The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-07-12
PENNSYLVANIA MANIFESTO.
a Powerful Paper by the Hon. Jer-
emiah S. Black,
address of the Democratic EIecutice
Committee Of the Keystone State-Po-
Mical-< Issues Of tho Day Clearly and
Strongly Stated:

Strongly Stated:
The following are the material por-
tons OF the address to tho Democracy
of Pennsylvania by the Democratic
Executive Committee of the State
The paper was prepared by ex-Secre'
tary. Jeremiah S. Black:
The Executive Committee Of thu
Democracyaf this State, to whom the
following address was referred by the
recent State Convention, nov present
the same to you as embodying some
of the reasons which. actuate and con-
troll the organization they rpresent
We here solemnly renew our often re,
pcated declarations of fidelity to the
great principles upon which our party
has acted from the time of its organi-
cation. Our ultimate objects are
those of our fathers when they adopt
ed the Federal Constitution, viz: "To
form q more perfect union, establish
Justice, insure domestic tranquility,
promote the general welfare, provide
Tor the common defense, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our p0sterity." We sincerely
believe. that the government of the
United States, administered as it was
in former days, with 4 direct view to
the advancement of these principles,
would do for us and our children all
that any people can reasonably desire
from the political system under which
they live. We are equally sure that
if not carried out in the spirit Of those
by whom it was framed, it mast be
come a curse instead of a blessing.
Situated as we are, obedience to the
fundamental law means not only the
honest performance Of sworn obliga-
tions, but freedom, peace, and pros
perity to all classes of people. On
the other hand, the usurpation of in
terdicted or undelegated power is not
only a crime in itself, but the fruitful
parent of other crimes, and will lead,
as it has already led, to indefinite
misgovernment, corruption, and tyr
amy, subverting all liberty, and rem
dering the rights of all men insecure.
When we speak of the Federal Consti-
| tuition, we mean the whole instrument
with all its amendments, and acknowl-
edge the equal obligation of every
part. Several of those amendments
were carried by brute force and fraud
upon the public will, so glaring as to
take from their authors all claims on
our respect. But we caDHot deny that
they have actually become a part OF
the Constitution ; nor can we avoid
that fact, mol get behind it, by show
inp the corrupt misconduct Of the
men who at that time controlled
Cono.-ess and mastered the State Leg
;aIatnres Whosoever swears to sup
mort the CONSTITUTION must perform all
hat is "nominateG in the bond."-
Anv change which experience and
reason shall prove to be desirable
must be made in the prescribed way
and not by revolutionary and dlsof-
derby means.
THE DECLARATION OF 1871.
No candid person will deny that the
leading men in power at Washington
have broken the pledges they made To
the people, and, in reckless disregard
of their oaths, they have violated the
plainest provisions of the Constitution.
They have deprived the States OF the
sacred rights of self-government In
matters purely local, and disarmed
them of the power to enforce their
own laws for the preservation of Or
der in their own boundaries. They
have passed bills of pains and penal
ties, operating on millions at once,
without regard to the guilt or limo
cence of the parties. They have
trampled on all the securities Of life,
liberty and property. They have
treated the habeas corpus law with con
tempt, and denied the right of trial by
jury. They have sent out swarms OF
their hireling agents with Instructions
to kidnap, imprison and kill free citi-
zens for political offenses, without
judicial accusation, warrant or trial
They have not only trodden upon the
great principles, embodied in the orig
inal constitution as it came from the
hands of its trainers. but even the
amendments, which they themselves
interpolated, have been broken with
out remorse whenever it suited their
interests. LII ucldhCO VI GhO <AAAAbh
amendment, they have doomed many
persons to the worst kind OF "slavery
or involuntary s~ervitude" in the pub
lie prisons. without the pretense of
any "crime whereof the party was
legally convicted" In the very face
of the XIVth amendment they
have abridged the 'equal rights" of
whole masses of white citizens. With
out the least respect for the right of
universal suffrage, guaranteed by the
XVIII amendment, they have inter
fered both forcibly and fraudulently
to prevent fair elections, and to set
them aside after they were held
These outrages upon justice, liberty
and law have been perpetrated, not
during the conflict of civil war
not in moments of wild passion or
heated excitement-but in cold blood,
upon deliberate reflection, in a time of
profound peace, in full view of the
consequences, and their authors have
followed put this line of policy step by
step, with a persistency which shows
their fixed determination for the fu-
ture, as in the past, to be bound by no
oath and held by no promise The
two last and most important Of their
anti-constitutional measures show more
distinctly than others their settled de-
sign to strangle the liberties Of the
nation ond take parnotnaI noUer into