The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-05-27
A MISTAKEN REPUBLICAN.

gentleman of some prominence in this
community, in giving public expression to
his reasons for being Republican thus
concluded his remarks: "In conclusion, 1
am for Utah and for my own country in
preference TO all others, for in America it
was that COP revealed his perfect law, and
only here could it find foothold on the
earth. therefore, am a Republican" The
gentleman in these remarks refers to the
religious liberty guaranteed in the United
States by the constitution, under which
guarantee COPS perfect law,'' i. e. the
! Mormon religion, could find foothold, and
only here in America, in the gentleman's
/ opinion, could it find liberation, there
fore" concludes the writer, 81 am Repub-
lican." OF course one would think from
this that we must be indebted to the Re-
publicans for the constitutional guarantee
OF religious liberty, than which nothing
could be farther from the truth. 1t is well
known that our constitutional guarantee of
religious liberty is found in the first
amendment And it is equally well known
that the first ten amendments to the con-
stitution were the work of the party led by
/
1t is to the Democratic party, with JEFFER-
son at its head, that the American people
are indebted for the American guaran-
tee of religious liberty. Therefore, if the
gentleman whose remark is under consid-
GRAFTON would plight his faith to the party
which established religious liberty and
thus made it possible for the perfect law
of COP to find foothold he
should have said: The chief good in the
American government is the guarantee Of
religious liberty, which made it possible
for the introduction of COPS perfect
law;" and whereas THOMAS JEFFERSON and
the Democrats who followed his able
leadership are more directly entitled to the
honor of introducing and getting adopted
the amendment to the constitution which
secures to us religious freeGom-''there-
fore [ am Democrat" AS it stands now,
in the gentlemans communication the con-
clusion on that point at least is not based
upon facts.
Upon the tombstone of the great Demo
cratic leader may be traced these lines:
"Hefe lies buried Thomas Jefferson, author
of the Declaration of Independence, of the
Statutes of Virginia for religious freedom and
father of the University of Virginia"
From that agitation in Virginia for re-
ligious freedom came also the agitation
which secured the constitutional guarantee
of the same liberty.
In this connection several of our Repub-
lican friends manifest disposition to mis-
represent the attitude of the Democratic
1 mn fnNx or~dc fhn If fha
United States, and, indeed, to all govern
ment so far as that is ooncerned-since
they write Democrats down as anarchists.
Therefore, it may be as well to state that
when the constitutional convention of 1857
presented its work to the respective states
for their ratification, the chief com
plant brought against it by such men as
THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1.-THE Old an-Elo-
quent," SAMUEL ADAMS aud PATRICK
HENRY was that the rights of the indivi-
dual were not sufficiently protected, there
was no bill Of rights, and hence they
fought its adoption until some provisions
should be made to secure the liberty of the
individual against the encroachments of
power. To obtain this they formulated
| the first ten amendments which on exam
ination will prove to be largely in the
nature of bill of rights. When those
amendments were adopted and became
part Of the constitution JEFFERSON and his
followers withdrew all opposition to
the constitution; they accepted as
Democrats accept today the American
theory of government. They conceds that
government is necessary to preserve So
ciety, and they think that the American
government is the best government yet
formulated by man. They believe the gen
ersl government is sovereign in its sphere;
that the states are sovereign in their
sphere, but the moment that either steps
outside the limits fixed by the constitution,
the powers they then use are usurped, and
such conduct is menace to the freedom of
the people and destructive to the govern
ment of the United States itself Strict
construction of the powers of the govern
ment is the cry of the Democrats Let
government remain within its proper lin
its. Let it protect society, but give it no
license to interfere with matters which
properly belong to the individual or to the
people apart from their connection with
government.