, 1869-07-02
PARTY NAMES AND ORGANIZATIONS.

Ii Is interesting to trace, IN this country,
the influence of party names and organiEa,
tons. In the war Of the Revolution the
friends Of the popular cause took the names
of Wings, because that was the cognomen
Of the men of England who favored liberty.
Those in favor Of the Royal cause were
styled Tories, after that party 10 Great Brit.
tain, which was the friend and and apolOgist
of arbitrary power.
When the war was over and the Constitu.
tion of 1889 was adopted, there arose new
designations. It being a Federal Consiitu.
tion, its friends were called Federalists, and
its enemies Ants Federalists. No one then
claimed that it was what We now hear so
much about, National Government. 1t was
understood by all to be simply federative in
its operation. The Ante Fe ederalists opposed
it because, in their judgment, it gave too
much power to the Federal Government,
and reserved too little to the States.
Had Thomas Jefferson been q member of
the Convention which framed the Constitu,
ton, instead of being the Minister to France,
we should, undoubtedly, have had a very
different instrument-one tina. would have
been far more definite and decided in its ad-
herapce to the general doctrines of States
Rights.
After the Federal Government had com.
mencsd its operations, in 1889, its opponents
took the name OF Republicsns-a signi6-
cant indication that they were particularly
the friends of a republic, instead of the
semi-mOnarchy which the leading Federalists
such as Alexander Hamilton and General
Knox, preferred. The Federalists, not rec>
ognizing this distinction of Republicans,
and wishing to identify the popular party in
the United States with the excessive horrors
of the ReVolutionists in France, styled them
Democrats, which was a phrase then CONS
monty applied to the Jacobins. The Repub.
licans accepted the term, intended as one of
reproach, and made it one of honor, which
they have proudly retained to this day.
The Federalist organization, after its sue 8.
cessive defeats, under Jefferson and Madison,
each of whom served two Presidential terms,
abandoned its name AID chose that Of Na<
tional Republicans. Under this name they
were known for some years, until large
portion of them became merged into the
party opposed to the Masons, which was
called Anti. Mason. This not succeeding,
Colonel james Watson Webb, then editor of
the New York Courier and Inquirer, and
now Minister to Brazil, in 1884 baptised the
party anew with the name of Wing, suppos-
ing that it had an old Revolutionary favor
that would recommend it to the people.
By this term the opponents of the De>
mocracy were known until 1853, when they
were apparently disbanded. For a short
time they were without cognomon, other
than that of Know Nothings, to which its
members in large degree, belonged. FL
nslly, in 1853, some parties in New York,
finding that the old term by which the De.
mocracy were formerly known-that of Re-
publicAn-Wss not then in use, seized upon
it and applied it to their organization
Therefore, after lapse of fifty years, the
Federal party was glad to find refuge under
a name which its opponents had made re-
spectacle.
Through all the changes and Iicissitudes
of three quarters Of century, the Democ-
racy have never seen cause to change their
name, or forsAke their organization. 1t is
now as it was when Thomas Jefferson led it
to its FIRST great National victory, in 1900. 1t
is remarkable how persistent are political
organizations, and how, from generation to
generation, people follow the same party
banner Thus the ancestors of the pretend
ed Republicans of to-day, who were in the
country at the time. nearly all voted against
Jefferson. and Madison, aud Jackson. New
England was strongly Federal in 1900, and
decidedly National Republican in 1928.
She voted against Jefferson and Jackson
With the same unanimity with which she
opposed Horatio Seymour in 1868. The real
strength of the democracy of the East in
1900 was 10 New York aud Pennsylvania,
and it is there to-day. The South was JEFF
ferson demoofatic in 1900, as it would be
now if fair vote was allowed its citizens
Even in counties we found this adherence to
party. The old jackson s!rongholds in Ohio
were Butler, Fairfield, Brown, Monroe,
Crawford and Licking Counties were Ashta>
bula, Lake, Cuyahoga, Warren, Greene and
Clinton.
The great Jackson County in Pennsylvan-
ia was Berks, and the anti>Jackson men
were principally in Lancaster and Allegheny.
So it is now-the people are democratic
where in the oldsn time they supported the
old chiefs, Jefferson and Jackson, and the
rule stands good on the other SIDE
In private life that man who is known by
many aliases and changes of name is always
dishonest cheat and we are of the opin-
ion that the rule will hold good in regard to
public and political organizations who resort
to that deception to attain their ends. There
is not malefactor or a swindler in all the
land who has as many aliases as that party
which has always pitted itself against democ>
racy.-C Cincinnati Enquirer.
A dancer once said to Socrates "You can't
stand on one leg as long as l cau." True"
replied the philosopher, "but goose can"