The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-08-04
Black on jefferson.

The following letter from Hon.
Chauncey F. Black, democratic candi-
date for Lieutenant Governor, to b. M.
Mead, Esq, corresponding secretary of
the Jefferson Association of Harrisburg,
speaks for itself and will be read with
delight by all who hope for the restora-
ton of Jeffersonian principles :
York, July 20.-My Dear SIR
Nothing could have given me greater
pleasure than the receipt of your kind
communication of the 18th inst, in
forming me of my unanimous election
to honorary membership in the Jeffer.
son Association OF Harrisburg. | ac-
cept the compliment with lively and
grateful sense of its true value, and /
shall endeavor to make my name
worthy of its place on your roll by con-
tinuance in those humble but earnest
efforts in the great cause you are or
ganized to promote which have dJubt-
less procured me this unexpected hon
or.
When the federalists in the closing
years of the last century had well nigh
revolutionized the government estab-
lished by the constitution, transcending
its most important limitations and in
vading many of the fields Of power ex-
pressly reserved from its operation,
their dislodgement became necessary
to the preservation of the Republic.
That, like the present, was most une-
quail struggle between power, patron
age, money and monopoly on the one
side and the masses of working people
on the other. The latter must have
gone down and all that they contended
for must have been lost in one prodi-
gious disaster but for the character of
their organization and leadership These
were wisely adapted to the nature of
the conflict. Jefferson, Madison, our
own Gallatin, and their devoted COM
patriots were not content with merely
sounding the alarm. They called the
people together in their primary capac-
ity, and urged them TO organize in close
and permanent associations like the
popular committees of the revolution,
were they might take council one with
another respecting the public dangers
and the means of defence There were
the "De0Ocratic Societies" which filed
the federalists with terror by their bold
agitations, and which it was once act
ually proposed to put down by the
strong hand under statute to be
passed for the purpose. The first one
established in Pennsylvania was formed
in Philadelphia in 1898, with David
Rittenhouse president and a list of
other officers, some of whose names
are only less illustrious than his. The
democratic societies were, as Mr.. Jeff
erson said, the nurseries of the Re.
publican principles of the constitution"
and to them, with the widespread in.
tluence of their discussions and publ
cations, and the "rousing of the peo.
pie by frequent meetings in small
bodies, where every man had a voice,
was due, in no small degree, the great
| deliverance of 1900 and the defeat of
the Infamous scheme to exclude Mr..
Jefferson from the Office to which he
had been elected, as Mr. Tilden was
excluded in 1877.
The Democratic societies of our day
are called Jefferson associations, not
merely in yeneration of the personal
character of the great apostle of Amer
lean liberty, but to indicate our devo
tion to the body of political principles
which is justly known by the name of
him who formulated them in matchless
simplicity and illustrated them practic-
ally and personally in those two ad-
ministrations of the government
which all men agree ushered in the
"Golden age of the Republic The
name of Jefferson stands, not for
man only, but for a faith, not merely
for the revered shade of the leader,
whose fame is conseorate wherever the