Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-01-19
The Democratic Party.

during which time the world beheld,
for the first time, the rise of a nation
to wealth. power and greatness. who's e
corner stones were universal suffrage
and universal education.
The author of the Declaration of In.
dependence was the founder of the
Democratic party. Its formation took
place through a process of natural Sc
lection. While Americans generally
were unit in favor of independence
OF Great Britain, after their indepeud-
ence was achieved there existed wide
difference of opinion among the fore
most men of that day regarding the
character of government that should
be established.
Alexander Hamilton and Thomas
Jefferson soon became the recognized
leaders of thought and opinion. JEFF
ferson laid down the broad PROPOSE
ton that life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness were the natural rights of
all men, and that the true province of
government was to conserve thes e
natural rights; that governments were
just or unjust, in proportion as they
succeeded or failed, measured by this
test. jefferson solved the problem of
all time. Christ proclaimed God to
be the common father and thai all men
were brothers. jefferson, standing
upon the natural rights of all men to
be free, sought to so bind men togeth-
err into commonwealth that at last
they might melt into brothers.
On the other hand. there were a
large, wealthy and powerful class, of
aristocratic tendencies, who like the
founders OF the ancient Greek repub-
| lies, thought they themselves were
entitled to be free, but were unwilling
to extend the freedom they claimed
! for themselves so as to embrace the
whole. They favored a liberal gov
at the time, but opposed government
consisting of. and responsible to, the
whole people. They struggled hard
| to establish government giving the
President life tenure of Office with
power to appoint the governors of the
states. The government of their
choice was, in fact, form of limited
monarchy. Alexander Hamilton was
the recognized leader of this class.
Hamilton and jefferson were both
men of extraordinary power. Their
leadership was of that character that
goes unchallenged. Under the law of
natural selection the people gravitated
to one or the other. The crystalliza-
ton of opinion in favor OF the ideas
that jefferson commended for, formed
the Democratic party-at that time
known by the name of Republican
party; while those who held the views
championed by Hamilton banded them
selves together in their support, and
were known by the name of Federal
lists.
jefferson and his followers prevail
ed and our republic with a Constitu-
ton guaranteeing and safe guarding
the liberties OF the people was launch
ed upon the sea of time.
The American republic, hated by
the rulers of the Old World and re-
viled by the sycophants who subsisted
on the crumbs of favoritism tn at drop
ped from the tables of kings and en-
perors, at once became the hope of
the world. The success of the repub-
He and his followers were the construc-
tive statesmen of the first half century
of our national existence. Their cour-
ageous, aggressive, and successful
administrations were characterized by
the most rigid application of the prin-
ciples expressed in the greatest good
to the greatest number. The tradi-
tions of the Democratic party continued
to attract to its ranks the same class
who rallied to the support of Jefferson
in his day.
The Democratic party was the party |
of the people in its inception, and in
spite of the assault of the money power |
and modern Tories, it is the party OF
the people to-day.
Iu 1896 when the party was in dis
grace, with a President of its own Sc |
lection in power corruptly dealing |
with foreign and domestic money |
changers and usurers and trampling
under foot morals aud decency, the |
rank and file of the party rose in their
might. repudiated and condemned the
conduct of the administration aud
the vitality of govern
ment of the people. The Chicago
platform reafirms anew the Declara-
ton of Independence. 1t assures us
that the spirit of '76 still lives. Upon
this platform in 1900 the Democratic
party will attract to its fold a greater
majority o: the American voters than
ever before united in one party. The
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