The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-11
SOUND DOCTRINE.

The declaration Of principles adopted by
the State Convention of the Democrats OF
Kentucky at Frankfort was as follows:
RESOLVED, That we hold it to be absolutely
essential to the preservation of the liberties
of the citizens that the several States shall be
maintained in all their rights, dignity and
equality, as the most complete and reliable
administration Of their own domestic concerns,
and the surest bulwarks against anti-republi-
can tendencies. Every attempt on the part
Of the Federal Government to exercise a
power not delegated to them by the Consti-
tuition, or to exercise delegated power in
a manner not therein prescribed, is an act of
usurpation demanding the instant and I'M
qualified condemnation of people jealous of
their liberties, and we hold that any uncon-
sttutional interference by the general govern
ment with the local affairs Of any State, to any
extent or under any pretense whatever, should
be at once remedied and condemned by all
classes of every section of the Union, as all
such acts tend directly to the destruction Of
our federal system and the consolidation OF
all power in centralized despotism."
This platform, brief in terms, contains q
broad theory which for eighty years has been
held by one of the two great parties into
which the voters Of the country have divided.
It contains the cardinal doctrine of the re-
served rights Of the States which has marked
the teachings Of Democratic writer's from the
time the patriots Of the revolution assembled
to organize q government until this hour.
Scarcely Democratic nominating convention
passes without reafirming this fundamental
doctrine. Scarcely Democratic statesman
- - -.
embody this distinctive feature.
Scarcely any great political blunder is made
by party in power. which is not in sub
stance an interference with the rights and
independence of States. Scarcely any tyran-
nicA act Of the majority is done which does
not essentially initiate against such rights
and against the constitutional limitations by
which they ought to be guarded.
A stranger to the politics OF this country
might suppose that such declaration was
intended to apply as new utterance to the
acts of the party in power and to those of the
chief Of that party. It is true that the rights
of the States have been oftener, more grossly,
and more persistently violated by the party
UOOOAA0AU
preceded. It is true that the damage snd dan
ger from this source have been very great |
1t is true that the Republican party is to be |
next year mainly on the charge of
violating those parts of the Constitution which |
should secure the States against the violence
of power when exercised by party or major
ity which is sectional 1t is true that the in |
of government is one of the |
active causes Of the misery which pervades
the country. Yet, the declaration above |
quoted is not . new one, nor was it suggested
BY these modern misfortunes
The danger in which the people of our
States may at any time be Of losing the privil-
ege Of self-government can always be esti-
mated by the greater or less veneration in
which State independence is held, by which
is meant the independence of the State from
my control or interference not authorized by
The Constitution, which is in part its own act
md deed, and the instrument of its own con-
'ent. When the people of State do not
eel annoyed, insulted and aggrieved
~ the usurpation of the instruments
# the party IN power, they have
yone far on the downward road to
and have closely approached
hat condition in which political vassalsge is
,orne without resistance and without re-
nonstrance. So, too, if the timo ever comes
'hen the people of many States. constituting
great majority Of the people Of the Repub-
c, shall look with Indifference upon the
'rongs suffered by the people of any State at
he hands of civil and military Federal officers,
be day will not be distant when political lib
rty will cease to be the boast of Americans.
Benjamin Franklin said: 1T is hard for an
mpty bag to stand upright" And yet the v
Verage Congressman stands straightest when
9 isn't ssfull' :