Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-09-30
Election, Tuesday, October y
The Democratic Party
Judged by It's History.
Emery \. Storrs, in North American Review
for October.

1
and professions, without reference tOit!
practices and history. Having beer
taught this lesson in the severe schOo
of experience, the Democratic party is
now earnestly striving to unload its his
tory; to cast off its old and bad charac
ter Unfortunately, it makes no salts
factory effort to substitute, in place OF
the old one, new history, which will
be beneficial to the country or creditable
to itself, or to build up such new char
aster as can only be done by complete
change of conduct.
The Democratic party of to-day is sub
stantially the Democratic party of 1860
1t had a solid South then; it has solid
South now. 1t rallied around its ban.
ners then the great mass of the danger
Gus classes in the large cities; it rallies
them still. The draft-rioters of 1868 in
the city of New York were Democrats
those who survive are still Democrats
The Democratic party in 1860 counted
for its success upon the States of New
York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and In
diana, to add to its solid South; it counts
upon those States still.
In 1860 it asserted the sovereignty OF
the States, and denied the right of coer-
ciCn; in 1880 it, to all intents and pur-
poses, announces the same doctrine in
its denial of the authority of the Gener-
al Government to enforce its laws, even
after their constitutional validity has
been affirmed by the Supreme Court of
the United States.
Time has made ravages in its rank, but
nevertheless its membership is practi-
cally the same to-day as in 1860. ToOmbS,
Jefferson Davis, Hampton, Hill, Gordon,
and Lamar, were among the leaders of
the Democratic party South in 1850;
they are to-day. Hancock, Seymour,
Bayard, English, Thurman, and Ben
Butler were among the leaders of the
Democratic party North in 1860; and
they are so still. The rank and file are
substantially the same. Occasionally a
new recruit wanders in from the Repub-
Iican party, but, in the main, the places
made vacant by deceaSe or casualties are
made good by immigration and by the
natural increase of population in the
quarters where Democratic majOritieS
are usually found.
In 1856 the Democratic party declared
that Congress has no power TO charter
"a national bank; that we believe such
an institution one Of deadly hostility to
the best interests of the country, danger
Gus to our republican institutions and
the liberties of the people, and ctlcula-
ted to place the business of the country
within the control of centralized mon
ey power and above the laws and the
will of the people," 1t aifirmS this doc
f,.;. fAr 70 Inf ortC
I'VE pledge ourselves anew to the con-
stitutional doctrines and traditions of
the Democratic party"
In it's platform of 1856 it resolves ::
"That the Democratic party will faith
fully abide by and uphold the principles
laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia
resolutions of 1898, and in the report of
Mr.. Madison to the Virginia Legislature
in 1899; that it adopts those principles,
as constituting one of the main fOunda-
tions of it's political creed ,and is resolved
to carry them out in their obvious
meaning and import" Having pledged
itself anew to its constitutional doctrines
and traditions, the conclusion is ineYita-
BILE that the Democratic party of to-day
is as thoroughly committed to the doc
trines of state sovereignty as it has
ever been. Endorsing those doctrines
in 1856, as constituting one of the main
foundations of its political creed and
resolving to "carry them out in their OBJ
vious meaning and import" it renews
that pledge in 1880. In 1860 both branch
es of the DemocIatic party reaffirmed
the platform of 1856.
In 1864 it resolved, ''That, in the fu-
ture, as in the past, we will adhere with
answering fidelity to the Union under
the Constitution" 1t also more specifi-
cally sets forth its doctrines and purpos-
es in the resolution declaring "That the
aim and object of the Democratic party
is to preserve the Federal Union and the
rights of the States unimpaired."
Making practical application of its
doctrines, it resolved "That this Conven-
tion does explicitly declare, as the sense
of the American people, that after four
years of failure to restore the Union by
the experiment of war, during which,
under the pretense of military necessi-
ty or war-power higher than the Consti-
tuition, the Constitution itself has been
disregarded in every part, and public
liberty and private right alike trodden
down, and the material prosperity of the
country essentially impaired, justice,hu-
manity, liberty, and the public welfare
demand that immediate efforts be made
for cessation of hostilities with view
to the ultimate convention of the States,
OF other peaceable means, to the end that
at the earliest practicable moment peace
may be restored on the basis of the Fed
eral Union of the States"
1t will not escape observation that, in
its platform of 1864, the Democratic par
ty was entirely silent as to the right of
the Government to prosecute the war
for its own preservation. 1t reaffirmed
the State-sovereignty ideas of its previ-
Gus platforms; it denounced the meas
ures which the Government employed
for the suppression of rebellion; it de-
clared the war an experiment" and
that experiment failure" it demanded
Il cessation of hostilities and a restOra
tion of peace on basis consistent with
its old doctrines. Unchanged in spirit
and policy, the Democratic party In 1880
pledges itself anew to its constitution
al doctrines and traditions"
The courage, patriotism, and endurance
of the people answered the Democratic
platform of 1864, crushed the rebellion,
and defeated its armies. The war was
not failure. The work of reconstruc-
ton followed, and, looking to peace and
security for the future, the loyal masses
that the Union should be re-
stored upon basis that would secure to
all its citizens perfect equality of politi-
cal privileges and immunities; an un-
denial of the Democratic
doctrine of State sovereignty, a denial of
the right of secession, and the eXtirpa-
ton of slavery.
True to its history and to its "consti-
tutional doctrines and traditions" the
Democratic party opposed this method
of reconstruction. 1t demanded in the
platform of 1868 "Immediate restoration
of all the States to their rights in the
Union under the Constitution, and of
civil government to the American peo-
pie. 1t emphasized its general demand
by specific denunciations and declara-