Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-04-02
The TwO Parties.

Democracy i'm the popular branch of
Congress. IL is fair, therefore, in review
ing the Republican policy of that period
TO inquire whether that party has carried
the Government theoretically and prac-
tically nearer to the realization of the
great central idea upon which the fathers
founded the Republic, or whether they
have drifted farther away from it. The
fundamental idea for which the old
patriots of 1776 waged war was happily
summed up in these expressions: That
all men are born free and equal, and that
we are an independent pcople-onc ma
ton, not several.
The Democracy assert that the Repub.
lican party has carried the country away
from those carly ideas and landmarks es-
tablished by the fathers. If this charge
is true, il is very grave; if it is false, it
should condemn the party which prOpa.
gates it. The fathers declared that all
men were free and equal. But this doc
trine was never fully realized nor full
| filed until the Republicans struck
| the chains of slavery from four
millions of slaves, held exclusively by
Democratic masters. The fathers de-
clared that we are one people-one ma
tion; hut the Democracy declare that
each State comprises an independent ma.
! tion and is sovereign. Indeed, that party
actually set up another Independent and
sovereign nation within the territory of
the United States and battled for four
| years to maintain it; but it was crushed
by the Republican party; and on the
ruins of this Democratic Southern soy.
creign nation they rescstablished and re
| proclaimed the doctrine of the old fathers
that we are, and of right ought to be,
Cr, .nH
ton.
The Republican party, then, has not
carried the country away from the ideas
and landmarks of the fathers, but it has
fulfilled them. The patriots of 1776 de-
clared that all men are born free and
equal and that the United Colonies were
one independent nation. Truth works
out its invincible purposes through the
| ages. What the patriots of 1776 COM
menced the Republican party consum-
mated. More than three quarters of a
century after these old heroes had
startled the world with the declaration
of these sublime but unfinished truths
Abraham Lincoln emphasized their
meaning with his inaugural address, that
the power of the nation was sovereign
and supreme, and later with his emanci.
patton decree, reaff1rming the doctrine
| UDaJ all men are DOTH Tree.
We are not apologizing for some of
the evident mistakes of the Republican
party; but we do assert that, upon the
whole, its policy has been a true and
noble one; and that it is the only party
that ever existed in the country that car.
ried out the declarations of the fathers
to their legitimate fulfillment
But the Democracy tells us that the
doctrine of national sovereignty is
dangerous to the liberty of the people.
And they declare that State sovereignty
is the true doctrine, as there can be no
danger of the individual States becom
ing severe or tyrannical upon individual
rights. History, however, proves that
the Federal Government has always been
more kind and indulgent to its individ
uals than the States have been TO theirs
When John Brown and his friends re.
volted against the State laws of Virginia
that State forthwith punished them with
death; while the Federal Government
did not hang jeff. Davis or any of his
crew for their revolt or rebellion. An
other fact to show what dreadful tyranny
the State Governments may practice
upon their people is, that at one time the
Southern people held one-third of theil
people in bondage, and by law allowed
| Vic OlnST JWO-JulI us " ouOOb, ldN
ish, and sell them; while the Fedora
Government has never, in and of itself
claimed the right to punish any of iti
people except for crime. So, upon the
/ score of individual liberty the States
have been the tyrants toward individuals
while the Federal Government has beer
their friend. The doctrine of State SOW
ereignty has not only proved cruel anC
tyrannous upon individuals, but it ha
actually, in pursuing its purposes t.
their logical consequences, endcavore(
to destroy the unity and sovereignty o
the nation.
Now, from these truths, as undeniabl
as aXioms, it must follow that the Re
publican party has defended the grea
ideas which the founders of the Republi
proclaimed; and that the Democracy il
self is the party which hated the doc
trines of the fathers. The question pre-
: sents itself, then, as to whether the pee
pie will continue the party in powe
: which adheres to the dangerous dogm
: of State sovereignty after that doc
trine has we'll nigh cost the natio
: its life? Most assuredly they will no
, But, in reviewing the conduct and meas
ures of the two parties, indiscrlminat
], praise or censure of either were unjus
Inc Democratic party within the la'
few years has, without doubt, exercise
wholesome influence in checking som
! of the excuses of power of the Repul
S lican party. The fair way to judge
7 party is not, however, by its promise
/ while in the minority, but by its act
c while in the majority. Judging frol
o these criteria, and admitting that I'll
s American Government was the mo-
: happy experiment toward rcpubl
I which the world has witnessed in
: thousand years, it must follow that I'll
c Democracy, in its attempt to overtime
r it, has shown that party 10 be the mo
It dangerous and desperate of whiC
c history gives any account. This
If undoubtedly true; and, such beiI
n the case, the fact that majority
l. the popular branch of Congress is col
" posed largely of men whose principl
e compelled them to attempt rebellion i
t. vests the subject with a phase which
IS now causing the popular vote, wherev
n taken, to react against the Confedera
II Democracy.
c. The Democracy charge that Repub
le can reconstruction has failed In
sc subordinate sense, and in some State
W because of Democratic obstinacy and {
popular ignorance, this is almost tru
u DuI 10 apply inc bldIelnenJ W bnC WIZ
nc of the original democratic cOnfedera
ID the eleven Southern States-and it
lg not true. The original purpose of
10 construction was to reclaim the Sout
&C ern States from the anomalous al
he ruined condition in which they we
ut placed when the Democratic Confe
ey eracy of Jefferson Davis fell, and
ng assign to each its proper place in I
a Union; to give to each its fair rep
Ir sentation in Congress, and to pla
of them on such basis that they COT
ed maintain popular government vii
to out the presence of a vast Uni
ch army TO uphold each State, All this h
he to be accomplished ten years ago III
he is all accomplished to-day, and in Il
he sense reconstruction has proved a s.
no cess. So the Republican party has l
en- only brought the country up to the po
his of theoretical perfection embraced
I'M the declaration of the principles of
as early fathers, but it has actually rescr