceeds of the sales of such lands, and not
the lands themselves, should be so applied
That the President of the United States,
| Andrew johnson, in exercising the power of
his high Office in Resisting the aesressions Of
Congress upon the constitutional rights of the
States and people, is entitled to the gratitude
OF the whole American people, and in behalf
| OF me Democratic party we tender him our
thanks for his patriotic efforts in that regard.
Upon this platform the Democratic party
appeal to every patriot, including all the con-
servative element and al *ho desire to sup-
port the constitution and restore the Union,
forgetting all past differences of opinion. to
unite with us IN the present great struggle for
the liberties of the people. and to all such, to
whatever party they may have heretofore be-
longed, we extend the right hand of fellowship
and hal all such cooperation with US as
| friends andbre;hr en-.