Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-05-25
The Democracy and the Amendments.

The democracy and the Amendments.
The resolutions of the democratic con-
vention of Montgomery county, Ohio,
will be regarded with interest by men
of all parties. The author of the resolu-
tions, Mr.. Vallandingham, is a gentle
man who has acquired national repu-
tation, and who has been denounced as
a copperhead by the Republican press,
and as leader of the " Bourbon de-
mocracy." 1t will not be doubted that
the platform of the Democracy of
Montgomery county will meet the ap-
proval of the Democratic state conven-
ton of Ohio. 1t propounds nothing
new. 1t contains nothing which has
not been repeatedly urged upon the at
tention of the people.
When Senator Morton made his
speech on the lynching act of Congress,
and which he had since on several occa-
sions rehearsed, we pointed out the me-
cessity of spiking the cannon of the
radicals by frank recognition of the
existing political situation. A majority
of the people of the United States have
said that the principles relating to civil
and political equality proclaimed in the
three latest amendments to the federal
constitution must stand That verdict
will not be reversed. We do not believe
it is the wish of the Democratic party
to reverse the verdict. Through much
tribulation and many defeats the Dem
ocracy of the country has been brought
to a knowledge of the fact that many
more than one-half of the men in the
country have determined that a mans
political status in the United States
shall not be decided by blood or race.
The determination is expressed in
the constitutional amendments to
which we have referred. What matters
it whether those amendments were or
were not carried by regular and lawful
processes We know they-were carried
by wicked, fraudulent, and unconstitu-
tional agencies, and that the purposes
of the men driving them through were
to perpetuate the power of the ruling
party, hut the amendments express the
will of the people. The motives of the
politicians who are responsible for these
additions to the organic law, and the
criminal methods pursued to make
them part of the law, are not the
questions in issue. Are they the law,
and will they be sustained? The radi-
Gals have a right to demand plain and
explicit answers, and the reply. by the
democratic party will tell who will, win
the next Presidential campaign. Are
we SO blind and infatuated as to plunge
into the traps which Morton and Butler
have set for us? . o.. E--.,.-- ss y a-'.l'
The white men of the South under
stand that the amendments must stand.
They know that to fight them, or de-
mand their repeal, arrays against them
In solid column the negro vote of the
South, and awakens prejudices and
passions in the North which will crush
the Democratic party. The proceed
ings of the taxpayers' convention in
Columbia, South Carolina, are sufficient
evidence on this point. Since the con-
vention which framed the federal con-
stitution, there has not been convened
in this country a political assemblage
which gave better proofs of statesman
ship than the one which met in Column
bia a few days ago, and deliberated
upon the affairs of the State of South
Carolina, and proposed remedies for
the evils existing there. They ignored
dead issues, and dealt with existing
facts. They had been oppressed, insult
ed, outraged, but they took no counsel
from resentment. They acted for their
own good, and for the good of the poor
duped, and ignorant negroes who had
been melted to insolence and crime by
the villainous artifces of the carpet
baggers. 1t was a convention in which
genuine philanthropy was acknowledge
ed to be the true policy, and Governor
Scott has been driven by the force of
public opinion, and the prudent and OBJ
viously just course taken by the con
vention, to cooperation with the good
men and true, who were fearless be
cause they were honest, and wished to
promote the interests of all Of the citi-
zens of the State. '@
In three successive Presidential cam
paigns we have met this negro question,
and each time our opponents have won
the battle. Shall we fight them now on
their own ground, or choose field
where success shall be assured? Under.
cover of the issues growing out of re-
construction, the Jacobins have carried
on the work of Capitalization, the war
upon the rights of the States, and all of
the usurpation and misrule which have
blackened our history since the close of
the war. Their leaders now tell us that
they intend to go into the next Presi-
dental campaign on these issues Can
we not give them something else to
fight? Are we so barren of resources 4
and is their record so clear, that no
questions of difference can be present
ed to save those which Morton and
Butler say divide the parties p ChicagO
Times - - ssv -slz