The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1875-02-27
Democracy, Our ONLY Saliva
ton,


ment in which the supreme power is
lodged in the hands Of tho people.
1t means that and nothing else. Its
great principles are the deep and broad
foundations upon which our grand,
noble, magnificent national struc.
ture was reared. This is undcniable.
eve, the people of the Unit
ed States, do hereby ortlain and e..
tahlish &C. The people, collective.
", are the authors of its existence.
ANY government which is not center
ed i'll the people, as a whole, must
be monarchy, an aristocracy or an
oligarchy. No man versed in the
history Of political parties, in this
republic. from the adoption of our
Federal Constitution to the year 1860,
will deny that every party which en-
tered the political arena of the ma
ton to contest for, and obtain, the
privilege Of directing tho course and
shaping the policy Of our govern
ment, protested to be guided by, and
to act in accordance with, those prin.
ciples, whether that party went by
the name of Wing, American, Repub-
lican or Democratic.
Those parties differed widely, it 10
true; not, however, in the fundamen-
tai principles Of a true republican
form of government, such as ours
was intended to be, but in tho under
standing and application of those
principles. The questions Of nation
al banks. tariffs, internal improve
ments, &c., all sprang out Of q diver
gence Of opinions occasioned by mis-
Interpretation and misapplication of
those principles by the one party or
the other, and also, mainly by differ
ent construction placed upon tho ar.
ticlcs of our constitution.
"What's in a name31 Tho great
objection by many to whatever bore
the name Of Democracy, arose from
confounding men with principles in
taking the shadow for the substan CO,
and from their repugunance to GER
tain individuals whom they looked
upon 40 the embodiment of those
principles, and thus strenuously on
posing and denouncing them as bad
and unsound, because their advocates
we're personally Objectionable.
We care little to what party name
the successful candidate belongs who
is elevated to the Presidential chair
in l876-provided he be elected by a
party advocating the doctrine of State
rights; the Democratic dogma, that
"The powers not delegated to thu
United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States respective
y, or to the people,"
As long as parties remained nation
al in their purposes, and impartial in
their views, the Union was safe. But
the moment Congress undertook to
legislate for one section Of the Union,
to the detriment Of tho other, then
there was danger ahead, such as Pat.
rick Henry and others foresaw, at an
early day. Tho strife began in 1919,
when the Missouri compromise meas
ure was first preached, and went on
from bad to worse, until it culmina-
ted in the late civil war.
Were not even the great opponents
of Democracy, Clay and Webster,
satisfied with tho Union as it was :
Were not their admiration and love,
for it intense and deep.rootedi Was
not the object of their affection and
veneration that same Union which
had grown and strengthened and be-
como great, powerful, prosperous and
glorious, under the fostering care and
guidance Of Democratic principles, for
over seventy years9 Was it not that
Union Of which Mr.. Webster spoke
when he said: ut is to that Union
We owe our safety at home, and our
consideration and dignity abroad. It
is to that union that we are deeply
indebted for whatever makes Us most
proud Of our country. Every year Of
it's duration has teemed with fresh
proofs Of it's utility and its blessings
and although our territory has stretch
I'd out wider and wider, and our pop. |
alation spread farther aud farther, |
khap hove MT or<,., :A.A..