The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-09-02
IN. I .IrlDune.I
The Results of the War.

1t IS worth noting that General Han
cock took care to revive the issues of
the war" by calling attention, in the
very opening Of his letter of accept
ance, to what was fought for and
won. It may be that General Han
cock was moved to this course because
he had on a capital occasion abused
his official position by taking sides
with President Johnson and the South
against Congress and the party who
were endeavoring to reconstruct the
rebellious States upon the principles
which were ultimately imbedded in
the fundamental law Of the land.
The XIVth Amendment had not vet
been declared in force, although it had
been proposed in Congress, when ne
was making his record as a military
governor, and the fact that he then
declared himself, by word and deed, in
full sympathy with the party which
was striving to defeat its ratification,
may have suggested to him the pro-
priety of confessing that he had final
ly concluded to accept" it. However
this may be, General Hancock, for
some cause, felt that it was necessary
for him to begin his letter by saying
that "the XIIIth, XIVth and XVth
Amendments, embodying the results
of the war for the Union, are inviola-
ble."
No doubt one portion of the Con-
stitution is quite as ''inviolable'' as an
other; but it is unfortunate for the
Democratic candidate that he felt COM
PEELED to utter this truism, and thus
invite attention to his own effort and
that of his party to prevent the coun-
try from securing what he properly
styles "the results Of the war;" Of
course the great bulk Of his support is
to come from voters who fought for
results" which never CHANGED to be
embodied in any amendment, and
it is not surprising that Southern pa
pers of influence are to-day character
izing the amendments actually adopt
ed as revolutionary ''conspiracies
against liberty" and all that. Nor is
it to be wondered at that Southern
Democrats in Congress threaten to
sweep away all the laws which have
been enacted to make these amend
ments operative But General Han
cocks Northern supporters have man
ifested hostility to these results
Of the war no less bitter and persist
ent than that of the men lately in
arms against the Union. Not a sim
gle State with Democratic Legisla-
ture, and hardly a single Democratic
legislator in the North, voted to ratify
the amendments, while in New Jersey
and Ohio Democratic Legislatures
voted to rescind such ratification after
it had been passed.
The logic Of the situation, then, is
this: If General Hancock is to be
made President it is because he repre-
sents certain principles, and because
he and his party will be more likely |
maintain these principles than the
candidate and party opposed to him.
General Hancock undertakes to set
forth these principles in his formal
letter of acceptance, and the very first
and presumably the fundamental prin-
ciple enunciated is loyalty to the re-
suits Of a war successfully waged
against the great bulk Of his support
ers, and adhesion to constitutional
which his entire party
struggled to defeat at every stage Of
their progress. The Democratic can
didate reyives the memories Of the
war to urge the support of measures
inaugurated and adopted by Republi-
cans, and by implication he utters the
proposition that the amend
ments are more likely to remain in
violable'' under the administration of
a party which was united against their
adoption than under the administra-
ton of the men whose courage and
craftsmanship embodied them in the
organic law of the Nation.