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 Why We Aee Democeats 
 
 OR, 
 
 The Principles and Policies of 
 
 The Ameeica]^ Democracy. 
 by s. s. bloom, 
 
 Of Shelby, Onio. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A CONCISE STATEMENT OF THE LEADING PRINCiri;ES OF THE 
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES, AS TAUGHT 
 BY THE FATHERS OF THE REPUBLIC, ENUNCIATED IN 
 THE NATIONAL PLATFORMS. ^■^■T^ PROCLAIMED 
 BY REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRATS FROM 
 THE FOUNDATION OF THE GOVERN- 
 MENT TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 CHICAGO. NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO: 
 BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. 
 
 1888.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 S. S. BLOOM. 
 1883. 
 
 4^ EDITED BY^ 
 
 iDomiFiaRn 
 
 v^O PI 
 
 ufSivERSlTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IIBI:/
 
 
 
 S6X3 
 
 \/j 
 
 z: " CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHAT IS DEMOCRACY ? 
 
 HON. WILLIAM ALLEN's DESCRIPTION OF DEMOCRACY — DEMOCR/i- 
 TIC PRINCIPLES ETERNAL — ^JEFFERSON AND HAMILTON — DE« 
 MOCRACY THE CORNER-STONE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC — 
 IMPORTANT THAT ALL DEMOCRATS SHOULD BE INSTRUCTED IN 
 THE PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES OF DEMOCRACY — OPPONENTS 
 OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES SHOULD BE BETTER VERSED IN 
 THE PRINCIPLES THEY OPPOSE — DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 
 NEVER CHANGE — IMPORTANCE OF INTELLIGENT AND PATRI- 
 OTIC VOTING — DEMOCRACY HAS A WELL DEFINED AND COM- 
 PREHENSIVE POLICY Page 9, 
 
 s^ CHAPTER II. 
 
 Q:: 
 
 — THE ORIGIN OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 
 
 - DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES PREVAILED IN ANCIENT GREECE AND 
 
 ROME — MAGNA CHARTA — THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 ^ AND CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES CONTAIN THE 
 
 Jj 
 
 Q PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY Page 33- 
 
 J 
 
 5 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 : DUTY OF DEMOCRATS. 
 
 A HENRY CLAY WHIG ASKS A YOUNG DEMOCRAT A QUESTION — 
 HEREDITARY DEMOCRATS — THE SOVEREIGN VOTER SHOULD 
 
 -i <a /fl 1 *-,
 
 Conte7its. 
 
 HAVE A WELL-DEFINED POLITICAL CREED — THE PRINCIPLES 
 LIE WIDELY SCATTERED IN VARIOUS DOCUMENTS, SPEECHES, 
 AND COLUMNS OF NEWSPAPERS — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOC 
 RACY AND COMMUNISM Page 2'^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE GREAT LEADERS— WASHINGTON 
 AND JEFFERSON 
 
 Washington's legacy to his country — his plea for union — 
 union a fundamental doctrine of democracy warns 
 
 against SECTIONALISM — THE HEAPING UP OF PUBLIC DEBT — 
 URGES HIS COUNTRY TO DEAL WISELY WITH FOREIGN NATIONS 
 — TO GUARD AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF INNOVATION — JEFFERSON 
 THE BEST EXPOUNDER OF DEMOCRACY — "FATHER OF THE 
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY" — MANIFESTO OF MARCH 4tH, 1801 — A 
 PLATFORM OF SIXTEEN PLANKS Page 33. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE GREAT LEADERS, CONTINUED- 
 MADISON AND JACKSON. 
 
 MADISON, " THE FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION " — STUDENT OF 
 FREE GOVERNMENTS — ECHOES THE SENTIMKNTS OF HIS PRED 
 ECESSORS — SEVENTEEN PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY — A COM- 
 PREHENSIVE AXIOM OF FREEDOM — ANDREW JACKSON, "THE 
 PRIDE OF democracy" EIGHT YEARS OF JEALOUS DEVO- 
 TION TO THE DEMOCRATIC CAUSE — JACKSON's POLITICAL 
 
 CREED Page 42. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1800-1836-1840. 
 
 THE PLATFORM ON WHICH THOMAS JEEFERSON WAS ELECTED — 
 MARTIN VAN BUREN, DEMOCRATIC CANoltBATE — PLATFORM OF 
 1836 — PLATFORM OF THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION, MAY 5tH, 
 
 1840 Page 53.
 
 Contents. 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS. 1844-1848-1852-1856. 
 
 1844 — RESOLUTIONS ADDITIONAL TO PLATFORM OF 1840 — BALTI- 
 MORE PLATFORM, MAY 22ND, 1848 — BALTIMORE PLATFORM, 
 
 JUNE 1st, 1853 — CINCINNATI PLATFORM, JUNE, 1856. Page 60. 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1860-1864. 
 
 CONVENTION AT CHARLESTON, APRIL 23RD, 1860 — DIVISION IN THE 
 CONVENTION — HON. B, F BUTLER — RESOLUTIONS OF THE MI- 
 NORITY — CHICAGO CONVENTION, AUG. 29tH, 1864 — RESOLUTIONS 
 — PACIFIC RAILROAD — ACQUISITION OF CUBA Page 72 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1868. 
 
 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, NEW YORK, JULY 4tH, 1868 
 — RESOLUTIONS IN RELATION TO THE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS 
 AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR — ARRAIGNMENT OF THE RADICAL 
 
 PARTY PRESIDENT JOHNSON COMMENDED CHIEF JUSTICE 
 
 CHASE AND THE TRIAL OF IMPEACHMENT Page 80. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1872-1876. 
 
 BALTIMORE CONVENTION OF JULY 9tH, 1872, ENDORSES THE PLAT- 
 FORM OF LIBERAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION HELD IN CINCIN- 
 NATI, MAY 1st, 1872 — PLATFORM OF ST. LOUIS, MO., CONVEN- 
 TION, JUNE 27th, 1876 — PLEAS FOR REFORM Page 87. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1880. 
 
 CONVENTION OF JUNE 22nD, 1880, AT CINCINNATI — THE PLATFORMS 
 OF EIGHTY YEARS SHOW THE CONSISTENCY OF THE DEMO-
 
 Contents. 
 
 CRATIC PARTY — THE ONLY POINT OF DIFFERENCE BEING THE 
 TREATMENT OF THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRI- 
 TORIES Page 98. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FURTHER PRINCIPLES OF THE PARTY— STATE 
 RIGHTS— THE RIGHT OF COERCION. 
 
 A QUESTION ON WHICH OPINIONS WERE DIVIDED — ANDREW JACK- 
 SON — THE REPUBLICAN THEORY STATED AT THE CHICAGO CON- 
 VENTION — A GOVERNMENT NOT A LEAGUE THE RIGHT OF 
 
 SECESSION A SOLECISM BUCHANAN DENIED THE RIGHT OF 
 
 SECESSION — THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY THE PARTY OF CONCILI- 
 ATION — THE QUESTION OF COERCION DEMOCRATS CALLED 
 
 "disloyal" — HON. JOHN A LOGAN's VIEW THE DEMOCRATS 
 
 HAVE NO NEED TO BLUSH ON THE QUESTION OF COERCION. 
 
 Page 104. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CARDINAL DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 THE RIGHT OF PETITION — SHOULD BE JUDICIOUSLY USED — NOT TO 
 BE CONFOUNDED WITH PETITIONS FOR PARDONS — OR FROM THE 
 ARMY — OR THREATS FROM ANGRY MOBS — PUBLIC MEETINGS 
 AND ASSOCIATIONS — THE RIGHT OF PUBLIC MEETING AND ASSO- 
 CIATION MUST BE GUARDED — POLITICAL CLUBS OF FRANCE — 
 THE SUPREMACY OF THE LAW — EVERY CITIZEN SUBJECT TO 
 THE LAW AND ONLY TO THE LAW — MARTIAL LAW — "HABEAS 
 corpus" — MILITARY SUBSERVIENT TO CIVIL LAW — THE WAR 
 POWER — LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE Page 115. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PERSONAL LIBERTY — PRIVATE PROPERTY — FREE 
 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 "EVERY man's HOME HIS CASTLE " — "NO GENERAL WARRANTS 
 SHALL BE ISSUED " — NO EXCESSIVE BAIL — NO POLITICAL OF-
 
 Contents. 
 
 PENCE — C»UNSEL FOR THE ACCUSED— PRIVATE PROPERTY — 
 DEMOCRACY DEMANDS THE FULLEST FREEDOM TO POSSESS AND 
 ENJOY PROPERTY — PUBLIC FUNDS — PUBLICITY OF PUBLIC BUSI- 
 NESS — FREEDOM OF ELECTIONS — FREE COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 Page 126. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SUMPTUARY LAWS — TARIFF FOR REVENUE — SEC- 
 TIONAL PARTIES. 
 
 SUMPTUARY LAWS NOT FAVORED BY DEMOCRACY — MAN A FREE 
 MORAL AGENT — CIVIL RIGHTS — LIBERTY REGULATED BY LAW — 
 HOW TO RAISE REVENUES — PROTECTION VS. FREE TRADE — 
 JACKSON'S THEORY — A TARIFF FOR REVENUE NOT FOR PRO- 
 TECTION — RICHARD COBDEN's VIEW — A MARKET THE WORLD 
 OVER — SECTIONAL PARTIES — ALL SECTIONAL QUESTIONS 
 
 SHOULD BE BURIED Page 140. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 DEMOCRACY DEMANDS A PURE, FAITHFUL, CIVIL SERVICE — ^JACK- 
 SON's VIEW — HON. ALLEN G. THURMAN'S LIST OF CORRUP- 
 TIONS — THE THEFT OF THE PRESIDENCY — THE DIFFERENCE 
 
 THE DEMOCRACY SEEKS TO ELEVATE THE CITIZEN RATHER 
 THAN MAGNIFY THE GOVERNMENT — "DO AS YOU PLEASE, AS 
 LONG AS YOU DO NOT TRAMPLE ON THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS" 
 — INSTEAD OF "THE STATE SO WILLS, AND YOU 'MUST* OBEY" 
 
 — PRINCIPLES NOT MEN Page 153. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 AN ANONYMOUS OBJECTOR ANSWERED BY RESOLUTIONS OF DEMO- 
 CRATIC CONVENTIONS — NEW YORK, 1868 — BALTIMORE, 1872 
 
 ST. LOUIS, 1876 — DEMOCRATS NEVER REPUDIATED — RADICAL 
 OBJECTORS LIKE THE ELDER BROTHER IN THE PARABLE — THE
 
 Contents. 
 
 QUESTION OF THE "REBEL DEBT " SETTLED BY SECTION 4 OF 
 ARTICLE XIV OF THE CONSTITUTION Page 162. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE RATIONALE OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 WE ARE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN THE UNION OF THE 
 STATES AS ESSENTIAL TO FREE GOVERNMENT — A DEMOCRAT 
 BELIEVES IN ALL PARTS OF HIS COUNTRY — HE DOES NOT BE- 
 LIEVE IN SECTIONALISM OR HEAVY PUBLIC DEBTS — DEMO- 
 CRATS BELIEVE IN THE RIGHT OF ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE 
 — IN THE SUPREMACY OF THE CIVIL OVER THE MILITARY 
 POWER — IN A GENERAL DIFFUSION OF FRIENDSHIP. .Page 170. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE RATIONALE OF DEMOCRACY— CONTINUED. 
 
 DEMOCRATS FAVOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY — THE FREEDOM OF THE 
 PRESS — "HABEAS COP PUS " — DEMOCRATS ARE DISCIPLES OF 
 WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, MADISON, JACKSON — OPPOSE LARGE 
 STANDING ARMIES — ROTATION IN OFFICE Page 178. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 DEMOCRACY OPPOSED TO THE CENTRALIZATION OF THE GENERAL 
 GOVERNMENT — TO SUMPTUARY LAWS — HIGH PROTECTION TAR- 
 IFFS — TO THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE — DEMOCRATS 
 BELIEVE IN THE BALLOT — HOME RULE — HARD MONEY — THE 
 RIGHTS OF LABOR — THE DEMOCRACY NEVER TAUGHT REBEL- 
 LION Page 187. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 WHY NOT BE A DEMOCRAT ? 
 
 EVERY LOVER OF TRUTH AND FREEDOM SHOULD BE A DEMOCRAT 
 — THE CREED OF DEMOCRACY IS ONE OF WHICH A MAN MAY
 
 Contents. 
 
 BE PROUD THERE IS "WEALTH, IN'TELLTGENCE, AND RE- 
 
 SPECTAKII.ITY " AMONGST DEMOCRATS AS WELL AS REPUBLI- 
 CANS — THE PARTY CONTAINS IN ITS RANKS SUCH MEN AS 
 JEFFERSON, MADISON, MONROE, JACKSON, POLK, WRIGHT, MARCY 
 AND DOUGLAS — DEMOCRACY THOUGH OUT OF POWER IS INFLU- 
 ENTIAL — REPUBLICANS ON THE THRESHOLD OF WAR — PATRI- 
 OTIC DEMORACY SAVED THE UNION — WHY NOT BE A DEMO- 
 CRAT? Page 194. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 complete reconciliation must come — centralization means 
 despotism — democracy alone can destroy socialism — 
 Everett's speech at Gettysburg — England's wars of the 
 
 ROSES — CIVIL war OF THE 17TH CENTURY THE FRENCH RE- 
 VOLUTION DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES MUST TRIUMPH WHILE 
 
 FREE GOVERNMENTS LIVE DEMOCRACY CANNOT DIE — NOW IS 
 THE TIME — YOUNG MEN RALLY TO THE STANDARD, . Page 203. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ORDER OF BUSINESS IN CONVENTIONS. 
 
 DUTY OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE — THE CALL — TEMPORARY ORGANIZA- 
 TIONS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO CONVENTION — ELECTION OF 
 OFFICERS — ORDER OF COMMITTEES — CALLING FOR REPORTS — 
 AMENDMENTS — THE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS RESO- 
 LUTIONS — MINORITIES AND MINORITY REPORTS — PRESIDENTIAL 
 
 VOTE FROM 1789 ro 1880 Page 215.
 
 WHY WE ARE DEMOCRATS. 
 
 OHAPTEE I. 
 
 WHAT IS DEMOCRACY ? 
 
 HON. WILLIAM ALLEN'S DESCRIPTION OF DEMOCRACY— DEMOCRA- 
 TIC PRINCIPLES ETERNAL — JEFFERSON AND HAMILTON — 
 DEMOCRACY THE CORNER STONE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 
 — IMPORTANT THAT ALL DEMOCRATS SHOULD BE INSTRUCTED 
 IN THE PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES OF DEMOCRACY — OPPONENTS 
 OP DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES SHOULD BE BETTER VERSED IN 
 THE PRINCIPLES THEY OPPOSE— DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES NEVER 
 CHANGE— IMPORTANCE OF INTELLIGENT AND PATRIOTIC VOT- 
 ING — DEMOCRACY HAS A WELL-DEFINED AND COMPREHENSIVE 
 POLICY. 
 
 Hon. William Allen, once a noted United 
 States Senator from Ohio, described Democracy 
 in beautiful language when he said: "Democracy 
 is a sentiment not to be appalled, corrupted or 
 compromised. It knows no baseness, it cowers to 
 no danger; it oppresses no weakness. Fearless, 
 generous and humane, it rebukes the arrogant, 
 cherishes honor, and sympathizes with the humble.
 
 10 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 It asks nothing but what it concedes; it concedes 
 nothing but what it demands. Destructive only 
 of despotism, it is the sole conservator of liberty, 
 labor and property. It is the sentiment of free- 
 dom, of equal rights and equal obligations. It is 
 the law of nature pervading the land. The stupid, 
 the selfish, and the base in spirit may denounce 
 it as a vulgar thing; but in the history of our 
 race, the Democratic principle has developed and 
 illustrated the highest moral and intellectual attri- 
 butes of our nature. It is a noble, a sublime senti- 
 ment which expands our affections, enlarges the 
 circle of our sympathies, and elevates the soul of 
 man, until claiming an equality with the best, it 
 rejects as unworthy of its dignity, any political 
 immunities over the humblest of his fellows. Yes, 
 it is an ennobling principle; and may that spirit 
 which animated our revolutionary Fathers in their 
 contest for its establishment, continue to animate 
 us, their sons, in the impending struggle for its 
 preservation." 
 
 Thus eloquently spoke an honored and revered 
 member of the Democratic party, years ago, who 
 came very near being made the Democratic can- 
 didate for President by the convention which nomi- 
 nated Franklin Pierce. 
 
 Another honored member of the party but re- 
 cently has declared concerning the principles of 
 the party: ''They are eternal — a Divine fire burn- 
 ing in the hearts of men. They quicken the
 
 why ive are Democrats ? 11 
 
 thoughts of the statesman, nerve the arm of the 
 soldier, and double the energies of the toiler. 
 They are found in the self-evident truth of the 
 American patriot who declared that all men are 
 created equal. Democracy is the unrelenting foe 
 of despotism and communism, whether open or 
 sought to be hidden under the disguise of paternal 
 government. Its beneficent office in political af- 
 fairs is to secure to every man the utmost possible 
 liberty of action consistent with equal liberty to 
 every other. It is not the office of the Democratic 
 party to invent, but to promulgate — not to discover, 
 but to declare those eternal principles, and to 
 apply them to the ever-changing affairs of human 
 society. 
 
 Old — eternal Democracy is founded on the living 
 law of political affairs — that the largest liberty 
 should be every man's heritage, consistent with 
 law and order. Therefore it is that the Democratic 
 party stands for the individual against the en- 
 croachments of the state, for the rights of the 
 states against the encroachments of the federal 
 government; for home rule against foreign inter- 
 ference and agression. Its corner stone is the prin- 
 ciple of the capability of individual man, with the 
 aid of Divine grace, to govern himself, and of each 
 individual man united in society to govern society 
 with the least possible interference from society 
 with the individual concerns of man. Therefore it 
 stands for personal liberty as against aristocracy,
 
 12 Why ive are Democrats 9 
 
 which stands for an impudent attempt of those who 
 style themselves the best, to interfere with the 
 liberties of those whom they choose to think their 
 inferiors. 
 
 The Democratic party dates, therefore, from 
 every attempt to interfere with liberty; it is the 
 resistance to that liberty which means Democracy. 
 It dates in our own government from the differ- 
 ences of opinion which those great leaders, Jeffer- 
 son and Hamilton entertained with regard to the 
 scope and duty of civil government. Hamilton was 
 the regulating, ordaining, and controlling mind on 
 the one side, and on the other was Jefferson, the 
 philosophical statesman, who never attempted to 
 regulate nor control, but who with great quiet 
 energy of infusing principles, enabled popular rights 
 t,o take care of themselves. From these two great 
 statesmen arose two great parties — the Jeffersonian 
 and Hamiltonian, and to-day they stand in conflict 
 with each other as completely as at the time when 
 Mr. Jefferson was elected. 
 
 Those two parties — one favoring a Paternal gov- 
 ernment, seeking to regulate from above — the other. 
 Democratic, favoring equal rights, seeking to spread 
 their beneficient influence around — these are the 
 two hostile and conflicting views which are arrayed 
 against each other. 
 
 When any new idea is suggested, one can tell in 
 a moment whether the man advancing it be a 
 Democrat in sentiment, or the opposite in his ideas,
 
 Why we are Democrats 9 13 
 
 by the proposed plan of action, the manner in which 
 the idea of control should be applied. The men 
 who believe in the precepts of Jefferson, who be- 
 lieve that each man is clothed with Divine endow- 
 ments with the largest measure of liberty which is 
 consistent with law and order; that each man is 
 the best judge of what he believes will benefit him- 
 self, so far as, in so doing, he does not interfere 
 with the liberty and rights of others." 
 
 These sentiments meet a proud response in the 
 hearts of millions of Democrats, and yet how many 
 really know what Democracy means ? They are 
 members of the party which bears that ennobling 
 name, and promulgates these glorious sentiments 
 of free government among men; they are enthusi- 
 astic in its support, but they have given the matter 
 too little thought, have spent too little time in their 
 investigation to be fully informed of the very prin- 
 ciples which they profess to love, revere and sup- 
 port. 
 
 They know but little of the reasons which in- 
 fluenced the founders of that party when first or- 
 ganized, and when its great leaders first began to 
 administer government in accordance with its doc- 
 trines. Believing that many who have hitherto 
 opposed its principles and its policy would be glad 
 to have an opportunity to review the grounds upon 
 which the faith of the American Democracy rests, 
 the writer has prepared the following pages as a 
 brief compend of those principles which have con-
 
 14 Why ice are Democrats 9 
 
 trolled the actions of eminent Democratic statesmen 
 in the past, and miich now prompt the actions of 
 the honest, true-hearted faithful adherents of that 
 party, — principles which its leaders must uphold 
 and defend, if they would be instrumental in per- 
 petuating, not only the great party to which they 
 belong, but the government itself, which was so 
 firmly established upon those great principles of 
 human liberty, and which, as a system, is the very 
 corner stone upon which the whole fabric rests. 
 
 We should know ivhy ive are Democrats ! It is but 
 simple justice to ourselves, to be properly informed 
 on this subject; it is due our manhood; due the dig- 
 nity of American citizens, that we have knowledge 
 on this subject, in order that we may render a clear, 
 logical, and concise reason for every political action 
 we perform — for every ballot we deposit. All have 
 not had the opportunity so to inform themselves; 
 they have not access to the depositories of this 
 knowledge, and must depend upon political speeches 
 delivered during heated campaigns, or upon the col- 
 umns of political newspapers, published by leading 
 and eminent Democratic leaders; hence it is that a 
 calm, deliberate discussion and statement of the ele- 
 mentary principles of Democracy, in their homes 
 and by their firesides, is what the voters so much 
 need, that they, too-, may learn of those {principles, 
 which actuated the founders of the great Demo- 
 cratic party, when they first expounded them to the 
 voters of the country; and that they may by their
 
 Why we are Democrats ? 15 
 
 intelligent votes favor that party with their support, 
 which for more than three quarters of a century, 
 whether in or out of power, has more or less influ- 
 enced the administration of public affairs. A state- 
 ment of those principles, gathered from authentic 
 sources, published in a compact and convenient 
 form, with such explanations as may suggest them- 
 selves, it is believed will supply this need, so that 
 all who aspire to become intelligent Democratic 
 voters, may know why they are such, — know the 
 elementary principles upon which their faith is 
 founded. 
 
 Those who have not heretofore supported that 
 party should knotv the reason why! They should 
 know the reasons which call forth so much enthusi- 
 asm at every returning national election. There is 
 a reason for it and they should know it. It is al- 
 ways wise to fully comprehend the positions of our 
 opponents. Why should not those who oppose De- 
 mocracy, know our reasons for being Democrats ? 
 If these reasons are unsound, they will be all the 
 better prepared to overcome our arguments, by first - 
 knowing what they are. « It is an evidence of weak- 
 ness in their cause, if they refuse to do this. It is 
 an evidence of confident strength in our cause, 
 when we challenge an investigation; it shows that 
 we are at least honest, and sincere,. in what we pro- 
 fess to believe. 
 
 Not everything which assumes to be Democratic is 
 so ! Hypocrisy is said to be the compliment which
 
 16 Why we are Democrats 9 
 
 vice pays to virtue. Things most rare and valuable 
 are usually the first to be counterfeited. A mere 
 name does not demonstrate a principle. Intelligent 
 men dive beneath the surface to ascertain from 
 what motives professions proceed, and they very 
 reasonably look to the measures advocated and 
 actions performed, to discover upon what principles 
 they are founded, before they will give adherence 
 to or advocate them as being best calculated to 
 bring peace, happiness and prosperity to the masses. 
 Party names, therefore, do not always represent 
 what they express in technical words. These some- 
 times change, and even political parties may as- 
 sume to change their principles. Democratic prin- 
 ciples are ever the same, and herein lies the beauty 
 and strength, and durability of the Democratic 
 party. In free governments like ours, in the varied 
 questions which constantly arise, consequent upon 
 the ever-changing circumstances of the case, new 
 applications of old and well established rules must 
 necessarily arise. It therefore becomes a patriotic 
 duty, which every citizen owes to his country, to be 
 well informed concerning the principles and meth- 
 ods adopted by political parties, so that when he 
 identifies himself with any party, he may feel at 
 ease within its ranks, and be able to conscientiously 
 maintain and swpport it before his fellow men. 
 
 It is to aid somewhat the inquiring reader in this 
 work of investigation, that the writer invites the 
 voters of all parties to examine the principles and
 
 Why we are Democrats'? 17 
 
 policy of the great Democratic party, that eaclf 
 may know the reasons why, and when convinced., 
 give that assent to its doctrines, absolutely neces- 
 sary to maintain its organization^ 
 
 It should be the aim of every voter — the laudable 
 ambition of every citizen — to cast his ballot at 
 every election, so as to give to his mind the strong- 
 est possible assurance that the policy proposed by 
 his party will result in the greatest good to the 
 greatest number of his fellow men. It should be 
 the ambition of every voter who has little else to do 
 in the administration of public affairs than to cast 
 an intelligent ballot, that he should vote wisely and 
 patriotically. That ends the sovereign power ot 
 the voter until the return of another election. 
 Those he aids in electing to office are, it is true, his 
 public servants, but they are also the chosen agents 
 of his sovereign will, and it therefore becomes a 
 matter of great importance to him to know not 
 only for whom he votes, but, also upon what prin- 
 ciples he for whom he votes casts his ballots, or in 
 what manner he proposes to administer this great 
 trust. It is only by electing such agents as most 
 nearly represent his views that he can make his 
 sovereign power to be felt; it becomes important, 
 therefore, for him to know not only why he himselt 
 is a Democrat, but that he for whom he votes is 
 also a Democrat. 
 
 In order to enable the intelligent voter the more 
 readily to comprehend the difference between the
 
 18 Why we are Democrats f 
 
 parties, and to learn from the public expressions by 
 candidates and from party platforms what the 
 views of such party representatives really are, and 
 upon what principles they are founded, this little 
 book is written. From' its pages we trust they may 
 learn what the creed of the Democratic party really 
 is, whether those which are announced as Demo- 
 cratic principles really are such; and that if any, as 
 Jefferson has so tersely stated it, in moments of 
 doubt or alarm have really wandered away from 
 them, that they may hasten their return to the well 
 beaten path of a genuine Democracy. The writer 
 indulges the hope that before they have concluded 
 the perusal of these pages they will have learned 
 that the Democratic party has always had, and now 
 has a clear and well defined system of government 
 and policy of administering the same upon every 
 question of state or national import; and that 
 Democrats have good and substantial reasons for 
 each and every measure of public policy, founded 
 upon these fundamental principles of Democracy, 
 in perfect accord with the best experience of past 
 ages, all in perfect harmony with the true spirit of 
 our Democratic-Republican institutions. 
 
 It is no blind adherence to party idols — the mere 
 popular worship of so-called great men — that 
 makes men Democrats; but it is their belief in cer- 
 tain principles upon which a free government 
 should be administered, and which to them pro- 
 mises the highest good to themselves and their fel-
 
 Why we are Democrats 9 19 
 
 low men, that impels them to associate together for 
 the purpose of promoting their desires. It is prin- 
 ciple which makes men Democrats, and it is their 
 adherence to those principles which makes the De- 
 mocracy the organized power in the land which it 
 always has been. It is to a study of these principles 
 our readers are invited while perusing these pages. 
 
 The princixjles and traditionary policy of the De- 
 mocracy should he ivell understood. They should 
 be well defined. They should be implicitly adhered 
 to. A wise general policy on almost every question 
 liable to arise has been marked out by the Fathers 
 of the Constitution. They framed and put into suc- 
 cessful operation nearly a century ago, a Govern- 
 ment, so well provided with checks and balances 
 against the exercise of arbitrary power, for the pro- 
 tection of the lives, liberties and property of the peo- 
 ple, that if properly administered, it is, we confi- 
 dently believe, the best form of government ever 
 devised by man. It is a claim the Democratic party 
 has ever put forward that their principles have been 
 more in accord with the true theory upon which 
 that Government is founded, than those of any other 
 party organization, and that in accordance with 
 those principles, and upon the policy thus marked 
 out, our government can alone be smoothly and suc- 
 cessfully administered. 
 
 A party, in order to be successful, must educate 
 its adherents into a clear knowledge of its aims and 
 purposes; and they must ed,rnestly believe in the
 
 30 Why ive are Democrats 9 
 
 justness and correctness of those principles. The 
 Democracy, then, must know what they believe, 
 and be acquainted with the reasons why they be- 
 lieve in those principles; and then, being convinced 
 that the happiness, comfort and welfare of them- 
 selves and their posterity depend upon the applica- 
 tion of those principles to the administration of pub- 
 lic affairs, they possess one of the strongest incen- 
 tives to labor for the ultimate triumph of those 
 principles. Such a party cannot be broken up and 
 destroyed while the government it sustains contin- 
 ues to exist. Therefore a wise general policy has 
 been marked out by the Democracy, by which they 
 propose to administer the affairs of government. 
 Without fundamental principles a party cannot 
 long exist. A party founded upon a single idea, is, 
 and necessarily must be, short lived. One great rea- 
 son why the Democratic party has so long existed 
 under that name, and has so successfully perpetuat- 
 ed itself for nearly a century in the United States 
 is due to these reasons. It has always maintained 
 a code of principles, transmitted from one genera- 
 tion to another, and hence to-day maintains the 
 same fundamental principles, and proposes to pur- 
 sue the same general policy, which the founders of 
 the party proclaimed nearly a century ago. By the 
 application of these principles, and the pursuit of 
 this policy, they have sought to administer the af- 
 fairs of this government, and so long as they were
 
 Why tve are Democrats ? 21 
 
 strictly adhered to, peace, happiness and general 
 prosperity prevailed. 
 
 The fact that these principles are scattered 
 through the records of the past — of ttimes inaccessible 
 to the masses — is one reason why they are not now 
 so generally known by the people; and the fact that 
 they have been practically out of power for nearly a 
 quarter of a century, in the administration of the 
 Federal government, has prevented these principles 
 from being so thoroughly impressed upon the great 
 mass of the people as in former years. There is 
 therefore a greater necessity for a revival of this 
 knowledge, — a more general diffusion of those prin- 
 ciples, than when its faithful leaders are at the head 
 of public affairs, where they can apply those princi- 
 ples to the administration of public affairs, and the 
 people learn, almost by intuition, what now must 
 be sought for more by research and investigation. 
 With the increased light shed upon the nation by 
 the more general diffusion of knowledge, should 
 come a more thorough knowledge of the principles 
 which underlie free Democratic government. The 
 area over which our government exerts its influence 
 having been many times multiplied, and the intelli- 
 gence of the people greatly increased in other 
 things, there is all the more necessity for a better 
 knowledge of Democratic principles, and a more 
 strict application ot them to the affairs of a govern- 
 ment derived from the people, over this vast extent
 
 22 Why we are Democrats 9 
 
 of territory, now almost embracing the entire con- 
 tinent of North America. 
 
 For these, and many other reasons which might 
 be adduced, the principles of the American Democ- 
 racy should be well understood — nay they should be 
 better understood than ever before, during the his- 
 tory of our country.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES PREVAILED IN ANCIENT GREECE AND 
 ROME — MAGNA CHARTA— THE DECLARATION OF INDEPEND- 
 ENCE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES CONTAIN THE 
 PRINCIPLES OP DEMOCRACY. 
 
 The rise and progress of Democratic Princi- 
 ples may be traced far back in the history of ancient 
 governments. Their origin — the very dawning of 
 tlieir light — may be seen in the free governments of 
 ancient Greece and Rome. They may be found 
 shining more and more along succeeding ages, 
 through the annals of the British government — 
 bursting with increased brilliancy over the events 
 at the granting of Magna Charta on the banks of 
 Runnymede where first they were wrested from the 
 English crown, and along the line of the ages, until 
 planted upon American soil by reason of the at- 
 tempted oppression of the mother country, and for 
 more than a century nurtured and cultivated along 
 the Atlantic coast, preceding the American revolu- 
 tion. Even in colonial times here in the western 
 wilds of America, governments were established as 
 a means of protection " of the people, by the people, 
 and for the people;" and this, even when the British
 
 24 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 sovereign still pretended to possess the power to 
 grant these God-given rights to his dutiful subjects. 
 But when the Declaration of American Independ- 
 ence was first written and thundered into the ears 
 of the mightiest government then on earth; when 
 they were watered by the blood shed through a long 
 and tedious war, and finally established in the 
 Constitution of the United States, the principles 
 of the American Democracy began first to be formu- 
 lated into something like a substantial political 
 system, from which began to flow tangible results 
 designed to bless the whole world by their benefi- 
 cent influences. A Democrat must thoroughly 
 believe in the principles declared and established in 
 those immortal documents drafted by American 
 Democrats, and from them he must draw his politi- 
 cal inspirations; in them he finds his first lessons of 
 instruction, and upon them must be founded his 
 political faith. They have stood the test for over a 
 hundred years in America, and the application 
 thereof has never failed to produce beneficent 
 results whenever justly applied; they have proved 
 themselves efficient in stilling the tempest of civil 
 war, and how often they have saved internal strife 
 and bloodshed, none can ever know. 
 
 In these documents and the Bill of Rights preced- 
 ing them, can be found the best compend of Demo- 
 cratic doctrines ever promulgated by mortal men. 
 Tkese were framed exclusively for the people, by 
 the agents of the people^ and adopted by the people
 
 Why we are Democrats. 25 
 
 for the protection of the liberties of themselves and 
 their posterity. These immortal men had studied 
 well the history of ancient free governments; and 
 directed by Avhat seems more than human wisdom, 
 even though enlightened by the experience of past 
 ages, they placed, as the foundation of that Consti- 
 tution, those inalienable rights and privileges of 
 freemen which arbitrary power can never success- 
 fully or long wrest from them while the people re- 
 main true to themselves, and faithful to their politi- 
 cal trusts. They drafted those documents in such 
 plain and simple terms that it would seem no one 
 could misunderstand their meaning, and though the 
 area of territory over which the states have now 
 extended, reaching far over the plains of the then 
 unknown west, and to them a foreign country, and 
 still extending to the far off shores of the Pacific — 
 they seem to be as applicable to-day as they were 
 when first engrossed for formal adoption. Their 
 provisions are too plain to be misunderstood, and it 
 is this which Democrats mean when they say that 
 they adhere to " a strict construction of the Consti- 
 tution," because they believe human rights and 
 liberties have the same old foes to contend against, 
 and having safely guided the ship of state on its 
 hitherto almost unparalleled prosperous voyage, 
 they are unwilling to change its principles, but bid 
 it Godspeed through the ages to come, that it may 
 serve the same blessed purposes down to the latest 
 period of time. Democrats have in these revered
 
 26 Wliy ive are Democrats. 
 
 docuinents a compendium of first principles of free 
 government, to wliich they cannot too often resort 
 when embarrassed by doubts as to what course to 
 pursue in seasons of difficulty and trouble. Hence 
 it is that the frequent perusal and study of the 
 symbols of Democracy — the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, and the Constitution of the United States 
 — is earnestly urged upon those who would study 
 the principles of the party more in detail than our 
 space will permit within the compass of this work.
 
 CHlPTEE III. 
 DUTY OF DEMOCRATS. 
 
 A HENRY CLAY WHIG ASKS A YOUNG DEMOCRAT A QUESTION 
 — HEREDITARY DEMOCRATS — THE SOVEREIGN \OTER SHOULD 
 HAVE A WELL-DEFINED POLITIC^VL CREED — THE PRINCIPLES 
 LIE WIDELY SCATTERED IN VARIOUS DOCUMENTS, SPEECHES, 
 AND COLUMNS OF NEWSPAPERS— DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DE- 
 MOCRACY AND COMMUNISM. 
 
 The duty of Democrats to know what their 
 PRINCIPLES ARE ! Over forty years ago, during the 
 memorable campaign of 1842, when the writer was 
 yet a mere boy, among the hills of Pennsylvania 
 when asked by a venerable Henry Clay Whig, ivhy 
 he so young professed to be a Democrat, he could 
 not answer the question. He felt ashamed of his 
 ignorance, and immediately determined by investi- 
 gation to knoiv the reason why, and if ever again 
 asked the same question, to be able to render an in- 
 telligent reason for the faith that was in him. It is 
 the duty of every Democrat, who aspires to the 
 least intelligence, to be able to do likewise. It cer- 
 tainly must be very unsatisfactory to an intelligent 
 young man to say that he is a Democrat, because 
 his father before him was one; that he was raised 
 in that belief, and that he proposes to remain so; or
 
 28 Why we are Democrats f 
 
 that his neighbors, whose opinions he respects, and 
 who ought to know what is right, are Democrats, 
 and that he will support that party simply because 
 they do. He should have a, well defined political 
 creed, and know upon what principles it rests. It 
 is due to those who ask him; it is due to his own man- 
 hood and self respect, as a sovereign voter that he 
 should have knowledge on that subject, in order that 
 when asked he may be able to render a clear, con- 
 cise and logical reason for his political faith and 
 actions. When an unprejudiced voter has fully in- 
 formed himself of the principles of the Democratic 
 party, he will find no reason to be ashamed of join- 
 ing its fortunes, and espousing its cause. Rather 
 will he become proud of the fact, that he sustains an 
 organization, which represents principles, without 
 the practice of which neither our own, nor the en- 
 lightened nations of the earth in other lands, would 
 be what they are to-day; rather should he be 
 ashamed when requested so to do, to be unable to 
 render a reason for his political faith. 
 
 The writer does not urge this duty upon others, 
 because he claims to be the author or expounder of 
 those principles, but only the medium through 
 whom they have been gathered from various sources 
 where found, and the publication of them in this 
 convenient form for the benefit of thousands of 
 such, who are Democrats, and who, desiring to be 
 honest with themselves, can be nothing else in sen- 
 timent, but who have no other means by which to
 
 Why we are Democrats ? 29 
 
 have clearly set before them the principles they 
 have espoused, and which they desire to see applied 
 in the administration of public affairs. 
 
 These principles of Democracy are found as we 
 have already said in Magna Charta; the Declaration 
 of Independence; the Constitution of the United 
 States; in the farewell address of Washington; in 
 the messages of the early presidents; in the speeches 
 of great senators and public speakers, as well as in 
 the columns of Democratic newspapers, and the 
 platforms of party conventions. These principles 
 are the heritage left us by the great leaders of pub- 
 lic sentiment anterior to the formation of our gov 
 ernment, in their contest against tyranny and op- 
 pression — kingly powers and imperial prerogatives. 
 Growing with the growth of freedom in all ages, 
 they form a part of the history of our race in its 
 progress from the darkness and superstition of bar- 
 barism, to the present high position of enlighten- 
 ment and civilization. How then could the ordin- 
 ary reader, who is compelled to toil from day to day 
 to support himself and family, ever expect to ac- 
 quaint himself with them by detail, when he has 
 neither the time nor means to search for them 
 among the records of the past? It is simply impos- 
 sible. The strength of the Democratic party, so far 
 as mere numbers is concerned, is in the toiling mil- 
 lions of our country, and in truth it should be equal- 
 ly strong in the general intelligence of the voters on 
 the subject of those prii^ciples; because in the qust •
 
 30 Why ive are Democrats ? 
 
 ness, the correctness and imperative necessitj^ of the 
 application of those principles in the administration 
 of free government, lies the real strength of the 
 Democratic party. It therefore becomes the duty 
 of the members of that party, when they thus had 
 brought together, in a brief, codified, consolidated 
 form, these principles, by means of which they may 
 the more easily learn and comprehend them, to give 
 some little attention to acquire a better knowledge 
 of them. 
 
 Surely sufficient time to peruse these pages can 
 be gained from the hours of labor, and it certainly 
 is the imperative duty of every freeman to learn 
 more of the administration of public affairs, in order 
 to promote his own welfare, and transmit to poster- 
 ity the beneficent form of government bequeathed 
 to us by the Democratic Fathers of the Republic. 
 
 There is another reason why it is the duty of 
 Democrats to be well informed as to their recog- 
 nized principles. Not everything which claims to 
 be Democracy, is always such, in the popular accep- 
 tation of the term. As an illustration may be cited 
 the maxim, " that the majority must rule" — which 
 is a recognized Democratic doctrine; but it taken in 
 its absolute sense, without reference to constitutional 
 limitations, the doctrine might degenerate into mere 
 Communism, which is by no means Democracy as 
 understood by the party. Communism elevates the 
 state above the citizen; Democracy elevates the cit- 
 izen, shields him in his personal rights, and makes
 
 Why we are Democrats ? 31 
 
 him a freeman indeed. Thus it is that care must be 
 taken to distinguish the true from the false Democ- 
 racy, and in order to do this it becomss our duty to 
 correctly inform ourselves as to what really is the 
 genuine article. 
 
 Party names do not always mean what they ex- 
 press. Intelligent men are obliged to go beneath 
 the surface, and ascertain from the principles pro- 
 fessed, and the actions performed by political par- 
 ties^ whether their policies are founded on correct 
 principles, and will have the desired effect in bring- 
 ing peace, happiness and prosperity to the masses 
 affected by them. 
 
 So, also, parties may change, and names with 
 them, but principles never; and in the varied ques- 
 tions which arise in every free government, there is 
 ever a necessity for some new application of some 
 old, well established principles, so that, if properly 
 informed, few need long remain in doubt as to the 
 course they ought to pursue. 
 
 It is the duty of every voter to inform himself 
 thoroughly of the principles and methods of politi- 
 cal parties, so that when he identifies himself with 
 either, he may feel assured that he will be at ease 
 in its ranks, and be able to conscientiously maintain 
 and support its principles and purposes. It is to aid 
 the reader in this work that he is invited to ex- 
 amine the principles of the National Democratic 
 Party, in order to know for himself whether his 
 mind can give assent to its policy or not.
 
 32 Why tve are Democrats ? 
 
 To enable the reader, whether voter or candidate, 
 to more readily answer the question — AVhy am I a 
 Democrat ? — these pages are prepared, hoping they 
 will answer the purposes intended, and meet with a 
 cordial reception, not only from intelligent Demo- 
 crats who already can clearly render a reason for 
 the faith which is in them, but from those also who 
 are m search of information on the subject. 
 
 This duty of the voter, and most especially of the 
 Democratic voter, to inform himself of the tenets of 
 his party being so self-evident, he will be prepared 
 to enter upon the study of the same as they are 
 gathered from the sources already indicated. As 
 they are presented in consecutive order he will find 
 new truths enunciated and principles exemplified, 
 that, we doubt not, he will be able to apply them to 
 almost any question which may arise under either 
 our national or state administrations, and keep him- 
 sels in perfect harmony with the living principles 
 of the American Democracy.
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE GREAT LEADERS- 
 WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S LEGACY TO HIS COUNTRY—HIS PLEA FOR UNION- 
 UNION A FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINE OF DEMOCRACY — WARNS 
 AGAINST SECTIONALISM — THE HEAPING UP OF PUBLIC DEBT — 
 URGES HIS COUNTRY TO DEAL WISELY WITH FOREIGN NATIONS 
 — TO GUARD AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF INNOVATION— JEFFERSON 
 THE BEST EXPOUNDER OP DEMOCRACY — "FATHER OF THE 
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY." — MANIFESTO OF MARCH 4TH, 1801 — A 
 PLATFORM OF SIXTEEN PLANKS. 
 
 Washington lived before the days of party poli- 
 tics. He exemplified his principles by his conduct, 
 whether at the head of the army or of the civil ad- 
 ministration. He had studied well the principles of 
 free governments in former ages, and was well 
 grounded in the faith. In his farew^ell address to 
 the American people he left a legacy any party 
 might well be proud of. Not because he was at the 
 head of a so-called Democratic or Republican or 
 aiiy party, but because the few fundamental prin- 
 ples upon which rested the perpetuity of the Union, 
 which he announced, have always been a part of 
 the faith of the Democracy, does it become appro- 
 priate here to insert those principles. No person
 
 34 Why we are Democrats ? 
 
 can be a sound Democrat, who cannot give unquali- 
 fied assent to them. In substance he announced 
 the following principles: 
 
 " The union of the government is the main pillar 
 in the edifice of our real independence. The support 
 of our tranquility at home, our peace abroad, of our 
 safety and our prosperity — yea of the very liberty 
 all so highly prize." 
 
 He warned his countrymen that from different 
 causes and from different quarters, great pains 
 would be taken (as was the case three-quarters of a 
 century after that), and many artifices would be 
 employed to weaken in the minds of the people, the 
 conviction of this great truth. He told them that 
 this was a point in their political fortress against 
 tvhich the batteries of internal and external enemies 
 ivould most constantly and most actively, though 
 covertly and insidiously, direct their assaults. 
 
 He entreated them to cherish a cordial, habitual- 
 and immovable attachment to the Union ; accus, 
 toming them to think and speak o^ it as the palla- 
 dium of their political safety and prosperity^ watch- 
 ing for its preservation with jealous anxiety, dis- 
 countenancing whatever might even suggest a sus- 
 picion that it could in any event be abandoned; and 
 indignantly frown upon the first daivning of every 
 attempt to alienate any portion of our countrymen 
 from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which 
 link together the various parts of our common coun 
 try.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 35 
 
 Whether lie calk'd himself a Democrat or not 
 makes no difference — this principle of cherishing an 
 absolute devotion to the existence of the Union, 
 under one form of government, is a sacred Democratic 
 principle that must be subscribed to by every citizen 
 of this great Republic who aspires to be called an 
 American Democrat. It is because Democrats have 
 ever entertained the same convictions, and (save 
 by men avIio called tliemselves Democrats, but had 
 forgotten or disregarded the warning voice of 
 "Washington, and went into a rebellion against the 
 government, thereby seeking to destroy the Union) 
 have ever been true to these principles, and above 
 all other parties, most profoundly impressed with 
 the truth of this doctrine, that they have been 
 Democrats. 
 
 Washington sought by most cogent arguments to 
 impress upon his countrymen, that all parts of the 
 country, North, South, East and West, had a common 
 destiny and a common interest in the general welfare 
 of every other section, and because each added strength 
 and security to the other, and in this sense the Union 
 was the main prop of our liberties, so that the love 
 for one should endear to the people the preservation of 
 the other, and thus become the primary object of patri- 
 otic desire. 
 
 Democrats believe all this; and though the party 
 itself became distracted, and many of its adherents 
 were dragged into a rebellion, still, as soon as mili- 
 tarv force was overcome and the conviction of the
 
 36 Why we are DemoQvats. 
 
 mind could be freely exercised, even those again 
 became as ardently attached to the Union as any 
 other portion of our people, and since the close of 
 the war have sought by every means within their 
 power to bring together and bind more closely the 
 whole people of this Union in the bonds of a fra- 
 ternal brotherhood of states. 
 
 Washington ivarned his countnjmen against sec- 
 tionalism ! He cautioned them that designing men, 
 as they ever have, would endeavor to excite a 
 belief that there was a real difference of local in- 
 terests and views. He said one of the expedients of 
 partyism would be to acquire influence in one par- 
 ticular section, by misrepresenting the opinions and 
 aims of another section, and that they could not 
 shield themselves too much against the jealousies 
 and heart-burnings aroused by these misrepresenta- 
 tions, which tended to alienate the sections from 
 each other, instead of binding them more closely 
 together with fraternal regard and affection. It is 
 because they have seen the Democratic party en- 
 deavoring by every possible means in its power to 
 inculcate these same great truths, while its oppon- 
 ents have conducted themselves towards one sec- 
 tion precisel}'' in the way and manner Washington 
 suggested men would, that they are forced to be 
 Democrats, when true to their convictions of right. 
 
 He cautioned his countrymen against heaping up 
 public debts for posterity to pay, thus ungenerously 
 throiving upon them burdens which ive, ourselves,
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. 37 
 
 should pay. This whole business of bonded indebt- 
 edness is un-Democratic, and ought not to be in- 
 dulged in, if by any means it can be avoided. It is 
 true that Democrats have been led astray by the 
 plausible arguments of those who regarded " public 
 debts as public blessings," still Mie Democratic party 
 as sucli, has ever denounced the practice, and be- 
 cause they have always coincided with Washing- 
 ton's teaching in this particular, they are Democrats. 
 
 Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, 
 he conjured his fellow-citizens, their jealousy ouglit 
 to be constantly awake. Numerous opportunities 
 would be offered, he said, to tamper with domestic 
 factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mis- 
 lead public opinion, to influence public councils. 
 
 No attachment, therefore, for one nation to the ex- 
 clusion of another should he tolerated. Such con- 
 duct would lead to concessions to one nation, and 
 denials of privileges to others, and would invite a 
 multitude of evils upon it. 
 
 It is because this has been a fundamental prin- 
 ciple of the Democratic party, who most heartily 
 believe in the doctrine, hence they are Democrats. 
 
 Washington also advised his countrymen to re- 
 sist ivith care the spirit of innovation upon the 
 principles on which the government icas founded, 
 however specious the pretext might be. One 
 method of assault would be, he said, to effect under 
 the forms of the Constitution, alterations which 
 would impair the whole system. It is because.
 
 38 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 impressed by the truth of these teachings of Wash- 
 ington, the Democratic party has opposed the 
 numerous amendments constantly being proposed, 
 that the3' are Democrats, believing that in this they 
 adhere more strictly to the teachings of Washing- 
 ton, than any other party. 
 
 Believing therefore that the principles of Wash- 
 ington are correct and true, worthy to be practised 
 and in accord with the principles of free govern- 
 ment, they are not ashamed to avow these reasons 
 for being Democrats. 
 
 It would be well if Democrats more closely 
 studied these principles, and in deciding questions 
 of public policy, and measures designed for the 
 welfare of the people, would apply these doctrines in 
 arriving at conclusions, and we doubt not that they 
 would invariably arrive at a correct conclusion. 
 
 A.lthougli in his time- not called " a Democrat," 
 yet the leader of what was then known as the Re- 
 publican party, contending against the federal, or 
 strong govui'nment party, Thomas Jefferson was 
 perhaps one of the besi expounders of those princi- 
 ples now held by the Democratic party, among all 
 of the revolutionary sages. 
 
 In liis writings and official messages as President, 
 we find frequent allusions to, and a rigid applica- 
 tion of them in the administration of public affairs, 
 so that he has been called "the Father of the Demo- 
 cratic party " It was peculiarly appropriate that he 
 should do so, because, though early in the history
 
 Why toe are Democrats. 41 
 
 mation. The wisdom of our sages, and the blood of 
 our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment. 
 They shouldhe the creed of our poUticalfaith, the text 
 of civic instruction, the touchstone hy which to tiy the 
 services of those we trust; and sliould we wander from 
 tliem in moments of error or alarm, let us hnsten to 
 retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone 
 leads to peace, liberty and safety." 
 
 It is because Democrats believe every one of those 
 fundamental principles to be true, that they are .Demo- 
 crats.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE GREAT LEADERS 
 
 CONTINUED— MADISON AND 
 
 JACKSON. 
 
 MADISON "THE FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION"— STUDENT OF 
 FRE'^ GOVERNMENTS— ECHOES THE SENTIMENTS OF HIS JPRED 
 ECEGSORS — SEVENTEEN PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY — A COM 
 PREHENSIVE AXIOM OF FREEDOM— ANDREW JACKSON " THE 
 PRIDE OF DEMOCRACY" — EIGHT YEARS OF JEALOUS DEVOTION 
 TO THE DEMOCRATIC CAUSE— JACKSON'S POLITICAL CREED. 
 
 Democrats believe in a full, unequivocal, and 
 heart}^ support of the Constitution, in a strict con- 
 struction of it, and in the spirit and the purpose for 
 for which it was formed, and in Madison, also, who 
 took such a deep interest in its formation, as to be 
 called "the Father of the Constitution," they have 
 another exponent of sound Democratic principles. 
 
 He knew well the principles on which that consti- 
 tution was founded. He had studied the rise, pro- 
 gress, decay and fall of every free government 
 which had gone before, and profiting by the very 
 misfortunes of other nations, he had secured in the 
 adoption of our Constitution, such principles as he 
 fondly believed would prevent us as a people from 
 falling into similar errors. Standing upon the
 
 Why we are Democrats 43 
 
 threshold of his great office, as President of the 
 United States, succeeding Jefferson, he announced 
 the following as additional principles, vital to the 
 welfare of the American people, in their intercourse 
 with foreign nations. They were in part but the 
 echoes, of what came from the lips of Washington 
 and Jefferson, and became the policy of the Demo- 
 cratic party ever since. He announced them as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 1. To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with 
 all nations having a corresponding disposition. 
 
 2. To maintain sincere neutrality towards bellig- 
 erent nations. 
 
 3. To prefer, in all cases, amicable discussions 
 and reasonable accommodation of differences, to a 
 decision of them by an appeal to arms. 
 
 4. To exclude foreign intrigues, and foreign par- 
 tialties, so degrading to all countries, and so bane- 
 ful to free ones. 
 
 5. To foster a spirit of independence, too just to 
 invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender 
 our own; too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices 
 ourselves, and not too elevated to look down upon 
 them in others. 
 
 6. To hold the Union of the States as the basis of 
 their peace and happiness. 
 
 7. To support the Constitution which is the 
 cement of the Union, as icell in its limitations as 
 in its authorities.
 
 44 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 8. To respect the rights and authorities reserved 
 to the states and the people, as equally incorporated 
 with and essential to the success of the general 
 system. 
 
 9. To avoid the slightest interferences with the 
 rights of conscience or the functions of religion, so 
 wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction. 
 
 10. To preserve in their full energy the salutary 
 provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, 
 and the freedom of the press. 
 
 11. To observe economy in public expenditures. 
 
 12. To liberate public resources by an honorable 
 discharge of the public debts, 
 
 13. To keep within the requisite limits a stand- 
 ing military force — always remembering, that an 
 armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of 
 republics. 
 
 14. That without standing armies their liberties 
 can never be in danger, nor with large ones, safe. 
 
 15. To promote by authorized means improve- 
 ments friendly to agriculture, to commerce, to 
 manufactures, and to external as well as internal 
 commerce. 
 
 IG. To favor in like manner the advancement of 
 science and the diffusion of information, as the best 
 aliment of true liberty. 
 
 17. To carry on benevolent plans for the conver- 
 sion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degra- 
 dation and wretchedness of savage life, to a partici- 
 pation of the improvements of which the human
 
 Why we are Democrats. 45 
 
 mind and manners are susceptible in a civilized 
 state. 
 
 In one of his messages he also laid down the 
 principle, that a well-instructed people alone can be 
 permanently free. 
 
 In the principles of Andrew Jackson the Democ- 
 racy take great pride. From his Inaugural address 
 on March 4th, 1829, to the close of his administra- 
 tion of eight years, in every message to Congress he 
 uttered Democratic sentiments in a terse, vigorous 
 style, which, on account of their self-evident truth 
 deeply rooted themselves in American hearts, and 
 became the principles of the Democratic party, 
 which, during his administration first took that 
 name, and which it has held ever since. They are 
 found scattered all through his messages, and were 
 his guide in deciding all questions of national policy, 
 so many of which pressed themselves upon him 
 during his term of office. From these the follow- 
 ing may be selected and placed in order, which 
 should be thoroughly studied and applied to all 
 questions which may even now arise. 
 
 1. He said: "■Regard should be had for the rights 
 of the several States, taking care not to confound 
 the poivers reserved to them, ivith those they had in 
 the Constitution granted to the general government." 
 
 2. In every aspect of the case, advantage must 
 result from strict and faithful economy in the ad- 
 ministration of public affairs.
 
 46 W7iy ive are Democrats. 
 
 3. He declared the unnecessary duration of the 
 public debt incompatible with real independence. 
 
 4. In the adjustment of a tariff for revenue, he 
 insisted that a spirit of equity, caution and com- 
 promise requires the great interests of agriculture, 
 manufactures and commerce to be equally favored. 
 
 5. He admitted the policy of internal improve- 
 ments to be wise only, in so far as they could be 
 promoted by constitutional acts of the general 
 government. 
 
 G. He declared standing armies to be dangerous 
 to free government, and that the military should be 
 in strict subordination to the civil power. 
 
 7. He declared the National Militia to be the 
 bulwark of our national defence. In enforcing this 
 principle he declared that, so long as the govern- 
 ment was administered for the good of the people, 
 and regulated by their will — so long as it secured lo 
 the people the rights of person and of property, 
 liberty of conscience and of the press, the govern- 
 ment would be worth defending, and so long as ii 
 was worth defending, the patriotic militia would 
 cover it with an impenetrable cegis. 
 
 8. He pledged himself to the work of reform in 
 the administration, so that the patronage of the 
 general government which had been brought into 
 conflict with the freedom of elections, and had dis- 
 turbed the rightful course of appointments, by 
 continuing in power unfaithful and incompetent 
 servants, should no longer be used for that purpose.
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 47 
 
 9. He declared his belief in the principle, that the 
 integrity and zeal of public officers would advance 
 the interests of the public service more than mere 
 numbers. 
 
 10. He declared the right of i\\Q people to elect a 
 President, and that it was never designed that 
 their choice shoukl in any case be defeated by the 
 intervention of agents; enforcing this principle by 
 saying what experience had amply proved, that in 
 proportion as agents were multipUed to execute the 
 will of the people, there was the danger increased, 
 that their wishes would be frustrated. Some maij 
 he unfaithful— all liable to err. So far then as the 
 people were concerned, it was better for them to 
 express their own will. 
 
 11. The inajoritij should govern. No President 
 elected by a minority could so successfully dis- 
 charge his duties, as he who knew he was supported 
 by the majority of the people. 
 
 13. He advocated rotation in office. Corruption, 
 he said, would spring up among those in power, and 
 therefore he thought appointments should not be 
 made for a longer period than four years. Every 
 body had equal right to office, and he favored re- 
 movals as a leading principle, which would give 
 healthful action to the political system. 
 
 13. He advocated unfettered commerce, free 
 from restrictive tariff laws, leaving it to flow into 
 those natural channels in which individual enter-
 
 48 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 prise, always the surest and safest guide, might di- 
 rect it. 
 
 11. He opposed specific tariffs, because subject to 
 frequent changes, generally produced by selfish mo- 
 tives, and under such influences, could never be 7^st 
 and equal. 
 
 15. The proper fostermg of manufactures and 
 commerce tended to increase the value of agricul- 
 tural products. 
 
 16. In cases of real doubt, as to matters of mere 
 public policy, he advocated a direct appeal to the 
 people, the source of all power, as the most sacred 
 of all obligations, and the wisest and most safe 
 course to pursue. 
 
 17. He advocated a just and equitable bankrupt 
 law, as beneficial to the country at large, because 
 after the means to discharge debts had entirely been 
 exhausted, not to discharge them, only served to 
 dispirit the debtor, sink him into a state of apathy, 
 make him a useless drone in society, or a vicious 
 member of it, if not a feeling witness of the rigor 
 and inhumanity of his country. Oppressive debt 
 being the bane of enterprise, it should be the care of 
 the republic not to exert a grinding power over mis- 
 fortune and poverty. 
 
 18. He declared in favor of the principle, that no 
 money should be expended, until first appropriated 
 for the purpose by the legislature. The people paid 
 the taxes, and their direct representatives should 
 alone have the right to sixy 'vliat they should be
 
 Why ice are Democrats ? 49 
 
 taxed for, in what sums, and how, and when it 
 should be paid. 
 
 19. He utterly opposed the system of govern- 
 ment aiding private corporations in making inter- 
 nal improvements. It was deceptive and conducive 
 of improvidence in the expenditure of public mon 
 ies. For this purpose appropriations could be ob- 
 tained with greater facilities, granted with inade- 
 quate security, and frequently complicated the 
 administration of government. 
 
 20. The operations of the general government 
 should be strictly confined to the fe^^^ simple, but 
 important objects for which it was originally de- 
 signed. 
 
 *^1. He favored the veto power in the executive, 
 hut only to be exercised in cases of attempted viola- 
 tion of the Constitution, or in cases next to it in im- 
 portance. 
 
 22. He advocated State rights, as far as consist- 
 ent with the rightful action of the general govern- 
 ment, as the very best means of preserving harmony 
 between them; and pronounced this the true faith, 
 and the one to which might be mainly attributed the 
 success of the entire system, and to which alone we 
 must look for stability in it. 
 
 ?3. He advoc. ted " a uniform and sound cur- 
 rency," but doubted the constitutionalty and expe- 
 diency of a national bank; and afterwards made his 
 administration famous by successfully opposing the 
 renewal of its charter.
 
 50 1T7/// loe are Democrats. 
 
 24. Precious metals as the only currency known 
 to the constitution. Their peculiar properties ren- 
 dered them the standard of values in other countries 
 and had been adopted in this. The experience of 
 the evils of paj^er money had made it so obnoxious 
 in the past, tliat tlie framers of tlie constitution had 
 forbidden its adoption as the legal tender currency 
 of the country. 
 
 Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a 
 currency not based upon those metals. Expansion 
 and contraction, without regard to principles which 
 regulate the value of those mettds, as a standard in 
 the general ti-ade of the world were, he said, ex- 
 tremely pernicious. 
 
 Where these properties are not infused into the 
 circulation, and do not control it, pi ices must vary, 
 according to the tide of the issue; the value and 
 stability of property exposed, uncertainty attending 
 the administration of institutions, constantly liable 
 to temptations of an intei'est distinct from that of 
 the community at large, all this attended by loss to 
 the laboring class, who have neither time nor op- 
 portunity to watch the ebb and flow of the money 
 market. 
 
 25. He renews his advocacy of a cheerful com- 
 pliance with the will of the majority ; and the exer- 
 cise of the jwioer as expressed in a spirit of modera- 
 tion, justice a7id hrotherly kindness^ as the best 
 means to cement, and forever ^;7'*^,<?<'r'y« the Union. 
 Those, he closes, who advocate sentiments adverse
 
 TTV.y ve ure Democrats. 51 
 
 to tliose cxj)ressed, however honest, are, m effect, the 
 worst enemies of tlieir country. 
 
 These are principles as enunciated by eminent states- 
 men of the Democratic party, and ahnost universally 
 quoted as sound Democratic doctrines. In fact they 
 are absolutely received as such. Our attention will now 
 be directed to the principles, as declared by Democratic 
 National Conventions, which are, of course, binding 
 upon all loyal members of the Democratic party.
 
 CHAPTEB YI. 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1800-1836-1840. 
 
 THE PLATFORM ON WHICH THOMAS JEFFEKSON WAS ELECT- 
 ED MARTIN VAN BUREN, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE 
 
 PLATFORM OF 1836 PLATFORM OF THE BALTIMORE CON- 
 VENTION, MAY 5th, 181:0. 
 
 There is no record of political platforms previous 
 to the year A. D. 1800. In that year, at a Congres- 
 sional caucus held, the following- platform was adopted, 
 upon which Thomas Jefferson was elected President, in 
 opposition to John Adams : 
 
 1. An inviolable preservation of the Federal Con- 
 stitution according to the true sense in which it was 
 adopted by the States, tiiat in w^hich it was advocated 
 by its friends, and not that its enemies apprehended, 
 who therefore became its enemies. 
 
 2. Opposition to monarchizing its features by the 
 forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate 
 a transition, first to a President and Senate for life 
 and secondly, to a hereditary tenure of those offices, 
 and thus to worm out the elective principle. 
 
 3. Preservation to the States of the powers not 
 yielded by them to the Union, and to the Legishx- 
 ture of the Fnion its constitutional share in division
 
 IVhy we are Democrats. 5i 
 
 of powers; and resistance, therefore, to existing 
 movements for transferring all the powers of the 
 States to the general government, and all of those 
 of that government to the executive branch. 
 
 4. A rigorous, frugal administration of the gov- 
 ernment, and the application of all the possible 
 savings of the public revenue to the liquidation of 
 the public debt; and resistance, therefore, to all 
 measures looking to a multiplication of officers and 
 salaries merely to create partisans, and to augment 
 the public debt on the principle of its being a public 
 blessing. 
 
 5. Reliance for internal defence solely upon tha 
 militia till actual invasion ; and for such nava' 
 force only as may be sufficient to protect our c^of'sts 
 and harbors from depredations; and opposition, 
 therefore, to the policy of a standing army in time 
 of peace, which may overawe the public sentiment, 
 and to a navy, which by its own expenses and the 
 wars in which it will implicate us, will grind us 
 with public burdens, and sink us under them. 
 
 6. Free commerce with all nations; political con- 
 nection with none, and little or no diplomatic 
 establishment. 
 
 7. Opi^osition to linking ourselves by new 
 treaties with the quarrels of Europe, entering their 
 fields of slaughter to preserve their balance, or 
 joining in the confederacy of kings to war against 
 the principles of liberty. 
 
 8. Freedom of religion and o.ppos-mon to alJ
 
 94 iVhy we are Democrats. 
 
 maneuvers to bring about a legal establishment 
 of one sect over another. 
 
 9. Freedom of speech and of the press; and 
 opposition, therefore, to all violations of -the con- 
 stitution, to silence by force and not by reason the 
 complaints of criticisms, just or unjust, of our 
 citizens against the conduct of their public agents. 
 
 10. Liberal naturalization laws under which the 
 well disposed of all nations who may desire to 
 embark their fortunes with us and share w^ith us 
 the public burdens, may have that opportunit}' 
 under moderate restrictions, for the development of 
 honest intention, and severe ones to guard against 
 the usurpation of our flag. 
 
 11. Encouragement of science and the arts in 
 all their branches, to the end that the American 
 people may perfect their independence of all 
 foreign monopolies, institutions and influences. 
 
 Upon the foregoing platform Thomas Jefferson 
 was elected President, over John Adams, the 
 Federal candidate. 
 
 Democratic Platform of 1836. — From the time 
 that Thomas Jefl"erson was elected President, down 
 to January, A. D. 1836, when Martin Van Buren 
 became the Democratic candidate, we find no form 
 al declaration of principles by the party, as an- 
 nounced by Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jack- 
 son, stated in another part of this volume, in their 
 messages to Congress, forming the leading tenets
 
 ^yhy we are Democrats. 55 
 
 of the party, and to which, afterwards, frequent 
 allusions are made in the declarations of principles 
 by the Democratic party: 
 
 In January, A. I). 1830, the following platform of 
 principles was ]Hit forth by the party. 
 
 " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
 men are created free and equal, that they are en- 
 dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
 rights, among whicli are life, liberty, and the pur- 
 suit of happiness; that the true foundation of 
 Eepublican Government is the equal rights of every 
 citizen in his person and propei'ty and in their 
 management; that the idea is quite unfounded that 
 on entering into society we give up our natural 
 right ; that the rightful powder of all legislation is to 
 declare and enforce only our natural right to com- 
 mit aggressions on the equal rights of anothei', and 
 this is all from v.hich the law ought to restrain him; 
 that every man is under tlie natural duty of con- 
 tributing to the necessities of society, and this is 
 all the law should enforce on him; that when the 
 laws have declared and enforced all this, they have 
 fulfilled their functions. 
 
 We declare unqualified hostility to oank notes 
 and paper money as a circulating medium, * because 
 gold and silver is the only safe and constitutional 
 currency ; opposition to any and all monopolies by 
 
 ""This had reference to the issue of pni or ivioiuy b}- iin sponsible 
 private corporations.
 
 56 Why we are Ihihocrats. 
 
 legislation, because they are violations of eoua* 
 rights of the people; hostility to the dangerous and 
 unconstitutional creation of vestticl riglits or pre. 
 rogatives by legislation, b^'^ause the}' are usurpa- 
 tions cf the peoples' sovereign rights; no legislative 
 or other authority in the body politic can rightfully 
 by charter or otherwise, exempt any man or body 
 of men in any case whatever from trial by jury, 
 and the jurisdiction or operation of the ]aws which 
 govern the community. 
 
 We hold that each and every law or act of iii- 
 corporation passed by preceding legislatures can be 
 • rightfully altered and repealed by their successors, 
 and that they should be altered or repealed when 
 necessary for the public good, or when required by 
 a majority of the people. 
 
 Platform of 1840. — On Mav 5th, 1840, the fol- 
 lowing platform was adopted oy the Democracy, in 
 convention assembled at Baltimore: 
 
 1. Resolved, That the Federal Government is 
 one of limited powers, derived solely from the 
 Constitution, and the grants of power shown there- 
 in, ought to be strictly construed by all the depart- 
 ments and agents of the government, and that it is 
 inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful 
 constitutional powers. 
 
 2, That the Constitution does not confer upon 
 the General GoVe'rniment 1?he powigr to commenc-*
 
 Why we are Democrats. 51 
 
 and carry on a general system of internal improve- 
 ments. 
 
 3. That the Constitution does not confer authority 
 upon the Federal Government directly or indirectly, 
 to assume the debts of the several states contracted 
 for local internal improvements or other state pur- 
 poses, nor would such an assumption be just or 
 expedient. 
 
 4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Fede- 
 ral Government to foster one branch of industry to 
 the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests 
 of one portion to the injury of another portion of 
 our common country; that every citizen and every 
 section of the country has a right to demand and 
 insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and 
 to complete and ample protection of persons and 
 property from domestic violence or foreign aggres- 
 sion. 
 
 5. That it is the duty of every branch of govern- 
 ment to enforce and practice the most rigid econo- 
 my in conducting our public affairs, and that no 
 more revenue ought to he raised than is required to 
 defray the necessary expenses of the government. 
 
 6. That Congress has no power to charter a 
 United States bank; that we believe such an institu- 
 tion one of deadly hostility to the best interests ot 
 the country, dangerous to our Republican institu- 
 tions and the liberties of the people, and calculated 
 to place the business of the country within the
 
 58 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 control of a concentrated money power, and above the 
 laws and the will of tlie people. 
 
 7. That Congress has no power under the Con- 
 stitution to interfere with or control the domestic 
 institutions of the several States ; and that such 
 States are tlie sole and proper judges of everything 
 pertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by_ 
 the Constitution; that all efforts by Abolitionists or 
 others made to induce Congress to interfere with 
 questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in 
 relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most 
 alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all 
 such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish 
 the happiness of the people, and endanger the sta- 
 bility and permanence of the Union, and ought not 
 to be countenanced by any friend to our political insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 8. That the separation of the moneys of the gov- 
 ernment from banking institutions, is indispensible for 
 the safety of the funds of the government and the 
 rights of the people. 
 
 9. That the liberal principles embodied by Jeffer- 
 son in the Declaration of Independence, and sanc- 
 tioned in the Constitution, which makes ours a land 
 of liberty, and the asylum of the oppressed of every 
 nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the 
 Democratic faith, and every attempt to abridge the 
 present privileges of becoming citizens and the 
 owners of st:)il amongst us, ought to be resisted with
 
 Why ice are Democrats. 59 
 
 the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition 
 laws from our statute book. 
 
 [Here follow several resolutions as to a candidate 
 for the Vice-Presidency, not necessary to insert. 
 —Ed. J
 
 CHAPTEE YIl. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1844-1848-1852-1856. 
 
 18-14 — RESOLUTIONS ADDITIONAL TO PLATFORM OF 1840 — BAL- 
 TIMORE PLATFORM, MAY 32, 1848— BALTIMORE PLATFORM, 
 JUNE 1, 1852 — CINCINNATI PLATFORM, JUNE, 1856. 
 
 The entire platform of A. D. 1840 was affirmed, to 
 which were added the following resolutions: 
 
 10. That the proceeds of the public lands ought 
 to be sacredly applied to national objects, specified 
 in the Constitution, and we are opposed to the laws 
 lately adopted, and to any law for fhe distribution 
 of such proceeds among the states, as alike inexpe- 
 dient in policy, and repugnant to the constitution. 
 
 11. That we are decidedly opposed to taking from 
 the President the qualified veto power, by which he 
 is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities 
 amply sufficient to guard the public interest, to sus- 
 pend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot se- 
 cure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, until the judgment of the 
 ^ -^ople can be obtained thereon, and which has 
 thrice saved the American people from corrupt and 
 
 vrannical domination of the Bank of the United 
 St'ites. 
 l\ That our title to the who-le of the territory of
 
 Why we are Democrats. 61 
 
 Oregon is clear and unquestionable: that no portion 
 thereof ought to be ceded to England, or any other 
 power, and that the re-occupation of Oregon, and 
 the re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practical 
 period, are great American measures, which this 
 convention recommends to the cordial support of the 
 Democracy of the Union 
 
 Democratic platform, 1848— Baltimore, May 22. 
 
 1. That the American Democracy place their 
 trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the dis- 
 crimination of the American people. 
 
 2. That we regard this as a distinctive feature of 
 our political creed, which we are proud to maintain 
 before the world, as the great moral element in a 
 form of government springing from and upheld by 
 the popular will; and contrast it with the creed and 
 practice of federalism, under whatever name or 
 form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constitu- 
 ent, and which conceives no imposture too mon- 
 strous for the popular credulity. 
 
 3. That entertaining these views, the Democratic 
 party of the Union, through the delegates assem- 
 bled in Genera] Convention of the States, coming to- 
 gether in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doc- 
 trines and faith of a free representative govern- 
 ment, and appealing to their fellow citizens, for the 
 rectitude of their intentions, renew and re-assert, 
 before the American people, the declaration of prin- 
 ciples avowed by them on a former occasion, vvhen,
 
 63 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 in general convention, they presented their candi- 
 dates for the popular suffrage. 
 
 [Here resolutions No 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the platform 
 of A. D. 1840, were reaffirmed.] 
 
 8. That it is the duty of every branch of the gov- 
 ernment to enforce and practice the most rigid eco- 
 nomy in conducting our public affairs, and that no 
 more revenue ought to be raised than is required to 
 defray the necessary expenses of the government, 
 and for the gradual hut certain extinction of the 
 debt created by the prosecution of a just 'and neces- 
 sary war, [a resolution of which the author takes 
 occasion to remark, by way of parenthesis, could 
 not well be improved to meet the exegencies of the 
 present day.] 
 
 Resolutions numbers seven, eight and nine of the 
 platform of A. D. 1840 were her*? '"serted, which it 
 is unnecessary here to repeat, after which the plat- 
 form proceeds to resolve as follows: 
 
 13. The proceeds of the public lands ought to be 
 sacredly applied to the national objects specified in 
 the Constitution; and that we are opposed to any 
 law for the distribution of such proceeds among the 
 states as alike inexpedient in policy, and repugnant 
 to the Constitution, 
 
 14. That we are decidedly opposed to taking 
 from the President the qualified veto power, by 
 which he is enabled under restrictions and respon- 
 sibilities amply sufficient to guard the public inter- 
 ests, to suspend, the passage of a bill whose merits
 
 Why lue are Democrats. 63 
 
 cannot secure the approval of two-thj\'ds of the Sen- 
 ate and House of Representatives, until the judg- 
 ment of the people can be obtained thereon, and 
 which has saved the American people from the cor- 
 rupt and tyrannical domination of the bank of the 
 United States, and from a corrupting system of gen- 
 eral internal improvements. 
 
 15. This resolution was a simple justification of 
 the Mexican war, and announced no distinctive 
 principle of the party, and so the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth were resolutions of congratulations 
 upon the results of axe war, and the duty of the 
 government toward the brave soldiers who so brave- 
 ly did their duty in the service of their country dur- 
 ing that war. 
 
 The eighteenth resolution extended congratulations 
 to the national convention of the Republic of 
 France, and their best wishes for the success of free 
 government to the people of France, but enunciates 
 no new principle of the Democratic party properly 
 within the scope of this work, and consequently 
 here omitted. The only principle reiterated is that, 
 *he inherent and inalienable rights of the joeople, in 
 their sovereign capacity to make and to amend their 
 forms of government in such manner as the welfare 
 of the community may require. 
 
 The platform proceeds to declare: 
 
 That in view of the recent development of 
 this grand political truth of the sovereignty of the 
 people, and their capacity and power of self-govern-
 
 64 Why lue are Democrats. 
 
 ment, which is prostrating thrones, ;ind erecting 
 republics on the ruins of despotism in ih^^^ old world, 
 we feel that a high and sa,cred duty is devolved 
 with increased responsibility, upon the Democratic 
 party of this country, as the party of the people, to 
 sustain and advance among us constitutional liber- 
 ty, equality and fraternity, by continuing to resist 
 all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the ben- 
 efit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a 
 vigilant and constant adherence to those principles 
 and compromises of the constitution, which are 
 broad enough and strong enough to embrace and 
 uphold the Union as it ivas, the Union as it is, and 
 the Union as it shall be, in the full expansion of the 
 energies and capacity of this great and progressive 
 people. 
 
 The remainder of the platform of A. D. 1848, was 
 merely laudatory of the administration of President 
 Polk, expressive of confidence in his capacity, firm 
 ness and integrity, and congratulations upon the 
 success of his administration, 
 
 DEMOCRAriG PLATFORM OF 1852. — BALTIMORE, 
 
 June 1. — Tliis, platform is but a repetition of the 
 first nine planks of that of A. D. 1848, and then 
 proceeds as follows: 
 
 10. Tliat the separation of the monies of the 
 government from banking institutions is indespen- 
 sible for the safety of the funds of the government 
 and tlie rights of the people. 
 
 11. That the liberal principles embodied by Jef~
 
 Why ice are Democrats. G5 
 
 terson in the Declaration of Independence, and 
 sanctioned in the Constitution^ wliich makes ours 
 che kind of liberty, and the asylum of the oppressed 
 of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles 
 i.r. the Democratic faith; and every attempt to 
 Clbridge tht privilege of becoming citizens, and the 
 owners of ihe soil among us, ought to be resisted 
 with the Sc;:.me sp.^rit that swept the alien and sedi- 
 tion laws from our statute books. 
 
 13. That Congress has no power under the Con- 
 stitution to interfere witli or control the domestic 
 institutions of the several States, and that such 
 states are the sole and proper judges of everything 
 appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by 
 the Constitution; and that all efforts . . . made 
 to induce Congress to interfere with such questions 
 . . are calculated to lead to the most alarming 
 and dangerous consequences; and that all sucn ef- 
 forts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the 
 happiness of the people, and endanger the stabilit} 
 and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be 
 countenanced by any friend of our political institu- 
 tions. 
 
 The remainder of the resolution in ti^» platform 
 of A. D. 1853, is but a repetition of ot^ ^I'S already 
 given, or relates to temporary questions not within 
 the scope of this work, and therefore omit'-ed 
 
 Platform of 1856 — June G. — The platform of 
 A. D. 185G, adopted at Cincinnati, June Gth of that 
 year, is the most comprehensive of any that had
 
 66 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 preceded it, embracing all the leading resolutions 
 adopted and promulgated by the Democratic partj^ 
 for more than fifty years previous thereto, and an. 
 already stated in the previous platforms given in 
 this work, and therefore unnecessary to be here 
 again repeated, bui, as the old Whig party had 
 within the previous four years substantially been • 
 dissolved, and the so-called American, or Know 
 Nothing party had been organized in its place, rais- 
 ing new questions and issues, the convention to 
 meet those, added the following resolutions to the 
 platform, and this it did in the following language: 
 
 " Whereas: Since the foregoing declaration was 
 uniformly adopted by our predecessors in National 
 Conventions, an adverse political and religious test 
 has been secretly organized by a party claiming to 
 be exclusively American, and it is proper that the 
 American Democracy should clearly define its rela- 
 tions thereto, and declare its determined opposition 
 to all secret political societies, by whatever namt; 
 they may be called, therefore the convention 
 resolved, 
 
 That the foundation of this Union of States hav- 
 ing been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion and 
 pre-eminent example in free government built 
 upon entire, freedom of religious concernment, and 
 no respect of persons in regard to rank or place of 
 birth, no party can justly be deemed to be National. 
 Constitutional, or in accordance with American 
 principles, which bases its exclusive organization
 
 Why tve are Democrats. 67 
 
 upon religious grounds and accidental birth-place; 
 and hence a political crusade in the Nineteenth 
 Century, and in the United States of America, 
 against Catholics and foreign-born, is neither justi- 
 fied by the past history or future prospects of the 
 country, nor in unison with that spirit of toleration 
 and enlightened freedom which peculiarly dis 
 tingishes the American system of popular govern- 
 ment." 
 
 Here follow several resolutions to be found in the 
 platform of A. D. 1853, on the subject of slavery, 
 and leaving that position as fixed and settled upon 
 the basis of non-interference by Congress in the 
 domestic institutions of a State. In order to meet 
 distinctly the issue on which a sectional party liad 
 arisen, subsisting alone upon slavery agitation, the 
 Convention adopted the following additional resolu- 
 tions: 
 
 1. That claiming fellowship with, and desiring 
 the co-operation of all who regard the preservation 
 of the Union under the Constitution as the para- 
 mount issue, and repudiating all sectional parties 
 and platforms concerning domestic slavery which 
 seek to embroil the States and incite to treason and 
 armed resistance to law in the Territories, and 
 whose avowed purpose if consummated, must end 
 in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy 
 recognize and adopt the principles contained in the 
 organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas 
 and Nebraska, as embodying the only sound and
 
 ':S Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 •safe solution of the slavery question upon whicii 
 the great national 'dea of the people of this whole 
 country can repose in its determined conservation 
 of the Union, and non-interference of Congress 
 w^ith slavery in the Territories, or in the District of 
 Columbia. 
 
 3. That this was the basis of the compromise of 
 1850, confirmed by both the Democratic and Whig 
 parties in National Conventions, ratified by the 
 people in the elections of 1853, and rightly applied 
 to the organization of the Territories in A. D, 1854. 
 
 3. That by the uniform application of the Demo- 
 cratic principle to the organization of Territories 
 and the admission of new States with or without 
 domestic slavery as they may elect, the equal rights 
 of all the States will be preserved intact, the original 
 compacts of the Constitution maintained inviolate, 
 and the perpetuity and expansion of the Union 
 insured to its utmost capacity of embracing in peace 
 and harmony every future American State that 
 may be constituted or annexed, with a Kepublican 
 form of government. 
 
 That we recognize the right of the people of all 
 the Territories * * acting through the legally 
 and fairly expressed will of the majority of the 
 actual residents, and whenever the number of in- 
 habitants justifies it, to form a Constitution, with 
 or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into 
 the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the 
 other States."
 
 Why we are Democrats. 69 
 
 To these resolutions others were added upon new 
 subjects not indeed then agitated, but directing a 
 policy to be pursued in regard to them -whenever 
 the occasion would arise. The following are those 
 resolutions: 
 
 ' ' That in view of the condition of the popular insti- 
 tutions in the old world and the dangerous tenden- 
 cies of sectional agitation combined with the at- 
 tempt to enforce civil and religious disabilities 
 against the rights of acquiring and enjoying citizen- 
 ship in our own land, a high and sacred duty is 
 devolved with increased responsibility upon the 
 Democratic party of this country as the party of 
 the Union, to uphold and maintain the rights of 
 every State, and thereby the Union of the States, 
 and to sustain and advance among us constitutional 
 liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and 
 exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at 
 the expense of the many, and by vigilant and con- 
 stant adherence to those principles and compro- 
 mises of the Constitution which are broad enough 
 and strong enough to em.brace and uphold the 
 Union as it was, the Union as it is, and the Union 
 as it should be, in the full expression of the 
 energies and capacity of this great and progressive 
 people. 
 
 That there are questions connected with the 
 foreign policy of this country which are inferior to 
 no domestic question whatever. The time has come 
 for the people of the Uniced States to declare them
 
 70 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 selves in favor of free seas, and progressive free 
 trade throughout the world, and by solemn mani 
 festations to place tlieir moral influence at the side 
 of their successful example. 
 
 That our geographical and political position with 
 reference to other States of this continent no less 
 tha.li the interest of our commerce and development 
 of our growing power, requires that we should hold 
 sacred the principles involved in the Monroe 
 doctrine. Their bearing and import admit of no 
 misconstruction, and should be applied with unbend- 
 ing rigidity. 
 
 That the great highway which nature as well as 
 the assent of the States most immediately interested 
 in its maintenance, has marked out for free com- 
 munication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 
 constitutes one of the most important achieve- 
 ments realized by the spirit of modern times, in the 
 unconquerable energy of our people, and that result 
 would be secured by a timely and efficient exertion 
 of the control which we have the right to claim over 
 it; and no power on earth should be suffered to 
 impede or clog its progress by any interference with 
 relations that may suit our policy to establish be- 
 tween our government and the governments of 
 the States within whose dominion it lies; we can 
 inider no circumstances surrender our preponder- 
 unce in the adjustment of all questions arising out 
 of it. 
 
 That ru view of so commanding an interest, the
 
 Why ice are Democrats. 7x 
 
 people of the United States cannot but sympathize 
 with the efforts which are being made Ijy the people 
 of Central America to regenerate that portion of the 
 continent which covers the passage across the 
 inter-oceanic isthmus. 
 
 That the Democratic party will expect of the 
 next administration, that every proper effort will be 
 made to insure our ascendancy in the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico, and to maintain permanent protection to the 
 great outlets through which are emptied into its 
 waters the products raised out of the soil, and the 
 commodities created by the industry of the people 
 of our Western vaiievs, and of the TTnion at large.
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1800-1864. 
 
 CONVENTION AT CHARLESTON, APRIL 23, 1860— DIVISION IN THE 
 CONVENTION— HON B. F. BUTLER— RESOLUTIONS OF THE MIN- 
 ORITY—CHICAGO CONVENTION, AUG. 29, 1864 — RESOLUTIONS 
 —PACIFIC RAILROAD— ACQUISITION OF CUBA. 
 
 That v^e, the Democracy of the Union, in con- 
 vention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance 
 of the resolutions unanimously adopted and de- 
 clared as a platform of principles by the Democratic 
 Convention at Cincinnati in the year A.D. 185G, be- 
 lieving that Democratic principles are unchangeable 
 in their nature w^hen applied to the same subject 
 matters; and we recommend, as further resolu- 
 tions, the follow^ing: 
 
 insomuch as differences of opinion exist in the 
 Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the 
 powers of a territorial legislature, and as to the 
 powers and duty of Congress, under the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, over the institution of 
 slavery within the territories. 
 
 3, That the Democratic party will abide by the 
 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United ^'-tates 
 on the questions of Constitutional law.
 
 Why ice are Deniocrais. "^Z 
 
 3. That it is the duty of the United States to af- 
 ford ample and complete protection to all its citi- 
 zens, whether at home or abroad, and whether na 
 tive or foreign, 
 
 4. That one of the necessities of the age, in a 
 military, commercial and postal point of view, is 
 speedy communication between the Atlantic and 
 Pacific States; and the Democratic party pledge 
 such constitutional aid as will insure the construc- 
 tion of a railroad to the Pacific Coast, at the earli- 
 est practicable period. 
 
 5. That the Democratic party are in favor of the 
 acquisition of the Island of Cuba, on such terms as 
 shall be honorable to ourselves, and just to Spain. 
 
 Here a resolution was adopted, temporary in char- 
 acter, and the platform was closed by the follow- 
 ing resolution; 
 
 7. That it is in accordance with the true interpre- 
 tation of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the 
 existence of the territorial governments, the meas- 
 ure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by 
 the Federal Constitution on the power of the terrr 
 torial legislature, over the subject of domestic rela 
 tions, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, 
 finally determined by the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, shall be respected by all good citizens 
 and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every 
 branch of the general government. 
 
 A portion of the convention seceded from the re- 
 mainder, and organized in another hall, over whicii
 
 74 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 Hon. B, F. Butler, of Mass., presi^'ed, adopted the 
 following resolutions on the subjects, in contro- 
 versy, viz. : 
 
 1. That the government of a territory, organized 
 by an act of Congress is provisional and temporary, 
 and during its existence, all citizens of the United 
 States, have an equal right to settle, with their 
 property, in the territory, without their rights, either 
 of person or property, being destroyed or impaired 
 by Congressional or territorial legislation. 
 
 2. Tho.t it is the duty of the Federal government, 
 in all its departments, to protect when necessary 
 the rights of persons and properties in the territor- 
 ies, and wherever else its Constitutional authority 
 extends. 
 
 3. That when the settlers in a territory having 
 an adequate population form a state constitution in 
 pursuance of law, the right of sovereignty com- 
 mences, and being consummated by admission into 
 the Union, they stand on an equal footing with thg 
 people of other States, and the State thus organized 
 ought to be admitted into the Federal Union 
 whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the 
 institution of slavery. 
 
 These three last stated resolutions, compared with 
 the resolution number seven (7) preceding them, 
 shows the difference in the party concerning the sub- 
 ject of permitting or prohibiting slavery in the ter- 
 ritories of the United States.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 75 
 
 The rebellion having resulted in the abolition of 
 slavery, the principles were never required to be ap- 
 plied, and there the contest ended. It may, how- 
 ever, be stated as an historical fact, that Congress 
 has ever since claimed to have more or less author- 
 ity over territories, until a State Constitution has 
 been formed, and the State admitted into the 
 Union. 
 
 The foregoing resolutions, however, clearly show 
 the view of the Democracy on the subject of the re- 
 lation of territories to the Union. 
 
 Platform op 1864— Chicago, august 39. — That 
 in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with un- 
 swerving fidelity to the Union, under the Constitu- 
 tion, as the only solid foundation of our strength, 
 security and happiness as a people, and as a frame- 
 work of government equally conducive to the wel- 
 fare and prosperity of all the States, both Northern 
 and Southern. 
 
 That this Convention does explicity declare, as 
 the sense of the American people, that after four 
 years of failure to restore the Union by the experi- 
 ment of war, during which under the pretense of a 
 military necessity of a war power higher than the 
 Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disre- 
 garded in every part, and public liberty and private 
 right, alike trodden down, and the material prosper- 
 ity of the country essentially impaired, justice, hu- 
 manity, liberty, and the public welfare demand 
 that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of
 
 76 Why tve are Democrats. 
 
 hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of 
 all the States, or other peaceable means, to the end 
 that, at the earliest practicable moment peace may 
 be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of all 
 the States." 
 
 In regard to this resolution it should be remarked, 
 that it has so often been mis-quoted by the oppon- 
 ents of the Democratic party, asserting that the 
 resolution declared the war itself a failure, that 
 many, doubtless, still believe it. Nothing was far- 
 ther from the truth. The war was 7iot a failure, nor 
 was it so declared; but the resolution did declare 
 the opinion that after four years of failure to restore 
 the Union by war, some efforts should be made to 
 restore it by peace. The war itself was a brilliant 
 success, but great as it was, something more was 
 necessary to restore the Union, and so dear to the 
 hearts of Democrats was that old Union of States, 
 that they were willing to try every possible effort 
 to succeed in their desires. War had been tried — 
 hundreds and thousands of precious lives had been 
 sacrificed, millions upon millions of money had 
 been spent — and the Democracy desired to supple- 
 ment the glorious deeds of the soldier, by the wise 
 and calm action of the statesman. 
 
 They desired to show to those who had gone into 
 rebellion that they desired them to return to their 
 allegiance, and meet once more around a common 
 altar, as it were, to do by wise statesmanship 
 what war had thus far failed to accomplish. These
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 77 
 
 and other arguments had their desired effect. 
 President Lincoln, after his re-election did make 
 such overtures to the rebel authorities, and if no- 
 thing more was accomplished, it showed the people 
 that peaceable means would be used to restore the 
 Union, and if these should fail, they would continue 
 to resort to arms witli increased vigor, until sucli 
 time as the voice of reason and of peace could be 
 heard. True it was, that men and States which 
 claimed to be Democratic went into rebellion 
 against the government of our Fathers, but the 
 same is true of those in the South who had opposed 
 the Democracy during the best years of their lives, 
 so that one is equally to blame with the other; but 
 the teachings, and principles, and traditions of the 
 Democratic party were never opposed to the Union. 
 It is a foul slandar upon the party and upon the 
 memory of its best and *reatest men; and no one, 
 not a demagogue, or a mere politician, dishonest, 
 and intending to deceive, or totally ignorant of the 
 real facts, should ever think of making so grave 
 and groundless a charge." 
 
 The next resolution declared: 
 
 2 That the direct interference of the military 
 authority of the United States in the recent elec- 
 tions held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and 
 Delaware, was a shameful violation of the Consti- 
 tution; and the repetition of such acts in the 
 approaching election will be held as revolutionary,
 
 78 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 and resisted with all the means and power under 
 our control." 
 
 Next comes a resolution clearly defining the aim 
 and object of the Democratic party during the war 
 for the suppression of the Southern rebellion, which 
 is as follows: 
 
 3. That the aim and object of the Democratic 
 party is to preserve the Federal Union, and the 
 rights of the States unimpaired; and they hereby 
 declare that they consider the administrative usur- 
 pation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not 
 granted by the Constitution, the subversion of the 
 civil by the military law in the States not in insur- 
 rection, the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment 
 trial and sentence of American citizens in states 
 where civil law existed in full force, the suppression 
 of freedom of speech and of the press, tht denial of 
 the right of asylum, the open and avowed disregard 
 of state rights, the employment of unusual test 
 oaths, and the interference with, and denial of the 
 right of the people to bear arms in their defense, as 
 calculated to prevent a restoration of the Union, and 
 the perpetuation of a "government deriving its just 
 powers from the consent of the governed. 
 
 4. That the shameful disregard of the adminis- 
 tration to its duty, in respect to our fellow citizens 
 who now are, and long have been, prisoners of war, 
 in a suffering condition, deserves the severest rep- 
 robation, on the score alike of public policy and 
 common humanity.
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 79 
 
 5. That the sympathy of the Democratic part}' is 
 heartily and earnestly extended to the soldiery of our 
 army, and the sailors of our navy, who are or have 
 been in the field, and on the sea under the flag of their 
 country; and, in the event of our attaining power, they 
 will receive all the care and protection, regard and 
 kindness that the brave soldiers of the Kepublic have 
 so nobly earned." 
 
 This was the platform of the Democracy during 
 the war, and have they not faithfully carried out their 
 pledges and avowed purposes ever since? Has a 
 soldier ever suffered any diminution of his pensions, 
 because they have term after term held the popular 
 branch of Congress in their hands ; if anything, have 
 the}^ not exceeded in generosity towards their oppo- 
 nents, though sometimes a majority of their members 
 of Congress came from the States once in rebellion ? 
 Let the history of the legislation, in this particular, 
 furnish a complete refutation of the charge, that they 
 have been in any sense the enemy of the soldiers for the 
 Union.
 
 cmAPTER IX 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 186S. 
 
 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, NEW YORK, JULY 4TH, 1868 
 — RESOLUTIONS IN RELATION TO THE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS 
 AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR — ARRAIGNMENT OF THE RADICAL 
 PARTY — PRESIDENT JOHNSON COMMENDED — CHIEF JUSTICR 
 CHASE AND THE TRIAL OF IMPEACHMENT. 
 
 "The Democratic party in National Convention 
 assembled, reposing its trust in the intelligence, 
 patriotism, and discriminating justice of the people, 
 standing upon the Constitution as the foundation 
 and limitation of the powers of the government and 
 the guarantees of the liberties of the citizen, and 
 recognizing that the questions of slavery and seces- 
 sion as having been settled for all time to come by 
 the war or voluntary action of the Southern States 
 in Constitutional Conventions assembled, and never 
 to be revived or re-agitated, do, with the return of 
 peace, demand, 
 
 1. Immediate restoration of all the States to 
 their rights in the Union under the Constitution, 
 and of Civil Government to the American people. 
 
 2. Amnesty f'^r all past political offences, and
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. 8J 
 
 the regulation of the elective franchise in the States 
 by their citizens. 
 
 3. Payment of all public debt of the United States 
 as rapidly as practicable — all money drawn from the 
 people by taxation, except so much as is requisite 
 for the necessities of the Government, economically 
 administered, being honestly applied to such pay- 
 ment; and where the obligations of the Government 
 do not expressly state upon their face, or the la^^ 
 under which they were issued does not provide that 
 they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and 
 justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the 
 United States. 
 
 4. Equal taxation of every species of property 
 according to its real value, including government 
 bonds and other public securities. 
 
 5. One currency for the Government and the 
 people, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer 
 and the bondholder. 
 
 6. Economy in the administration of the Govern- 
 ment, the reduction of the standing army and the 
 navy, the abolition of the Freedman's Bureau, and 
 all political instrumentalities designed to secure 
 negro supremacy; simplification of the system and 
 discontinuance of inquisitorial modes of assessing 
 and collecting internal revenue; that the burden of 
 taxation may be equalized and lessened, and the 
 credit of the Government and the currency made 
 good; the repealing of all enactments for enrolling 
 the State militia into National forces in time of
 
 82 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 peace; and a tariff for revenue upon foreign im- 
 ports; and such equal taxation under the internal 
 revenue la 'vs as will afford incidental protection to 
 domestic manufactures, and, as will without im- 
 pairing the revenue, impose the least burdens upon, 
 and best promote and encourage the great indus- 
 trial interests of the country. 
 
 7. Reform of abuses in the administration, the 
 expulsion of corrupt men from office, the abrogation 
 of useless offices; the restoration of rightful author- 
 ity to, and the independence of the executive and 
 judicial departments of the Government; the sub- 
 ordination of the milita.ry to the civil power, to the 
 end that the usurpations of Congress and the des- 
 potism of the sword may cease. 
 
 8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized 
 and native-born citizens at home or abroad; the 
 assertion of American nationality which shall com- 
 mand the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an 
 ample encouragement to people struggling for na- 
 tional integrity; Constitutional liberty, and indi- 
 vidual rights, and the maintainance of the rights of 
 naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrines 
 of immutable allegiance, and the claims of foreign 
 powers to punish them for alleged crimes beyond 
 their jurisdiction. 
 
 In demanding these measures and reforms, we 
 arraign the Radical party for its disregard of right, 
 and the unparalelled oppression and tyranny which
 
 Wliy ice are Democrats. 83 
 
 have marked its career. After the most solemn and 
 unanimous pledges of both houses of Congress to 
 prosecute the war excUisively for the maintainance 
 of the Government, and the preservation of the 
 Union under the Constitution, it has repeatedly 
 violated the most sacred pledge under which alone 
 Avas rallied that noble volunteer army which carried 
 our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union 
 it has so far as in its power dissolved it, and sub- 
 jected ten States, in time of profound peace, to 
 military despotism and negro supremacy. It has 
 nullified there the right of trial by jury, it has 
 abolished the habeas corpus, that most sacred writ 
 of liberty; it has overthrown the freedom of speech 
 and press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and 
 arrests, and military trials, and secret star-chamber 
 inquisitions for the Constitutional tribunals; it has 
 disregarded in time of peace the right of the people 
 to be free from searches and seizures; it has entered 
 the post and telegraph offices, and even the private 
 vooms of individuals, and seized their private papers 
 and letters without any specific charge or notice of 
 ajQfidavit as required by the organic law. It has 
 converted the American Capitol into a bastile; it 
 has established a system of spies and official espoin- 
 age, to which no Constitutional monarchy of Eu- 
 rope would now dare to resort; it has abolished tb'^; 
 right of appeal, on important Constitutional ques- 
 tions, to the supreme judicial tribunal, and threat 
 ens to curtail or destroy its original jurisdistioK
 
 84 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 which is irrevocably vested by the Constitution; 
 while the learned Chief Justice has been subjected 
 to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he 
 would not prostitute his high office to the support of 
 the false and partisan charges preferred against the 
 President. 
 
 Its corruptions and extravagance have exceeded 
 anything known in history; and, by its frauds and 
 monopolies, it has nearly doubled the burden of the 
 debt created by the war. It has stripped the Presi- 
 dent of his Constitutional power of appointment, 
 even of his own Cabinet. Under its repeated as- 
 saults, the pillars of the government are rocking on 
 their base; and should it succeed in November next, 
 and inaugurate its President, he will meet a sub- 
 jected and conquered people, amid the ruins of lib- 
 erty and scattered fragments of the Constitution. 
 
 And we do declare and resolve that ever since the 
 people of the United States threw off all subjection 
 to the British Crown, the privilege and trust of suf- 
 frage have belonged to the several states, and have 
 been granted, regulated and controlled exclusively 
 by the political power of each state respectively; 
 and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext 
 whatever, to deprive any state of this right, or in- 
 terfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of 
 power which can find no warrant in the Constitu- 
 tion, and, if sanctioned by the people, will subvert 
 our form of government, and can only end in a 
 single, centralized, and consolidated government, in
 
 Wliy ice are Democrats. . 85 
 
 which the separate existence of the states, will be 
 entirely absorbed, and an unqualified despotism be 
 established in place of a Federal union of co-equal 
 states. And that we regard the re-construction acts 
 — so called — of Congress as usurpations, unconstitu- 
 tional, revolutionary and void. 
 
 That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag 
 of our country to victory, against the most gallant 
 and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remem- 
 bered, and all the guarantees given in their favor 
 must be faithfully carried into execution. 
 
 That the public lands should be distributed as 
 widely as possible among the people, and should be 
 disposed of either under the pre-emption of home- 
 stead lands, or sold in reasonable quantities, and to 
 none but actual occupants at the minimum price 
 established by the government. When grants of 
 public lands may be allowed, necessary for the en- 
 couragement of important public improvements, the 
 proceeds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands 
 themselves, should be so applied." 
 
 The next resolution was one simply commending 
 President Johnson for the many contests he made 
 while President in behalf of Constitutional govern-, 
 ment. 
 
 Tlie remaining resolutions were three only, the 
 first inviting men of all political parties to unite 
 with the Democracy in the struggle for the liberties 
 of the people; sympathy with the workingmen; and 
 thanking Chief Justice Chase for the manner in
 
 86 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 which he presided so impartially over the court oi 
 impeachment on the ti'ial of President Andrew 
 Johnson. 
 
 While the Democracy did not win the succeeding 
 election, the discussion of the questions raised, and 
 the arraignment made against the proceedings of 
 the so-cali-^v^ Radical Republican party, did very 
 much in filially restoring to the people many of 
 their rights which the Democracy claimed were 
 gross usurpations of power, and flagrantly unccn- 
 stitutional; and in every instance, in cases where 
 the parties sought relief in the courts, the position 
 of the Democracy was sustained, by the United 
 States courts
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS, 1872-187G. 
 
 BALTIMORE CONVENTION OF JULY 9TH, 1872, ENDORSES THE PLAT 
 FORM OF LIBERAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION HELD IN CIN- 
 CINNATI, MAY 1st, 1872— platform of ST. LOUIS, MO., CON 
 VENTION, JUNE 27TH, 1876— PLEAS FOR REFORM. 
 
 The Liberal Republicans having met in Conven- 
 tion at Cincinnati, on May 1st, 1S73, the Democ- 
 racy, in their Convention adopted tlieir resolutions 
 as essential to good government. The resolutions 
 which thus became their platform in that Presiden- 
 tial election were as follows- 
 
 1. We recognize the equality of all men before 
 the law, and hold that it is the duty of government 
 in its dealings with the people, to mete out equal 
 and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, 
 color, or persuasion, religious or political. 
 
 2. We pledge ourselves to maintain the Union of 
 these States, emancipation and enfranchisement, 
 and to oppose any re-opening of the questions settled 
 by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amend- 
 ments to the Constitution. 
 
 3. We demand the immediate and absolute re- 
 moval of all disabilities imposed on account of the
 
 88 Why 2ve are Democrats. 
 
 rebellion, which was finally subdued, seven years 
 ago, believing that universal amnesty will result in 
 complete pacification in all sections of the country. 
 
 4. Local self-government with impartial suffrage 
 will guard the rights of all citizens more securely 
 than any centralized power. The public welfare 
 demands the supremacy of the civil over the mili- 
 tary authority, and the freedom of the person under 
 the protecting habeas corpus. We demand for the 
 citizen tlie largest liberty consistent with public 
 order; for the State, self-government; for the na- 
 tion, a return to the methods of peace, and the Con- 
 stitutional limitations of power. 
 
 5. The civil service of the Government has be- 
 come a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and 
 personal ambition, and an object of selfish greed. 
 It is a scandal and reproach upon free institutions, 
 and breeds a demoralization dangerous to the per- 
 petuity of Republican Government. We, therefore, 
 regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one 
 of the most pressing necessities of the hour — that 
 honesty, capacity and fidelity constitute the only 
 valid claims to public employment; that the offices 
 of the government cease to be a matter of arbitrary 
 favoritism and patronage; and that a public station 
 shall again become a post of honor. To this end, it 
 is imperatively demanded that no President shall 
 become a candidate for re-election. 
 
 6. We demand a system of Federal taxation 
 which shall ilot unnecessarily interfere with the iiv
 
 Why we are Democrats. 89 
 
 dustry of the people, and wliich shall provide the 
 means to pay the expenses of the Government, 
 economically administered, the pensions, the inter- 
 est on the public deht, and a moderate reduction 
 annually of the principal thereof; and recognizing 
 that there are in our midst honest but irreconcilable 
 differences of opinion with regard to the respective 
 systems of protection and free trade, we remit the 
 discussion of the subject to the people in their con- 
 gressional districts, and the decision of Congress 
 thereon, wholly free from executive interference or 
 dictation. 
 
 7. The public credit must be sacredly maintained, 
 and Ave denounce repudiation in every form and 
 guise. 
 
 8. A speedy return to specie payment is demand- 
 ed alike by the highest consideration of commercial 
 morality and honest government. 
 
 9. We remem.ber with gratitude the heroism and 
 sacrifices of the soldiers and oailor: of the Republic, 
 and no act of ours shall ever detract from their 
 justly earned fame, or the full rewards of their 
 patriotism. 
 
 10. We are opposed to all further grants of lands 
 to railroads or otlier corpuratious; the public do- 
 main should be held sacred to actual settlers. 
 
 11. We hold that it is the duty of the Govern- 
 ment in its intercourse with foreign nations, to culti- 
 vate the friendship of peace, by treaty with all, on 
 fair and equal terms, regarding it alike dishonor-
 
 90 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 able either to demand what is not right, or submit 
 to what is wrong. 
 
 12, For the promotion and success of these vital 
 principles, and the support of the candidates nomi- 
 nated by this Convention, we invite and cordially 
 welcome the co-operation of all patriotic citizens, 
 without regard to previous affiliations." 
 
 Thus did a very decided and respectable portion 
 of the Republican party secede from their party, and 
 announce a platform so nearly consistent with 
 Democratic principles, that the Democracy adopted 
 it as their own. 
 
 P^ATFORM OF 1876— St. Louis, Mo., June 27.— 
 After declaring that the administration of the Fed- 
 eral government was in urgent need of immediate 
 reform in all its departments, the convention de- 
 clared as follows: 
 
 " For the Democracy of the whole country we do 
 hereby reaffirm our faith in the permanence of the 
 Federal Union, our devotion to the Constitution of 
 the United States, with its amendments universally 
 a,ccepted as a final settlement of the controversies 
 that engendered civil war, and do record our stead- 
 fast confidence in the perpetuity of self govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In absolute acquiescence in the will of the major- 
 ity — the vital principle of republics; in the suprem- 
 acy of the civil over the military authority; in the
 
 Why we are Democrats. 91 
 
 total separation of the church and state, for the sake 
 alike of civil and religious freedom; in the equality 
 of all citizens before just laws of their own enact- 
 ment; in the liberty of individual conduct, unvexed 
 by sumptuary laws; in the faithful education of the 
 rising generation, that they may preserve, enjoy 
 and transmit these best conditions of human happi- 
 ness and hope — we behold the noblest products of a 
 hundred years of changeful history; but while up- 
 holding the bond of union, and great charter of 
 these our rights, it behooves a free people to prac- 
 tice also the eternal vigilance which is the price of 
 liberty. 
 
 Reform is necessary to rebuild and re-establish 
 in the hearts of the whole people, the union, eleven 
 years ago happily rescued from the danger of a 
 secession of states, but now to be saved from a cor- 
 rupt centralism which after inflicting upon ten 
 states the rapacity of carpet-bag tyranny, has 
 honey -combed the offices of the Federal government 
 itself with incapacity, waste and fraud; infected 
 states and municipalities with the contagion of mis- 
 rule; and locked fast the prosperity of an industri- 
 ous people in the paralysis of "hard times." 
 
 Reform is necessary to establish a sound curren- 
 cy, restore the public credit, and maintain the na- 
 tional honor. 
 
 We denounce the failure, for all these eleven 
 years of peace, to make good the promise of the 
 legal tender notes, which are a changing standard
 
 92 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 of value in the hands of the people, and the non- 
 payment of which is a disregard of the plighted 
 faith of the nation. 
 
 We denounce the improvidence which in eleven 
 years of peace, has taken from the people, in Fed- 
 eral taxes, thirteen times the whole amount of the 
 legal-tender notes, and squandered four times their 
 sum in useless expense without accumulating any 
 reserve for their redemption. 
 
 We denounce the financial imbecility and immor- 
 ality of that party, which, during eleven years of 
 peace, has n^ade no advance toward resumption, no 
 preparation for resumption, but, instead, has ob- 
 structed resumption, by wasting our resources, and 
 exhausting all our surplus income; and while annu- 
 ally professing to intend a speedy return to specie 
 payments, has annually enacted fresh hindrances 
 thereto, as such hinderance we denounce the re- 
 sumption clause of 1875, and we demand its repeal. 
 
 We demand a judicious system of preparation by 
 public economies, by official retrenchments, and by 
 wise finance, which shall enable the Nation, soon to 
 assure the whole world of its perfect ability and 
 perfect readiness to meet any of its promises at the 
 call of the creditor entitled to payment. We believe 
 such a system well devised, and, above all, entrust- 
 ed to competent hands for execution, creating at no 
 time an artificial scarcity of currency, and at no 
 time alarming the public mind into a withdrawal 
 of that vaster machinery of credit by which ninety-
 
 WTiy toe are Democrats, 93 
 
 five per cent of all business transactions are per- 
 formed. A system open, public, and mspiring 
 general confidence, would from the day of its adop- 
 tion bring healing on its wings to all our harrassed 
 industries; set in motion the wheels of commerce, 
 manufactures, and the mechanical arts, restore em- 
 ployment to labor, and renew, in ail its natural 
 sources, the prosperity of the people. 
 
 Reform is necessary in the sum and modef of 
 Federal taxation, to the end that capital may be set 
 free Irom distrust, and labor lightly burdened. 
 
 We denounce the present tariff, levied upon nearly 
 four thousand articles, as a monster piece of in- 
 justice, inequality, and false pretence. It yields a 
 dwindling — not a yearly rising revenue — it has im- 
 poverished many industries to subsidize a few. It 
 prohibits imports that might purchase the products 
 of American labor. It has degraded American 
 commerce from the first to an inferior rank on the 
 h'gh seas. It has cut down the sales of American 
 manufactures at home and abroad, and depleted the 
 returns of American agriculture — an industry fol- 
 bwed by half our people It costs the people five 
 times more than it produces to the treasury, ob- 
 structs the processes of production, and wastes the 
 fruit of labor. It promotes fraud, fosters smug- 
 gling, enriches dishonest officials, and bankrupts 
 honest merchants. We demand that all custom- 
 house taxation shall be only for revenue. 
 
 Reform is necessary in the scale of public gi-
 
 . 94 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 pense — federal, state, and municipal. Our federal 
 taxation has swollen from sixty millions gold, in 
 18G0, to four hundred and fifty millions currency, in 
 1870; an aggregate taxation from one hundred and 
 fifty-four millions gold, in 1860, to seven hundred 
 and thirty millions currency, in 1870 — or, in one de- 
 cade, from less than five dollars per head, to more 
 than eighteen dollars per head. Since the peace 
 the people have paid to their tax-gatherers more 
 than thrice the sum of the national debt, and more 
 than twice that sum for the Federal Government 
 alone. We demand a rigorous frugality in every 
 department, and from every officer of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Reform is necessary to put a stop to the profli- 
 gate waste of public lands, and their diversion 
 from actual settlers by the party in power, which 
 has squandered 200,000,000 acres upon railroads 
 alone, and out of more than thrice that aggregate 
 has disposed of less than a sixth directly to tillers of 
 the soil. 
 
 Reform is necessary to correct the omission of a 
 Republican Congress, and the errors of our treaties 
 and diplomacy which have stripped our fellow- 
 citizens of foreign birthright and kindred race, re- 
 crossing the Atlantic, of the shield of American 
 citizenship, and have exposed our brethren of the 
 Pacific coast to the incursions of a race not sprung 
 from the same great parent stock, and in fact, now 
 by law, denied citizenship through naturalization.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 95 
 
 as being neither accustomed to the traditions of a 
 progressive civiHzation, nor exercised in liberty 
 under equal laws. We denounce the poli(n^ which 
 thus discards the liberty-loving German, and tole- 
 rates a revival of the coolie trade in Mongolian 
 women, for immoral purposes, and Mongolian men, 
 held to perform servile labor contracts; and de- 
 mand such modification of the treaty with the Chi- 
 nese empire, or such legislation, within Constitu- 
 tional limitations, as shall prevent further importa- 
 tion or immigration of the Mongolian race. 
 
 Reform is necessary, and can never be effected 
 but by making it the controlling issue of the elec- 
 tions, and lifting it above the two false issues with 
 which the office-holding class and the party in 
 power seek to smother it. 
 
 1. The false issue with which they would en- 
 kindle sectarian strife in respect to the public 
 schools, of which the establishment and support be- 
 longs exclusively to the several States, and which 
 the Democratic party has cherished from their 
 foundation, and is resolved to maintain without 
 prejudice or preference for any class, sect, or creed, 
 and without largesses from the treasury to any. 
 
 2. The false issue by which they seek to light 
 anew the dying embers of sectional hate between 
 kindred peoples, once estranged, but now re-united 
 in one indivisible Republic, and a common destiny. 
 
 Reform is necessary even more in the higher 
 grades of the public service — President, Vice-Presi-
 
 96 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 dent, Judges, Senators, Representatives, Cabinet 
 officers — these and all others in authority are the 
 people's servants. Their officers are not a private 
 perquisite, they are a public trust. When the an- 
 nals of this Republic show the disgrace and censure 
 of a Vice-President; a late Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives marketing his rulings as a presid- 
 ing officer; three Senators profiting secretly by their 
 votes as law makers; five chairmen of the leading 
 committees of the late House of Representatives ex- 
 posed in jobbery; a late Secretary of the Treasury 
 forcing balances in the public accounts; a late 
 Attorney-General misappropriating public funds; 
 a Secretary of the Navy enriched or enriching 
 friends, by percentages levied on the profits of con- 
 tractors with his department; an Ambassador to 
 England concerned in dishonorable speculations; 
 the President'^ private secretary barely escaping 
 conviction upon trial for guilty complicity in frauds 
 upon the revenue; a Secretary of War impeached 
 for high crimes and misdemeanors — the demonstra- 
 tion is complete, that the first step in reform must 
 be the people's choice of honest men from another 
 party, lest the disease of one political organization 
 infect the body politic, and lest by making no 
 change of men or parties, we get no change of 
 measures and no real reform. All these abuses, 
 wrongs and crimes — the product of sixteen years' 
 ascendancy of the Republican party — create a ne- 
 cessity for reform, confessed by the Republicans
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. 97 
 
 themselves; but their reformers are voted down in 
 convention and displaced from the Cabinet. The 
 party's mass of honest voters is powerless to resist 
 the 80,000 office holders, its leaders and guides. 
 
 Reform can only be had by a peaceful civil revo- 
 lution. We demand a change of system, a change 
 of administration, a change of parties, that tliey 
 may have a change of measures and of men." 
 
 The two remaining resolutions were simply com- 
 mendatory of Congress for curtailing expenses, etc., 
 and pledging the soldiers and sailors, and their fam- 
 ilies, the protection and gratitude of the people.
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1880. 
 
 CONVENTION OF JUNE 2^D, 1880, AT CINCINNATI — THE PLAT- 
 FORMS OF EIGHTY YEARS SHOW THE CONSISTENCY OF THE DEM ■ 
 OCRATIC PARTY — THE ONLY POINT OP DIFFERENCE BEING THE 
 TREATMENT OF THE QUESTION OP SLAVERY IN THE TERRI- 
 TORIES. 
 
 The Democrats of the United States, in Conven- 
 tion assembled, declare: 
 
 First. We pledge ourselves anew to the Consti- 
 tutional doctrines and traditions of the Democratic 
 party, as illustrated by the teachings and examples 
 of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, 
 and embodied in the platform of the last National 
 Convention of the party. 
 
 Second. Opposition to centralization, and to that 
 dangerous spirit of encroachment, which tends to 
 consolidate the powers of all the departments in 
 one, and thus to create, whatever form of govern- 
 ment, a real despotism; no sumptuary laws; 
 separation of the church and state for the good of 
 each; common schools fostered and protected. 
 
 Third. Home rule; honest money, consisting of 
 gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 99 
 
 demand; the strict maintainance of the public faith, 
 state and national, and a tariff for revenue only; 
 the subordination of the military to the civil power; 
 and a general and thorough reform of the civil 
 service. 
 
 Fourth. The right of a free ballot is a right pre- 
 servative of all rights; and must and shall be main- 
 tained in every part of the United States. 
 
 Fifth. The existing administration is the repre- 
 sentative of a conspiracy only, and its claim of right 
 to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy 
 marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the elections, 
 and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain 
 its corrupt and despotic power insults the people and 
 imperils their institutions. "VVe execrate the course 
 of this administration in making places in the civil 
 service a reward for political crimes, and demand a 
 reform, by statute, which shall make it forever im- 
 possible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way 
 to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon 
 the people. 
 
 Sixth. The great fraud of 187G-77, by which, 
 upon a false count of the electoral votes of two 
 States, the candidate defeated at the polls was de- 
 clared to be President, for the first time in Ameri- 
 can history; the will of the people was set aside under 
 a threat of military violence, and a deadly blow was 
 struck at our system of representative government. 
 The Democratic party, to preserve the countr}^ from 
 the horrors of civil war, submitted for the time, in
 
 100 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 the firm and patriotic belief that the people would 
 punish the crime in 1880. This issue precedes and 
 dwarfs every other. It imposes a more sacred duty 
 upon the people of the Union than ever addressed 
 the consciences of a nation of freemen. 
 
 Seventh. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden not 
 again to be a candidate for the exalted place to 
 which he was elected by a majority of his country- 
 men, and from which he was excluded by the lead- 
 ers of the Republican party, is received by the 
 Democrats of the United States with deep sensi- 
 bility; and they declare their confidence in his 
 wisdom, patriotism, and integrity unshaken by the 
 assaults of the common enemy; and they furtheis 
 assure him that he is followed into the retirement 
 he has chosen for himself, by the sympathy and 
 respect of his fellow-citizens, who regard him as 
 one who by elevating the standard of the public 
 morality, and adorning, and purifying the public 
 service, merits the lasting gratitude of his country 
 and his party. 
 
 Eighth. Free ships, and a living chance for 
 American commerce upon the seas; and on the land 
 no discrimination in favor of transportation lines, 
 corporations or monopolies. 
 
 Ninth. Amendments of the Burlingame treaty; 
 no more Chinese immigration except for travel, 
 education, and foreign commerce, and therein care- 
 fully guarded.
 
 W7iy we are Democrats. 101 
 
 Tenth. Public money, and public credit for pub- 
 lic purposes solely, and public lands for actual set 
 tiers. 
 
 Eleventh. The Democratic party is the friend of 
 labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to 
 protect liini alike against the cormorants and the 
 conunune. 
 
 Twelfth. We congratulate the country upon the 
 honesty and thrift of a Democratic Congress, which 
 has reduced the public expenditures ten millions of 
 dollars a year; upon the continuation of prosperity 
 at home and the national honor abroad; and above 
 all, upon the promise of such a change in the ad- 
 ministration of the government as shall insure a 
 genuine and lasting reform in every department of 
 the public service." 
 
 Thus Ave have sketched the platforms of the Dem- 
 ocratic party for a period of eighty years, in con- 
 nection with the principles avowed by those emin- 
 ent Democratic statesmen, who served in the office 
 of President of the United States, before it was the 
 rule to meet in Conventions and nominatii candi- 
 dates, and afterwards when nominations were 
 taken out of the hands of a Congressional Caucus, 
 and referred to a convention of delegates fresh from 
 the people, who, in that capacity, have also declared 
 their principles and purposes. 
 
 A perusal of these platforms demonstrates the 
 fact, that the party has been consistent in its prin- 
 ciples all the time through these one hundred or
 
 102 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 more years. The same fundamental principles of 
 free government have ever been upheld and sus- 
 tained, and as new questions arose, these have been 
 decided by an application of the same old Demo- 
 cratic principles. 
 
 Save in the matter of the treatment of slavery in 
 the territories there has been no radical difference 
 of opinion; and with the abolishment of that, by 
 Constitutional amendments and by conventions of 
 the people of those states, ratifying the same and 
 consenting thereto, that, and all questions growing 
 out of the same, have been, so to speak, adjudged 
 by the party to be settled forever never to be agit- 
 ated or reopened again; and from thence forward 
 the party has gone on in the advocation of these 
 sound and wholesome principles, without the appli- 
 cation of which, they firmly believe, free govern- 
 ment cannot be maintained. 
 
 These principles commend themselves to the 
 young, who are about to form opinions to guide 
 their future political actions and to all lovers of 
 free government throughout the world. May they 
 find a deep lodgment in the public mind, and con- 
 tinue to be upheld and supported by good men and 
 statesmen everywhere, until their permanency shall 
 be questioned by none. 
 
 Under these broad and liberal views, freedom may 
 go on to expand and grow, until not only this whole 
 continent shall be brought under their benign influ- 
 ence; but the oppressed and down-trodden of every
 
 103 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 clime and nation upon the globe, shall look to them 
 as the beacon light to guide them also, to a higher 
 and nobler destiny than that which now seems to 
 enshroud them in the gloom of despair. This is the 
 ardent wish and hope of every American Democrat. 
 For these reasons they are Democrats.
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 FURTHER PRINCIPLES OF THE PARTY- 
 STATE RIGHTS — THE RIGHT OF 
 COERCION. 
 
 A QUESTION ON WHICH OPINIONS WERE DIVIDED— ANDREW JACKSON 
 -THE REPUBLICAN THEORY STATED AT THE CHICAGO CONVEN- 
 TION—A GOVERNMENT NOT A LEAGUE— THE RIGHT OF SECES- 
 SION A SOLECISM— BUCHANAN DENIED THE RIGHT OF SECESSION 
 —THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY THE PARTY OF CONCILIATION— THE 
 QUESTION OF COERCION— DEMOCRATS CALLED "DISLOYAL" — 
 HON. JOHN A. LOGAN'S VIEW— THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NO NEED 
 TO BLUSH ON THE QUESTION OP COERCION. 
 
 We have now gone through with a brief state- 
 ment of the principles of the Democracy, as ascer- 
 tained from the expressions of leading Democratic 
 statesmen, and the declarations of the party in 
 their National Conventions. 
 
 There are still other questions which have become 
 prominent in tlie councils of the party, which it is 
 deemed necessary to more fully explain and enforce, 
 giving the reasons and circumstances under which 
 they have become settled as Democratic doctrines. 
 
 To a very great extent they could have been 
 settled by applying the declarations of prominent 
 leaders, and of the resolutions in Democratic plat-
 
 Why we are Democrats. 105 
 
 forms to their solution; but, having, to some extent 
 been tlie subject of discussion in and outside of the 
 party, we have conchided to give a separate state- 
 ment of the import of each, together with the 
 reasons upon which founded. 
 
 In some instances they assume the character of 
 defences against charges made by the opponents of 
 the party; and in others, as expositions of their 
 views upon particular questions which have, more 
 or less, been the subjects of discussions within the 
 party councils. 
 
 They will be treated successively to as full an ex- 
 tent as our limits will permit, and can be equally as 
 strongly relied upon as the fixed and settled con- 
 clusions of the party, as evidenced by the utterances 
 of leading members of the party, supported by its 
 platforms and public assemblies, until no longer 
 questioned. 
 
 The Principle of State Rights.— The rights of 
 the States under our Federal Constitution has long 
 been a question discussed, on which great differ- 
 ences of opinion have arisen, even within the Dem- 
 ocratic party itself. The view held by Andrew 
 Jackson is the one always prevailihg in National 
 Conventions — the only body having power to settle 
 the question for the whole party, viz: That the 
 general government is one of expressly granted 
 powers, in the exercise of which it is supreme. That 
 these powers, faithfully and vigorously carried out
 
 106 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 are necessary to the general welfare of the whole. 
 That all powers not expressly granted in the Consti- 
 tution to the Federal Government, in the language 
 of that instrument itself, are reserved to the States 
 and to the people. 
 
 The Republican party at the time of its organiza- 
 tion planted itself upon this doctrine; and in their 
 platform at Chicago, when Abraham Lincoln was 
 first nominated for President, they passed the fol- 
 lowing resolution: 
 
 "■Fourth. That the maintenance inviolate of the 
 rights of the States, and especially the right of each 
 State to order and control its own domestic institu- 
 tions according to its own judgment exclusively, is 
 essential to that balance of power on which the per- 
 fection and endurance of our political fabric depends; 
 and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed 
 force of the soil of any State or Territory, no mat- 
 ter under what pretext, as one of the gravest 
 of crimes." 
 
 So thoroughly had this Constitutional doctrine 
 engrafted itself upon the public mind — found utter- 
 ance in both of the great political parties, and in 
 their platforms, that it ought to have been acqui- 
 esced in by all. 
 
 The National Democratic party still adheres to 
 that idea. It is unalterably fixed in its creed; but it 
 has not appeared in the Republican party platform
 
 Why we are Democrats. 107 
 
 from that [time down to the [present, while the De- 
 mocracy have re-affirmed the same upon every occa- 
 sion. Ever since the days of Jackson's administra- 
 tion has the question, in the Democratic party, of 
 the right of secession been settled, so far as the 
 power of a national party convention could settle it. 
 No matter what individual members of the party 
 may have said; no matter what State and District 
 Conventions may have declared on the subject, the 
 National Convention only, of a national party, can 
 settle national questions; and, therefore, no matter 
 how frothy orators may " fret and fume, and tear 
 passion into tatters " over a " secession Democracy," 
 the record proves that it never was the doctrine of 
 the National Democratic party. 
 
 The Republican party has frequently announced 
 with a great flourish of trumpets, that our Govern- 
 ment was not a league, but a nation; but no true 
 Jackson Democrat ever disputed that proposition as 
 he understands its terms. Jackson, in his immortal 
 proclamation, said: 
 
 "The Constitution of the United States, then, 
 forms a government, not a league; whether it be 
 formed by compact between the States or otherwise, 
 or in any other manner, its character is the same. 
 It is a government in which the people are repre- 
 sented, which operates directly on the people indi- 
 vidually, not up.on the State; they retain all the 
 power they did not grant. But each State having- 
 expressly parted with so many powers as to con-
 
 108 Why tve are Democrats. 
 
 stitute jointly with the other States, a single nation, 
 cannot from that period possess any right to secede, 
 because such secession does not break a league, but 
 destroys the unity of the nation; and any injury to 
 that unity is not only a breach which would result 
 from the contravention of a contract; but it is an 
 offence against the whole Union. To say that any 
 State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to 
 say that the United States is not a nation; because 
 it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a 
 nation might dissolve its connection v/ith the other 
 party, to their injury and rain, without committing 
 any offence. Secession, like any other revolution- 
 ary act, may be morally justified by the extremity 
 of oppression; but to call it a Constitutional right is 
 confounding the meaning of terms, and can only be 
 done through gross error, or to deceive those who 
 are willing to assert a right, but would pause before 
 they made a revolution, or incur the penalties con- 
 sequent on a failure." 
 
 Herein is set forth in the plainest terms the prin- 
 ciples adhered to by the great Democratic party of 
 the country; and to charge the party with the er- 
 rors, mistakes, and crimes of those who disregarded 
 the teachings of their party is so grossly unjust that 
 it needs no further refutation. It is because the 
 Democracy have through all the past; through 
 years of sectional madness and party strife adhered 
 in conscious integrity to those views, that they have 
 been denounced by enraged sectionalists — North
 
 Why we are Democrats. 109 
 
 and South — until reason has been again enthroned, 
 and the nation can see where they have stood all 
 these years. 
 
 They constitute the only party which has a rec- 
 ord upon this question, dating from its first incep- 
 tion to the present moment. Democrats opposed 
 the New England secessionists who held the Hart- 
 ford convention in the interest of northern nullifica- 
 tion and secession; they opposed the South Carolina 
 nullifiers at a later date, and have as a great nation- 
 al organization, opposed the doctrine at all times, 
 under all circumstances, and against all persons, 
 po matter whether they claimed to be Democrats or 
 not. But it may be said, as it frequently has been, 
 unjustly, that when the rebellion was first organ- 
 ized, a Democratic administration did not do its 
 duty to suppress it. President Buchanan, elected 
 by southern as well as northern votes, denied the 
 riglit of secession. He was a representative Demo- 
 crat, and he said in his message of December, 18G0: 
 " This government is a great and powerful govern- 
 ment, invested with all the attributes of sovereign- 
 ty over the subjects to which its authority extends. 
 Its framers never intended to plant in its bosom the 
 seeds of its own destruction, nor were they guilty 
 of the absurdity of providing for its own dissolution. 
 It was not intended by its framers to be the baseless 
 fabric of a vision, which at the touch of the en- 
 chanter, would vanish in thin air; but a substantial
 
 110 Why we are Democrats, 
 
 and mighty fabric, capable of resisting the slow de- 
 cay of time, and defying the storms of ages. . . . 
 In short, let us look the danger fully in the face; 
 secession is neither more nor less than revolution." 
 
 Thus, it will be seen, that at no time, even the 
 most critical, have true national Democrats either 
 in national conventions, or by their chief executives 
 ever countenanced this heresy of secession. There 
 is therefore no reason on this account, why a man 
 should not be a Democrat, because, as such, he is 
 compelled to subscribe to the soundest plank ever 
 put forth by either party in its platforms, on the 
 subject of the relation of the Federal to the State 
 governments. We are Democrats because we be- 
 lieve in the doctrine held by the party on this 
 most important question. 
 
 Fanaticism never stops to reason. Driven by 
 honest impulses, it rushes to its object without re- 
 gard to obstacles. So it was with the secession 
 movement, and so it was with the political aboli- 
 tionists of the North. Driven on, they ceased not 
 their agitation until the clash of arms came. Slav- 
 ery went down, and now it becomes the duty of 
 every patriot to repair the injury done by war, and 
 place our institutions on even a more solid founda- 
 tion than ever before. The disturbing cause is now 
 removed, and it is time for sober reflection and in- 
 telligent action, so that we may preserve intact the 
 government our fathers transmitted to us, unim- 
 paired, unchanged, and vigorous as it came from the
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. Ill 
 
 hands of its founders. To do this, we conscientious- 
 ly believe, the great Democratic party of the Union 
 now offers the best means by which this can be 
 done. It reaches out into every section of this great 
 country; it stands united once more upon these 
 grand principles of fraternal union, upon the basis 
 of the Constitution, the just rights of the Federal 
 government undisputedly granted to it, while the 
 reserved rights of the States are equally preserved to 
 them. It is the only national party that can concili- 
 ate the angry sections, and make this country what 
 the sages and heroes of the revolution designed it 
 should be, a sisterhood of States, a land of freedom, 
 a home for the oppressed of all lands. 
 
 The Right op Coercion.— It has been said by 
 some who have but poorly studied the formation of 
 our government, that because Democrats opposed 
 coercion before tlie rebellion commenced, that there- 
 fore it was "a disloyal party," and the word dis- 
 loyal is pronounced as if it was a horrible thing to 
 hold the opinion so ably set forth by the Fathers of 
 the Republic, and by all sound constitutional law- 
 yers and statesmen since then. Andrew Johnson, 
 Senator from Tennessee, then applauded for his 
 opinions, and the candidate of the Republican party 
 for Vice President in 18G4, elected by tliem,"_and 
 afterwards President of the United States, held 
 these views. He said in the Senate of the United 
 States, on December 18th, 1860: " The Federal gov-
 
 112 Why ice are Democrats. 
 
 ernment has no power to coerce a state, because by 
 the eleventh amendment of the Constitution of the 
 United States, it is expressly provided that you can- 
 not even put one of those States before the courts of 
 the country as a party. As a State, the Federal 
 Government has no power to coerce it; but each 
 State was a party to the compact to which it agreed 
 with the other States, and this government has the 
 right to pass laws, and to enforce those laws on in- 
 dividuals, and it has the right and the power, not to 
 coerce a State, but to enforce and execute the law 
 upon individuals within the limits of a State." 
 
 This was the view held by Hon. John A. Logan, 
 and by many who even now are members of the 
 Republican party, and why should it be strange 
 that Democrats announced those doctrines? 
 
 They did not deny the duty and power of the 
 Federal Government to enforce its laws at the point 
 of the bayonet, if resisted. 
 
 President Buchanan, in his message to Congress, 
 on January 8th, A. D. 1861, says: 
 
 "The dangerous and hostile attitude of the States 
 toward each other, has already far transcended and 
 cast in the shade the ordinary executive duties, 
 already provided for by law, and has assumed such 
 vast and alarming proportions as to i)lace the sub- 
 ject entirely beyond executive control. The fact 
 cannot be disguised that we are in the midst of a 
 great revolution. In all its various bearings, there- 
 fore, I commend the question to Congress,as the only
 
 Why ive are Democrats, 113 
 
 human tribunal, under Providence, possessing the 
 power to meet the existing emergency. To them, 
 exclusively belongs the power to declare war, or to 
 authorize the employment of the military force, in 
 all cases contemplated by the Constitution." 
 
 Congress might then have taken action. The 
 Republican party had the power in both branches of 
 Congress, by reason of the secession of Southern 
 Senators, who left the Republicans in control of the 
 Senate, and they had held tlie House of Representa- 
 tives before that event occurred. No person ever 
 doubted the right and duty of Congress to pass 
 laws to enable the President to defend the Union 
 against armed rebellion. 
 
 At this time the question of coercion had already 
 passed away. The Southern States had seceded 
 and taken forcible possession of public property, 
 and had, themselves, become the assailants. To 
 this Congress the President appealed to decide the 
 question; but though the Republicans were in power 
 in both branches. Congress shrank from its duty. 
 It might have been commendable had it desired to 
 prevent the effusion of fraternal blood, and restore 
 the Union. Perhaps that might have been their 
 object; still the duty of the hour confronted it, and 
 they shrunk from it. Had it promptly passed the 
 bill to enable the President to call forth the militia, 
 or to accept the services of volunteers, as Lincoln 
 did when Congress was not in session, it might 
 complain; but it failed to do so, and is estopped
 
 114 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 from charging others with a want of vigor in this 
 respect. 
 
 Why, then, charge Democrats with dereliction of 
 duty, when its own chosen party legislative power 
 was then assembled, and failed to do that with 
 which they would now blame the Democracy. It 
 was his duty to enforce the laws — theirs to pass 
 them! Then how absurd to blame others for that 
 which they were guilty of themselves. 
 
 This, then, is a brief allusion to the subject of co- 
 ercion , and the exercise of military power to sup- 
 press the rebellion, and there is nothing in it that 
 any Democrat need blush to acknowledge. These 
 charges are only made to divert the mind of the 
 voter from the real questions at issue between the 
 parties, and can furnish no reason whatever, why a 
 man should not be a Democrat after twenty years 
 have passed away, and almost a new generation 
 has come upon the stage of action. 
 
 These sound views of the Constitution, and con- 
 victions of patriotic duty in those trying days of 
 our national peril, should induce men to rally under 
 the flag of Democracy, and place in power those 
 who have been true to the great principles of free 
 institutions, upon which our government is founded. 
 Men are Democrats because they believe this to be 
 their duty.
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 CARDINAL DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 THE RIGHT OF PETITION— SHOULD BE JUDICIOUSLY USED— NOT TO 
 BE CONFOUNDED WITH PETITIONS FOR PARDONS— OR FROM 
 THE ARMY— OR THREATS FROM ANGRY MOBS— PUBLIC MEET- 
 INGS AND ASSOCIATIONS — THE RIGHT OF PUBLIC MEETING AND 
 ASSOCIATION MUST BE GUARDED— POLITICAL CLUBS OF FRANCE 
 — THIS: SUPREMACY OF THE LAW— EVERY CITIZEN SUBJECT TO 
 THE LAW AND ONLY TO THE LAW— MARTIAL LAW— " HABEAS 
 corpus" — MILITARY SUBSERVIENT TO CIVIL LAW— THE WAR 
 POWER- LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 The Right of Petition for a redress of grievances, 
 is a right conceded and sanctioned by Democvatic 
 principles. That this right has been abused is no 
 argument against its proper use. When it is made 
 the means of insulting legislative bodies, and of 
 merely consuming much valuable time, and merely 
 for political effect, it is not to be commended. Still 
 it may correct many wrongs, and the foundation 
 upon which the right rests is and must ever remain 
 inviolate. The people deprived of this right, would 
 immediately degrade the real sovereign — the people 
 in the eyes of the servant — the representative. It is 
 as necessary a right as that of free speech or a free 
 press. It is a privilege not denied by Deity itself,
 
 116 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 and is a right inherent in the people, or wherever 
 the relation of inferior to superior in power exists. 
 How much more proper is it, where the real sover- 
 eign has entrusted his authority, for a brief season, 
 to his chosen representative. To petition, in the 
 Democratic sense of the word, is, simply directing 
 those in power, in what their constituents conceive 
 to be, the discharge of their duties. When consid- 
 ered however, in the light of a possibility, that the 
 servant has taken the oath of office, and his sup- 
 posed superior facility for acquiring necessary in- 
 formation, and his relations to his oath of office, 
 where required to bind his conscience as such, it is 
 of doubtful utility. It is always commendable 
 when resorted to for a redress of grievances, and in 
 such instance is, in accordance with the highest 
 conception of free government. The right of peti- 
 tion here spoken of is, that right of a citizen to peti- 
 tion the law-making power for a redress of his 
 grievances, in cases where he conceives it is his 
 duty to make them known to those who are entrust- 
 ed for the time being, with the exercise of this pro- 
 portion of the legislative power. It must not be 
 confou ided with that of merely petitioning, by force 
 of numbers, to the executive in case of pardons, , 
 which is, in many instances, rather the subversion 
 of the wholesome execution of the law. So also pe- 
 titions by the army are not favored in free govern- 
 ments. So carefully is this right, and prerogative 
 of the legislator and legislative bodies guarded, that
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. 117 
 
 they must be presented in accordance with the rules 
 of legislative bodies, and must be presented in ac- 
 cordance with the true spirit of the privilege grant- 
 ed. When presented by large bodies, accompanied 
 by physical demonstrations, either of crowds, armed 
 or unarmed, in or outside of legislative halls, they 
 partake of the nature of threats and intimidations, 
 and are therefore subversive, rather than conducive 
 to the well being of a free people. In such instances, 
 the demonstration is contrary to Democratic princi- 
 ples. Legislative and deliberative bodies must be 
 perfectly free. 
 
 Democrats therefore should discriminate between 
 the uses, and abuses of this right of petition. 
 
 This right, when asserted for its rightfully intend- 
 ed purposes, is a right never to be surrendered. 
 This right, when subverted is annoying, not to say 
 absolutely dangerous. The weakness of men, of- 
 times induces them to grant their signatures to pe- 
 titions, rather than refuse, and thus this means of 
 informing legislative bodies, is rather calculated to 
 confuse than to direct. Yet when it is considered, 
 that this sacred right of the people to petition, can 
 in no event do harm, especially when directed to a 
 body of men ordinarily intelligent, and does serve 
 to direct public attention to wrongs and grievances; 
 as well as to support measures, countenance and 
 aid public servants in the support of public duties, 
 it becomes a privilege that can by no means be de- 
 nied.
 
 118 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 Public Meetings and Associations. — Democracy 
 favors public meetings and associations. Closel}'' 
 allied to the right of petition is the right of the citi- 
 zens peaceably to assemble and petition their public 
 servants for a redress of grievances. 
 
 These, too, may become dangerous, and laws 
 may be passed to direct and control them, without 
 in anyway infringing upon these rights. Their 
 danger may be seen in the system of clubs in France 
 during the Revolution. 
 
 This right of association is at the foundation of 
 the existence of political parties; the assembling of 
 Conventions; the conferences of churches; and 
 societies for the purpose of mental, physical, social, 
 religious, improvement, and many other purposes 
 are of this character. 
 
 The principle of association is highly conducive to 
 free government. It is educative, conservative, 
 and preservative; as a means of acquiring political 
 knowledge it is scarcely excelled. It tends towards 
 conservatism in government, because all phases 
 of public questions are therein discussed, and it is 
 preservative of the liberties of the people, because it 
 gives the people the opportunity to hear and discuss 
 measures designed for their general welfare. 
 
 The Democratic party was the first to break off 
 from the old system of Congressional nominations 
 for President, and to organize a new tribunal — a 
 Convention of the people — to place in nomination 
 candidates;
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 119 
 
 The organization of a National Convention by the 
 Democracy, led to similar Conventions by all par- 
 ties, and for all political and civil divisions; until 
 no movement is now carried on successfully unless 
 a meeting of those who sympathize with each other 
 on public, or, in fact, any other class of questions 
 or purposes, is first held to proclaim their purposes, 
 and appoint their committees, by which these organ- 
 izations are perpetuated and made effective. Strike 
 down this principle, and the American people would 
 soon lose that self-reliance, energy, and power, 
 necessary to the successful administration of public 
 affairs. 
 
 It is the spirit of Democracy itself, exemplified; 
 without it free government could not exist. 
 
 The Supremacy of the Law. — Every citizen 
 must be subject to the law; that is, he must be sub- 
 ject to nothing else than the law. Ail exercise of 
 arbitrary or mob law is contrary to Democratic 
 principles. The law must be the only and universal 
 rule of conduct, to which all must bow with equal 
 and proper submission. It must not be an ex post 
 facto, law, but published to the world. All must 
 have an opportunity to* obey it, and, consequently, 
 must be presumed to have knowledge of it — that isj 
 the law must be made before the case arises td 
 which it is applied. Fairness demands this. There 
 must be no extraordinary courts or government
 
 120 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 commissions organized for special cases, or to bene- 
 fit special parties. 
 
 There can be no mere proclamations of executive 
 officers; dictations from mobs, nor as a unter de- 
 clara, '' from any people who claim to be alone the 
 people, except in their legally organized and organic 
 capacity." 
 
 Martial law can, therefore, not be declared, and 
 citizens not subject to military duty, or actually in 
 the military service tried for alleged offences, by 
 virtue of such proclamations, declarations, or 
 orders, " except in cases where rebellion exists." 
 
 It is sometimes said this can be done ivhen rebel- 
 lion exists; but according to tlie Democratic inter- 
 pretation of the provision, and Democratic prin- 
 ciples, martial law can only be properly and justly 
 declared ivhere rebellion exists. 
 
 When the civil courts are open, and offenders can 
 be tried in the usual way according to the forms of 
 the civil law, there can be no necessity for military 
 courts. 
 
 This principle involves the suspension of the 
 great writ of Habeas Corpus, and on this point the 
 Constitution of the United States declares that "the 
 privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be 
 suspende 1, unless, when in cases of rebellion or in- 
 vasion, the public safety may require it." 
 
 The abverb when is here used as to time, mstead 
 of tvhere, as to place; however, as it is qualified by 
 giving the reasons therefor, viz : when " the public
 
 IVhy we are Democrats. 121 
 
 safety requires it " — and being reasonable to suppose 
 that "public safety" would not require such ex- 
 treme measures in all parts of the country at the 
 same time, more especially so, where the courts are 
 open and prepared to execute law by the usual civil 
 process, the practice has been in conformity to the 
 rule here laid down, to suspend the writ only in 
 such districts of the country as was required to sub- 
 serve the public welfare. 
 
 It may be said that even this provision of the 
 Constitution authorizes arbitrary proceedings, and 
 may be in violation of a Democratic principle; but 
 it must be remembered that another principle here 
 comes to the relief of freemen. 
 
 Dr. Francis Leiber, in his work on Civil Liberty, 
 says "that the principle of ' the Supremacy of the 
 Law,' leads to a principle that has never been at- 
 tempted to be transplanted from soil inhabited by 
 Anglican people, but has been in our system of a 
 thorough government of law, as distinguished from 
 a government of functionaries, and that is this: 
 Every officer, high or low, remains personally 
 answ^erable to the person affected, for the legality 
 of the act he executes, no matter whether his law- 
 ful superior orders it or not. If it be illegal, the 
 person who executes it remains responsible for the 
 act, although the President or a king should have 
 ordered it; or the offending person be a soldier obey- 
 ing his commander." 
 
 This is a stern law, but a sacred Democratic prin-
 
 123 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 ciple. A strict government of law cannot dispense 
 with it, and it has worked well. It secures to the 
 fullest extent the rights of the citizen. 
 
 The Military Subservient to the Civil Law. 
 
 Governments have it in their power to worry people 
 into submission when the rights of the private citi- 
 zen is concerned. One of the means resorted to has 
 been, that of quartering soldiers upon disaffected or 
 obnoxious citizens. To guard the citizen against 
 a violation of his rights to a peaceable and quiet 
 home, the following limitation upon government, 
 has been placed in the Constitution of the United 
 States providing that "no soldier shall, in time of 
 peace, be quartered in any house without the con- 
 sent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a man- 
 ner prescribed by law." 
 
 This safeguard, although justly pointed out, is but 
 a part of the more general one, that the military 
 power of a state must be submissive to the civil 
 authorities. It is a Democratic principle, to jealous- 
 1}^ guard the rights of the people against the usur- 
 pations of the military authorities. Ever since free 
 governments have fiad an existence, it has been 
 found necessary, in various ways, to prevent the 
 army from becoming independent of the legislative 
 authority. There is no liberty, for one who has 
 been educated in the Democratic school, where 
 there is not a perfect submission of the army to the 
 legislature of the people. For these purposes appro-
 
 Why we are Democrats, 123 
 
 priations are made for the army, for only brief peri- 
 ods. The legislature — the popular branch thereof, 
 especially, must have control of the purse of the na- 
 tion. In no case must they who hold the sword of 
 a people, also control their treasury. The Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, it is true, makes the 
 President Commander in Chief of the army, but he 
 cannot enlist a man, or pay a soldier unless in pur- 
 suance of law; and his attempt to do so, would sub- 
 ject him to impeachment by the representatives of 
 the people, and removal from office by the Senate. 
 The importance of this principle, the dependence of 
 the army upon the civil powder, cannot be too strong- 
 ly impressed upon the people. It was one of the 
 grievances alleged against the British Crown in the 
 Declaration of Independence, that it had attempted 
 to render the military independent of and superior 
 to, the civil power. Standing armies are always 
 dangerous to civil liberty, because usually depending 
 upon executive power. They infuse into a whole 
 nation a spirit directly opposite to the general spirit 
 of a free people devoted to self-government. 
 
 A nation of freemen should stand committed to 
 obedience to law; an army teaches obedience to 
 "orders." Self sustaining law and order ought to 
 pervade a free people; simple command rules the 
 army. It makes no difference whether an army is 
 "Democratic" or not. The danger is only so much 
 greater, when the army is a part of the people. No 
 better illustrations can be found of this^danger than
 
 124 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 in the past history of France. The principle of entire 
 submission of the army to the civil power, is one 
 that should never be lost sight of by a Democratic 
 free people. 
 
 The War Power. — Democracy teaches that the 
 power to declare war must, like the power to raise 
 revenue, remain with the immediate representatives 
 of the people. The executive would be a dangerous 
 repository of this power. If the funds of the 
 people should be alone controlled by them, how 
 much more should both the lives and money be re- 
 tained. 
 
 The people cannot be said to be free when this 
 power is surrendered by them, into other than their 
 own hands. They must fight their own battles; 
 they must furnish the means to carry on the war; 
 and they alone should have the authority to com- 
 mence hostilities. 
 
 " When the executive power has not only the 
 nominal, but the real power of declaring war," says 
 Dr. Leiber, " we cannot speak of civil liberty or 
 self-government;" for that which most essentially 
 affects the people in all their relations, is in that 
 case beyond their control. 
 
 Liberty of Conscience.— Liberty of Conscience 
 —the right to worship as man pleases — is a funda- 
 mental Democratic principle. No system of liberty 
 is perfect without this right. Church and state in
 
 Why tee are Democrats. 125 
 
 a system of Democratic' free government are en- 
 tirely separate. This principle forbids civil govern- 
 ment from founding or endowing churches, or de- 
 manding a religious qualification for office under 
 such government. 
 
 This principle is not hostile to religion; but if one 
 sect, or denomination, or church, could be upheld, 
 another could be persecuted or destroyed. No wor- 
 ship can be interfered with, and none can be estab- 
 lished by law. Calamitous consequences might 
 easily follow, if this right were not strictly main- 
 tained.
 
 CHAPTEE XiY. 
 
 PERSONAL LIBERTY— PRIVATE PROPERTY- 
 FREE COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 "EVERY man's home HIS CASTLE"— '* NO GENERAL WARRANTS 
 SHALL BE issued"— NO EXCESSIVE BAIL— NO POLITICAL OF- 
 FENSE — COUNSEL FOR THE ACCUSED — PRIVATE PROPERTY — 
 DEMOCRACY DEMANDS THE FULLEST FREEDOM TO POSSESS 
 AND ENJOY PROPERTY'— PUBLIC FUNDS— PUBLICITY OF PUBLIC 
 BUSINESS— FREEDOM OF ELECTIONS— FREE COMMUNCATIONS. 
 
 It is impossible to imagine liberty in all its full- 
 ness, if the people are not entirely independent. 
 They must not be coerced into measures by execu- 
 tive or military power. Their agents must be free 
 from arrests w^hile in attendance upon legislative 
 assemblies. No influence from without, besides 
 that freely acknowledged justice, fairness and mo- 
 rality must be admitted into their councils. The 
 legislative power must not be dictated to by any 
 power. We must allow no entangling alliances 
 with foreign nations, whereby they may dictate the 
 laws of our own land. 
 
 Individual liberty requires strong guarantees, and 
 among these there is none more important than the 
 guarantee of the great habeas corpus, whereby any 
 citizen may compel any court to immediately in-
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 127 
 
 quire into the legality of his arrest, and be restored 
 to liberty if it be found he is illegally held. 
 
 That the individual must have guarantees against 
 the repository of power, is one of the elementary 
 principles of Democracy. Thus it is, that we have 
 the maxims, " Every man's house is his castle," 
 "general warrants shall not be issued," and the 
 "writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended." 
 
 Every man's house is his castle. No one cc / 
 enter the same save by the writs of the law. 
 w^riter once said, " It may be a straw built hut; the 
 wind may whistle around it; the rain may enter it; 
 but even the king, the government may not." 
 
 It is a bold declaration against a mere police gov- 
 ernment; and an acknowledgment of individual 
 security, as opposed to governmental power, which 
 dignifies this guarantee. 
 
 No general warrants shall issue. The Constitu- 
 tion declares " no warrants shall issue but upon 
 probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and 
 particularly describing the place to be searched and 
 the person or things to be seized." This directly 
 opposes police searches and seizures, which must 
 be done only in pursuance of particular warrants. 
 
 Again, the great writ of habeas corpus secures 
 the citizen against unjust imprisonment, and long 
 delay of trial. At the demand of the accused he 
 must be immediately brought before a court, who 
 may liberate him, admit him to bail, or remand him 
 upon the proper showing being made. " it allows of
 
 128 iVhy we are Democrats. 
 
 no administrative arrests." It proclaims against 
 the arrests of " suspects." It demands a speedy- 
 trial. These are fundamental Democratic princi- 
 ples^ and principles potent as guarantees of personal 
 liberty. 
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required. A man is 
 held to be innocent until he is proved guilty. If 
 judges could demand exorbitant bail, they might 
 defeat this wholesome principle. 
 
 It should be noted, that trials by impeachment, 
 are not trials for treason. Impeachment is a trial 
 for political incapacity, hence by the Senate gener- 
 ally, upon presentment by the House of Represen- 
 tatives. 
 
 A well secured penal trial; protection to indicted 
 persons; certainty of defence; a distinct indictment 
 charging a distinct act, which it is the duty of the 
 government to prove, and not the duty of the 
 prisoner to prove his innocence; the fairness of the 
 trial of the prisoner, by a jury of his peers, accord- 
 ing to the usual sound rules of evidence; the pub- 
 licity of the trial by accusatorial not inquisitorial 
 process of trials; certainty of the law; speedy, im- 
 partial and absolute verdicts. 
 
 The reason for these rules is obvious. The party 
 accused forms one party; society, the State, the 
 government, forms the other. It is clear that un- 
 less very strong, distinct guarantees of protection 
 are afforded, that the accused has a fair and im- 
 partial trial by Jury, that nothing be adjudged
 
 Why we are Democrats. 129 
 
 against him but what the kiw already demands, 
 there can be no security against oppression. 
 
 Government being the custodian of power, and 
 power being always desirous of carrying its point — 
 the desire increasing in intensity as difficulties are 
 in its way-there is no better security than that which 
 places the whole burden upon the accusing party. 
 
 Democracy is so jealous of the personal liberty 
 of the individual, that it demands these securities 
 against arbitrary power. 
 
 Democratic principles demand that there be no 
 such a thing as a " political offence." 
 
 It follows that a well regulated penal trial must 
 be had — the individual being placed opposite to 
 public power — a carefully organized trial for trea- 
 son, well defined, is absolutely necessary. There 
 the rule changes. Government is no longer the 
 accusing power in theory, but is the offending 
 power; but endowed with the force of the govern- 
 ment to annoy, persecute, and crush the citizen: 
 hence it is that in the United States, and we believe 
 all the States, treason against the Government is 
 clearly defined in the Constitution itself. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States declares: 
 
 1. Treason against the United States shall con- 
 sist only in levying war against them, or adhering 
 to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No 
 person shall be convicted of treason unless upon the 
 testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
 or on confession in open court.
 
 130 Why tve are Democrats. 
 
 2. Congress shall have power to declare the pun- 
 ishment for treason; but no attainder of treason 
 shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except 
 during the life of the person attainted. 
 
 To repeat, therefore, the principles governing the 
 liberty of the citizen in this respect, we formulate 
 them as follows: 
 
 1. The indictment mast be clear as to facts and 
 time when the offence has been committed. 
 
 2. The accused must have, after the indictment, a 
 sufficient time before the trial, so as to be able to 
 prepare for it. 
 
 He must have a list of witnesses against him an 
 equal time beforehand. 
 
 3. Counsel must be allowed to the accused as a 
 matter of course; peers of the accused must be the. 
 judges, and, consequently, must not be asked before- 
 hand, what the result will be. 
 
 Perfect publicity must be obtained from beginning 
 to end. 
 
 4. Hearsay must be excluded from the trial; con- 
 fession must be free and in open court; there must 
 be no physical torture or coercion; and there must 
 be good witnesses, and the judges must not depend 
 upon the executive. No evidence must be admitted 
 in criminal that is not admitted upon other trials; 
 there must be no constructive treason, and the 
 judges must not be political bodies.
 
 Why tve are Democrats. 131 
 
 All these guarantees are secured either by Consti- 
 tutional or statutory law. 
 
 The Democratic party has ever prided itself upon 
 favoring- tlio largest amount of liberty of the citizen 
 consistent witli public order; and of shielding to the 
 fullest possible extent the personal liberty of the 
 citizen — hence these well established rules regula- 
 ting his personal and political liberty are funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Democratic party, and 
 should be implicitly adhered to under all circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Mob law is un-Democratic, and cannot be sanc- 
 tioned by them under any circumstances. Better 
 that the guilty should escape where there is doubt, 
 than that one innocent person should suffer. 
 
 The Security of Private Property. — Democ- 
 rac}^ demands the strongest guarantees to be thrown 
 around private property. 
 
 It shall not be taken for public use, except that 
 full compensation be first made. 
 
 It includes the unrestrained right of producing 
 and exchanging the same. It prohibits the unfair 
 use of the tariff by monopolies, and promotes entire 
 commercial freedom. It demands that it be not 
 taken without the consent of the owner; and, even, 
 Avhen it concedes the I'ight of GoA^ernment to take a 
 portion, by the way of taxation, it demands that no 
 more be taken even for that purpose, than precisely
 
 132 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 sufficient to meet the necessities of Government, 
 and that it be equally assessed upon all alike. 
 
 This principle goes so far as even not to permit it 
 to be taken in the shape of a punishment for crime; 
 and forbids its forfeiture beyond the life of the per- 
 son who has been, himself, found guilty of treason. 
 
 We may here say that a person may deprive him- 
 self of liberty, or the liberty to use this property 
 during his lifetime, because of a conviction of crime; 
 but it would be unjust to punish his heirs for his 
 own crime; and, hence cannot be appropriated be- 
 yond the period of his own life, for his own mis- 
 deeds. 
 
 This principle also forbids even the supreme 
 power of a State, from passing any law impairing 
 the validity of contracts already made. 
 
 All these rights and privileges are founded upon 
 correct Democratic principles — condemnation of 
 monopolies; freedom in trading; freedom of home- 
 production; freedom in the exchange of commodi- 
 ties: possesion of property; taxation; confiscation; 
 each and every one of these has a long history — full 
 of struggles against error and governmental inter- 
 ference, far too long to be here inserted, and can be 
 only hinted at in a work so limited as this is intend- 
 ed to be; yet each and every one is founded upon 
 Democratic principles, and can in no way be violat- 
 ed without trenching upon the liberties of the people, 
 in a free Democratic government. 
 
 Bepudiation of public debts is not a Democratic
 
 Why we are Democrats. 133 
 
 principle; it is a serious wrong, which no State, 
 county, or municipality can indulge in without 
 doing violence to Democratic principles. 
 
 Public Funds. — Democracy favors the keeping of 
 public funds under the direct control of the law- 
 making power, notably under the more immediate 
 control of the popular branch of legislative assem- 
 blies. 
 
 It has almost become a common law where it has 
 not been made a Constitutional provision, that 
 revenue bills and appropriations of public funds, 
 should originate in the popular branch of assemblies. 
 In the English parliament, so jealous are the Com- 
 mons of this, their right, that they will not permit 
 the House of Lords to even propose amendments to 
 such bills. 
 
 If this power were left to the executive will, soon 
 public liberty would have an end. It would be 
 highly un-Democratic to withhold necessary public 
 supplies; but it is the high prerogative of the people 
 to tax themselves, and to tax no people without 
 their consent. 
 
 Democracy requires taxation and representation 
 to go hand in hand. Specific purposes must be an- 
 nounced when taxes are to be levied, and applied to 
 such purposes and no other; specific appropriations 
 made for specific purposes, and used for such pur- 
 poses only. 
 
 Pemocracy cannot consent that any power other
 
 134 Why ive a re Democrats. 
 
 than the people, through their immediate represent- 
 atives shall transfer public funds from one to 
 another and a different purpose. 
 
 Furthermore, Democracy denies to the executive 
 the power to exceed in expenditure the several 
 amounts appropriated for any certain purpose. 
 
 It is a vital principle of Democracy and of public 
 liberty, that the purse strings remain in the hands 
 of the popular branch of the legislature; and that 
 the taxing and expending power be in all cases left 
 with the immediate representatives of the people. 
 
 Publicity of Public Business. — Democracy fa- 
 vors public business to be transacted in a public 
 manner. The publication of public accounts, and 
 of the votes of public servants. It holds in detesta- 
 tion star chamber proceedings, and inquisitions. It 
 denounces secret political parties. It demands the 
 publication of all public proceedings, and favors the 
 open discussion of public questions. 
 
 The public discussion of great questions in public 
 ioui-nals is one great means of disseminating truths, 
 5^et oral discussions, before judges and juries, and 
 in public assemblies are even more important, and 
 doubtless more promotive of public liberty. Dem- 
 ocracy favors publicity to the fullest extent, of all 
 transactions in public business. It tends to purity 
 in the administration of public affairs, honesty in 
 the disbursement of public funds; preserves and 
 promotes public economy, and guards the public
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 135 
 
 against many frauds and peculations that otherwise 
 could not well be avoided. Publicity informs, 
 teaches, educates. It is promotive of patriotism; 
 it sounds the alarm bell in seasons of public danger. 
 It is conducive to eloquence; it prepares the citizen 
 for public duties; it is, in short, the life blood of 
 public liberty, and a leading principle of the Ameri- 
 can Democracy. 
 
 Freedom of Elections. — The Democratic prin- 
 ciple requires absolute freedom of the citizen in 
 casting his ballot. On election day he is a sovereign. 
 Though still amenable to the laws, he is free from 
 arrest in going to and from the polls. 
 
 The executive power must have no authority over 
 elections. The electors, themselves, must have 
 charge of their ow^n elections. 
 
 They must be absolutely free from military con- 
 trol. No troops must be allowed to be stationed 
 near the place where elections are held. 
 
 The principle of permitting executive officers to 
 appoint managers for elections is un-Democratic, 
 and tends to a subversion of the free elective 
 principle. 
 
 Tlie minority should always be represented on the 
 boards, receiving and counting the ballots. No in- 
 timidation of voters sliould be permitted. 
 
 Corruption at the polls is one of the most danger- 
 ous practices, and is evidence of decay in free gov- 
 ernment. The unbought, unawed, and absolute
 
 136 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 judgment of the voter should alone find a lodgment 
 in the ballot-box. When the citizen will sell this — 
 his dearest birthright — for money, or anything of 
 value, it should be so heinous a crime as to pre- 
 vent him ever afterwards from exercising the 
 right. 
 
 Another principle is, that the legislative body 
 shall alone be the judges of the election, and quali- 
 fication of its members. 
 
 The executive should have no control, whatever, 
 in determining the election of members. 
 
 So too, when elections have been free, so should 
 the representatives of the people be free when met 
 to legislate. They must be free to adopt their own 
 rules of proceeding. They must not be questioned 
 for any speech or debate uttered while in 
 session. They, too, must be free from arrest while 
 in attendance upon their sessions. All must be up- 
 on a perfect equality. One must have precisely the 
 right of each and every other member. 
 
 There can be no inequality among members, save 
 that which ability and industry will produce. 
 Frequent return and election of members is another 
 vital principle of Democracy. A wholesome fear of 
 constituents to whom they must return for a fresh 
 lease of power, has a restraining and energising in- 
 fluence upon representatives; and Democracy for 
 these reasons favors a frequent return of power to 
 the people, the source of all political power and 
 authority.
 
 Why ice are Democrats. 137 
 
 Locomotion, Cojoiunion and ExMigration. — The 
 freedom of communion is a precious principle of 
 Democracy — of free government. 
 
 It should be remembered that the Constitution of 
 the United States is made up of grants of power. 
 When a power is not expressly granted, it is re- 
 served to the States or the people. 
 
 It is one of the most precious of all individual 
 rights. It is one of those elements of liberty that 
 has, in American institutions, not been even men- 
 tioned, because supposed to be unquestioned. 
 
 It is singled out here because under other than 
 Democratic institutions, it has been among the very 
 first to be violated. It has been one of the first 
 rights secured when an un-free people declared 
 themselves free — the right to go where they please. 
 
 Free communication is an element of civil liberty 
 — no one is truly free, if his right to go where he 
 pleases is interrupted or submitted to surveillance. 
 Equal with this right is that of free speech. 
 
 Free or Democratic nations demand the right to 
 free communion, free speech, the right to free pub- 
 lic assemblies, and the right to speak publicly of 
 whatever concerns the public good, and also the 
 right and sacredness of free epistolary correspond- 
 ence. 
 
 When the Constitution of the United States was 
 first framed, these rights had not been enumerated; 
 but upon further reflection, these rights were guan- 
 anteed by way of amendments.
 
 138 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 Liberty of conscience, of free communion, of 
 assembling and petitioning Government for a re- 
 dress of grievances, belong to this class, and the 
 Democratic right to these privileges is held to be 
 sacred and well guarded in all our Constitutions. 
 
 The Constitution expressly declares that Congress 
 "shall pass no law respecting an establishment of 
 religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or 
 abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or 
 the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to 
 petition the Government for a redress of griev- 
 ances." 
 
 When all these sacred rights of the citizen have 
 not been rigidly retained in the bill of rights, or in 
 the several -Constitutions, still the courts have de- 
 cided that American citizens expressly possess them. 
 It is as if the nation said, we possess these rights, 
 let the Government dare to take them away. 
 
 We have mentioned already the right of freedom 
 in epistolary communion. This is, unquestionably 
 one of the dearest, as well as most necessary rights 
 to civilized man— and yet it was not mentioned by 
 tlie founders of our Government in our so-called 
 bill of rights — probably so, because they were so 
 little acquainted with a police government. 
 
 The liberty of free correspondence should stand 
 between free speech and a free press — free speech — 
 free letters — a free press. The sacredness of free 
 letters appears the more important, because in 
 almost every civilized country the Government is
 
 Why we are Democrats. 139 
 
 the only carrier of letters, and forbids individuals or 
 corporations from carrying sealed letters. So soon, 
 therefore, as a letter is delivered to the custody of 
 Government, it has obligated itself to deliver it to 
 the party, and good faith and honorable dealing de- 
 mands that it be delivered in good faith to the party 
 intended, free from spies and informers, from what- 
 ever source they come. The freedom of letters is 
 therefore, as much a Democratic principle, as are 
 those of free speech and a free press. 
 
 So sacred is this right, that in the United States, 
 it is said there is not known any means — not even a 
 Avrit from a court — by which a letter can be ex- 
 tracted from the mails and read, except by him to 
 whom it is addressed. 
 
 These are all Demcratic principles, intended for 
 the most complete liberty and protection of the 
 citizen against the powers of Government, even 
 when of the class denominated free Government, 
 These are rights reserved to the people, and so 
 sacred in their eyes, that even a majority, however 
 legally organized otherwise, have no right to de- 
 prive any one of them.
 
 CHAPTEE Xr. 
 
 SUMPTUARY LAWS— TARIFF FOR REVENUE 
 —SECTIONAL PARTIES. 
 
 SUMPTUARY LAWS NOT FAVORED BY DEMOCRACY — MAN A FREE 
 MORAL AGENT— CIVIL RIGHTS— LIBERTY REGULATED BY LAW 
 —HOW TO RAISE REVENUES — PROTECTION VS. FREE TRADE — 
 JACKSON'S THEORY — A TARIFF FOR REVENUE NOT FOR PRO- 
 TECTION — RICHARD COBDEN'S VIEW— A MARKET THE WORLD 
 OVER— SECTIONAL PARTIES— ALL SECTIONAL QUESTIONS SHOULD 
 BE BURIED. 
 
 Sumptuary Laws. — The Democracy are opposed 
 to "Sumptuary laws," which means that class of 
 laws intended to regulate the expenses, the food, 
 raiment, and habits of the private citizen. It pro- 
 tects the citizen against the invasion of these rights, 
 by his fellow men, so long as he does not thereby 
 invade theirs. This principle is based upon that 
 which God has recognized in creating man a free 
 moral agent, to do whatsoever may seem good to 
 him, yet holding him accountable for any abuse of 
 the exercise of his free moral agency. 
 
 He punishes man for every violation of His laws, 
 whether moral or physical, not only in his moral 
 government, but the law of man's very being. If, 
 by intemperance in the use of anything, he violates
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 141 
 
 the laws governing his body, disease and death is 
 the result; so also should the laws of man be framed 
 to set before him the same incentives to be temper- 
 ate in all things, in which his fellow-man is inter- 
 ested. While it gives to the citizen perfect liberty, 
 it holds him accountable for violating any of the 
 rights of his fellow-men. He may eat, and drink, 
 and wear, and use whatever he chooses, but if 
 thereby he takes from them, their families, or from 
 his own family, or children, anything which be- 
 longs to them in common with himself, it may be 
 recovered back; and so it may be from any who 
 knowingly aids him in doing it. 
 
 Communities are entitled to the peaceful enjoy- 
 ment of their civil rights. Churches, and meetings 
 of a public or private nature, are protected by the 
 exercise of this same principle, and so are families. 
 Each and all have the right to enjoy their homes, 
 their churches, and their assemblies, and when any 
 one, through intemperance in food, drink, or con- 
 duct, or in any manner whatever, interferes with 
 the proper and just exercise of those rights and 
 privileges, Avhereby they are injured, the laws 
 should and do take hold upon him, and restrain 
 him, by penalties, even to the infliction of imprison- 
 ment, from interfering with those rights, alike the 
 common heritage of all; and compel him, to yield 
 obedience to such wholesome regulations as are 
 best calculated to promote the general welfare. 
 
 While, therefore, a majority cannot restrain the
 
 142 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 citizen in the enjoyment of his personal liberties, 
 and physical rights, he is restrained through means 
 of legaPenactments from injuring any one else by 
 the exercise of them. Thus it is, that poisons, and 
 the means of taking life are sold for lawful pur- 
 poses; and the citizen can purchase them for 
 proper uses, and when obtained may take his own 
 life therewith; but cannot be sold to him when it is 
 known to the vendor that the purchaser intends to 
 thus destroy himself, or even attempt to do himself 
 an injury. The person may attempt or even take 
 his own life, and for neither can he be punished, or 
 forfeits collected from his estate; but no person can 
 aid him without becoming amenable to the penal- 
 ties of the law. 
 
 Democracy favors legislation, therefore, to pro- 
 tect society in all its rights, while it leaves the in- 
 dividual free to exercise his own, so long as he does 
 not trample upon the rights of others, which are as 
 sacred in the eyes of the law as his own are to him. 
 
 It is liberty regulated by law. It is the exemplifi- 
 cation of free speech, free letters, a free press, a free 
 table, a free home, a free family, a free person, but 
 in the exercise and enjoyment of any of those rights 
 he cannot injure the very least of one of those asso- 
 ciated with him, or who are dependent upon him, in 
 the enjoyment of their rights, without incurring the 
 penalties prescribed for the protection of all alike. 
 Sumptuary laws, therefore, are obnoxious to these 
 sound principles, while in no sense do the proper
 
 Why ice are Democrats. 143 
 
 exercise of moral principles come in contact with 
 them. Believing in the largest amount of liberty to 
 the citizen, consisting with public order, men are 
 Democrats because opposed to sumptuary laws 
 
 A Tariff for Revenue. — The question of how 
 to raise revenues with which to support the Gene- 
 ral Government, has been a question which has 
 long been discussed between political parties. 
 
 There has always been a party in favor of special 
 protection to American manufactures, by a specific 
 duty on imported articles, whether the necessities of 
 the Government required much or but little revenue. 
 "Protection for the sake of protection " is their 
 fundamental idea; while, upon the other hand there 
 has always existed a strong element in favor of 
 " free trade," the latter varying from a tariff for 
 revenue, which is far less obnoxious to the other 
 class, to that of absolute free trade, and direct 
 taxation. 
 
 The Democracy have always favored a tariff for 
 revenue, so levied, as Jackson stated the proposi- 
 tion, "in a spirit of equity, caution and compro- 
 mise, so that the great interests of agriculture, 
 manufactures, and commerce will be equally 
 favored." 
 
 The doctrine promulgated by the Democracy, and 
 again and again affirmed by their National Conven- 
 tions, is that as already stated, a tariff for revenue 
 and not for protection.
 
 144 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 The Democracy believe that as a Constitutional 
 principle, the General Government has no power to 
 collect more revenue than just enough to meet its 
 lawful expenditures — just enough to carry out the 
 enumerated powers granted to it in the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 They regard the collection of any greater sum as 
 a system not only unconstitutional, but unjust, un- 
 equal, and if persisted in, leading to corruption and 
 ultimate ruin of the best interests of the country. 
 The necessities of the Government, for large reve- 
 nues, in order to meet tlie ordinary expenses of the 
 Government; and, in addition to that, the interest 
 upon the public debt, and a portion of the debt 
 itself each year, has caused the people to submit to 
 a higher tariff since the war than they would have 
 done were the circumstances otherwise; but what- 
 ever these necessities may be, Democrats do not, as 
 a party, believe in what is called ''a protective 
 tariff;" or in raising any more money than is 
 absolutely necessary to meet the expenditures of 
 the Government. 
 
 President Jackson, in his farewell address, has 
 set forth the views of the Democracy on this sub- 
 ject, perhaps in the most forcible manner in which 
 they can be presented, upon the various phases 
 which the question' may assume. 
 
 When the public debt, resultant of the war of 
 A. D. 1812, had been almost paid, and a surplus was 
 about to accumulate in the national treasury, he
 
 JVJiy ive are Democrats. 145 
 
 advised the people that the design to collect an ex- 
 travagant revenue, and to burden the people with 
 taxes beyond the economical wants of the govern- 
 ment, had not been abandoned. 
 
 The various interests, he said, would combine to- 
 gether to impose a heavy tariff, and produce an 
 overflowing treasury, and these elements were too 
 strong, and had too much at stake to surrender the 
 contest; and the history of tariff legislation from 
 that day to this, verifies his predictions. 
 
 The great corporations which have grown up, and 
 the wealthy individuals engaged in manufacturing 
 establishments, desire a high tariff in order to 
 increase their gains, under the plausible argument 
 that they desire it in order to pay their working 
 men better wages. Designing politicians support it 
 to conciliate their favor, and advocate profuse ex- 
 penditures for the purpose of purchasing influence 
 in other quarters. 
 
 When driven from the policy of making immense 
 public internal improvements, they shelter them- 
 selves wnder the i^lea of dividing the surplus revenue 
 thus raised among the States, as another means to 
 induce Congress to continue the policy of protective 
 tariffs. 
 
 The Democracy believe that the only safe principle 
 is to levy a tariff only for purposes of revenue; and 
 confine the Government rigidly within the sphere of 
 its appropriate duties. They insist that it has no 
 power to raise more revenue, or to impose any tax.
 
 146 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 except for the purposes enumerated; and that if its 
 income is found to exceed these wants, it must be 
 reduced, and the burdens of the people so far 
 lightened. 
 
 The revenue, no matter how raised, unless it be 
 by direct taxation upon incomes, must be drawn 
 from the pockets of the people — from the farmer, 
 the mechanic, and the laboring classes of the coun- 
 try — the consuming class. 
 
 The excess not required, cannot be returned to 
 them in any possible way — the class who most need 
 it, and who are justly entitled to it. It is therefone, 
 a species of legal robbery — a forced loan never to be 
 repaid; not for the purpose of defending the life of 
 the nation; but to unduly stimulate the production 
 of manufactured articles beyond the necessities of 
 the hour, that a privileged few may reap its bene- 
 fits, and accumulate more than their just share of 
 the wealth of the country. 
 
 They believe that this unnatural " stimulation 
 itself, will, if over production be the result, finally 
 lead to greater embarrassments than if left to regu- 
 late itself by the ordinary laws of supply and 
 demand. 
 
 Richard Cobden, of England, laid down the car- 
 dinal principle of a tariff incorporated in financial 
 legislation, as follows: 
 
 " Taxes, when necessary, must be laid for revenue 
 alone, and in their remission of those to be remitted 
 the interests of the consumers are paramount, and
 
 Why we are Democrats. 147 
 
 must be consulted; no taxes should be levied ex- 
 clusively in the supposed interests of producers or 
 manufacturers — they have no right to enjoy this 
 immunity because in the minority." 
 
 In this country, the agricultural class is by far 
 the most numerous, and no legislation is asked 
 to protect them. All tliey want is a market the 
 world over, to sell their productions; but the manu- 
 facturer wants his productions protected, so that he 
 can sell at the highest prices, by creating an arti- 
 ficial demand, or rather by excluding competition. 
 If the principle were sound, it would apply with 
 equal force to our inter-State commerce, whereas it 
 has been entirely excluded. Hence to aid manu- 
 factures, both agriculture and commerce are in- 
 jured, which is not in accordance with sound prin- 
 ciples of political economy, because, in a great 
 agricultural country like this, the principle an- 
 nounced by Jefferson — "the encouragement of 
 agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid " are 
 conducive of the greatest good to the greatest num- 
 ber, and of vastly more importance to the country 
 at large, than the mere developement of a compara- 
 tively small class of manufacturing interests. Ra- 
 ther should all these great interests be considered 
 as Jackson declared, and these be left free and un- 
 fettered, that commerce may flow into those natural 
 channels in'which individual enterprise may direct 
 it, which is always the safest guide. 
 
 These reasons, founded upon the Constitution,
 
 148 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 and resulting in the greatest good to the greatest 
 number, have induced men to be Democrats, and 
 compel them to favor a taritf for revenue, and not 
 only for the sake of protection. They believe that 
 where so large an amount of revenue is needed to 
 supply the necessities of our government, that suflS- 
 cient protection is afforded, incidentally, without 
 legislating purely in the interest of classes, thereby 
 aiding in fostering monopolies — the bane of free 
 governments, — which will be enabled thereby to en- 
 rich themselves beyond measure, by the additional 
 profits wrung from consumers, who ultimately are 
 compelled to pay, not only the tariff theron — or 
 rather the enhanced price by reason of the tariff, 
 but the additional profits thereon by reason of the 
 enhanced price. For these, and many more reasons, 
 here excluded for want of space, Democrats are op- 
 posed to a high protective tariff — as specific duties 
 upon imports. 
 
 Sectional Parties. — The Democracy regard sec- 
 tional parties as one of the greatest evils that could 
 arise, indeed, has arisen in this country. President 
 Jackson said, in his farewell address, "the evil is 
 sufficiently apparent to awaken the deepest anxiety 
 in the bosom of every patriot." 
 
 And although we have had a civil war, in conse- 
 quence of sectional strife; and although we have 
 come out of that terrible ordeal with a united coun- 
 try, as far as mere territory is concerned, and
 
 Why 2ve are Democrats. 149 
 
 would seem to be drifting back into the haven of 
 rest, under the protection of our common Constitu- 
 tion, still the angry waves of sectional strife are not 
 yet entirely allayed, and at every repeated Presi- 
 dential election the strife is seemingly renewed. 
 
 While we do not '' see systematic efforts made tb 
 sow the seeds of discord between the sections," we 
 do see such efforts made to keep once-existing dis- 
 cord alive. We see a party, which should be nation- 
 al, and magnanimous, being sectional and bigoted, 
 asserting its superior loyalty intelligence and 
 patriotism, as entitling it to rule, to the exclusion 
 of all other sections or parties, unless they bow to 
 their peculiar notions, as to how legislation should 
 be conducted, and by whom the laws should be ad- 
 ministered. This attitude in the North is calculated 
 to create a corresponding solidity in the South. 
 
 It prevents them from differing upon matters of 
 internal policy, upon questions of revenue and tar- 
 iffs; and it will do so, as long as there is a party, 
 sectional in its nature, which asserts its right to rule 
 the other section by sheer force of power c>r of num- 
 bers. 
 
 Appeals are thus constantly being made in the 
 North to sectional prejudice, and to force into the 
 controversy matters calculated to stir up mutual 
 hatred and strife. The Chief Magistrate, it is urged, 
 should be elected, not alone from one section of the 
 Union, but that he must be one who has shown, not 
 the greatest devotion to thfe Uiiioii, and the Uonsti-
 
 150 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 tution — the common heritage of all— but the great- 
 est loyalty to that one party, always in antagonism 
 to the other section, though the occasion for strife 
 has long since passed away; as if it were desired 
 that he should favor a particular part of the coun- 
 try more than he favored the whole or every other 
 part, or to administer the laws impartially in the in- 
 terest of all sections alike. It would not do to say, 
 that all those who thus engage in what seems so 
 unwise and unprofitable a crusade, are not patriots, 
 and are wanting in public virtue; but wdiile they 
 are presumedly honest, and conscious of the recti- 
 tude of their own intentions, they seem to forget 
 that their neighbors, whether by their side, or far 
 away in other States, who have the same interests 
 in good government that they have, may be, and 
 doubtless are equally so. This matter of mutual re- 
 proaches and mutual suspicion is the bane of our 
 party politics. Men seem not to reflect, that this is 
 all the country we have; that our States, our coun- 
 ties, our towns, our farms, our homes, lie side by side 
 with those of others, however differing upon polit- 
 ical questions; that we look with equal pride to the 
 glory and greatness (Jt our common country; that 
 we worship the same God, and have a common in- 
 terest in the welfare of our children, to whom this 
 country must soon Be committed, and that future 
 generations will find this people so commingling to- 
 gether, if a wise policy is pursued, that none need
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 151 
 
 say to another, Were your ancestors " loyal" in 
 18G1? 
 
 The Union cannot be maintained and the laws en- 
 forced by the mere coercive powers of the General 
 Government. A majority in all sections must feel 
 that their interests prompt them to a cheerful obe- 
 dience of them. Why then permit sectional feeling 
 to warp their judgment? There are millions of 
 Democrats who would rally around the flag and the 
 Constitution the moment any hostile hands were 
 laid upon either. They would lay down their lives 
 in support of that government, the moment an at- 
 tempt were made to inaugurate a rival government. 
 It is not in the nature of things that the majority of 
 the people of this country can be its enemies, be- 
 cause it is their government so long as it is admin- 
 istered in their interests. Why then so ready to de- 
 nounce the foremost soldiers of the war as enemies 
 in disguise; and by so doing promote bitterness as 
 well as continually build up sectional parties, upon 
 presumed sectional issues, when true patriotism, 
 and love of country, and every noble impulse of our 
 hearts, would prompt every lover of his country to 
 allay and assuage this sectional hatred and strife. 
 
 It must cease sometime ! It cannot always last ! 
 Democrats believe great wrong has been done alike 
 to both sections, by not long since burying all sec- 
 tional questions; and so believing, they are Demo- 
 crats, because that party has never ceased to urge 
 it, ever since the clash of arms has ceased, as well 
 as long before the strife commenced.
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 THE CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 DEMOCRACY DEMANDS A PURE, FAITHFUL, CIVIL SERVICE— JACK- 
 SON'S VIEW— HON. ALLEN G. THURMAN'S LIST OF CORRUP- 
 TIONS — THE THEFT OF THE PRESIDENCY — THE DIFFERENCE — 
 THE DEMOCRACY SEEKS TO ELEVATE THE CITIZEN RATHER 
 THAN MAGNIFY THE GOVERNMENT—" DO AS YOU PLEASE, AS 
 LONG AS YOU DO NOT TRAMPLE ON THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS." 
 — INSTEAD OF "THE STATE SO WILLS AND YOU 'MUST' OBEY 
 — PRINCIPLES NOT MEN." 
 
 The Democracy favor a pure, faithful civil ser- 
 vice. It is one of the cardinal principles of the 
 party, and has been frequently alluded to by Demo- 
 cratic Presidents and statesmen, and engrafted in 
 their national platforms from the days of Jefferson 
 to the present time. 
 
 No people can long maintain liberty, and support 
 free institutions, whose Government is honeycomb- 
 ed by corrupt men and corrupt practices. This is 
 the lesson which history teaches — corruption pre- 
 cedes dissolution in governments, as surely as day 
 precedes night. 
 
 Early in the history of our Federal Government 
 Jefferson announced as his rule in appointing men
 
 WJiy we are Democrats. 153 
 
 to office, to ask the question: Is he honest, is he 
 capable, and does he support the Constitution? 
 
 Jackson alluded to the civil service upon several 
 occasions in his messages. He pledged himself to 
 the work of reform in the administration, so that 
 the patronage of the General Government, which 
 had been brought into conflict with the freedom of 
 elections, and had disturbed the rightful course of 
 appointments by continuing in power unfaithful 
 and incompetent public servants, should be no 
 longer used for that purpose. He also declared his 
 belief in the principle, that the integrity and zeal of 
 public officers would advance the interests of the 
 public service, more than mere numbers. 
 
 Jackson, also, as a means to purify and keep pure 
 the administration of public affairs, advocated rota- 
 tion in office. • Corruption, he said, (as already 
 stated in another part of this work) would spring 
 up among those in power; and, therefore, he 
 thought appointments should not be made for a 
 longer period than four years. He further said, that 
 everybody had equal right to office, and he there- 
 fore advocated removals as a leading principle 
 which would give healthful action to the political 
 system. 
 
 So also in the various platforms of the Democratic 
 party, since the war closed, repeated mention has 
 been made of the civil service, all in perfect accord 
 with the expressions of the earlier Democratic Pres- 
 identSi Thus have the Democracy both a principle
 
 154 Why tve are Democrats. 
 
 and a policy marked out to guide them in the civil 
 administration. 
 
 The Democracy believe that a pure civil service 
 must be re-established in the administration of pub- 
 lic affairs, and that removals from office is the only 
 sure method to accomplish this desirable purpose. 
 
 The history of the administration of public affairs 
 since the war closed, has been one of such gigantic 
 corruption, as to bring disgrace upon the Republic; 
 and has furnished the advocates of despotisms, the 
 v^orld over, w^ith new arguments against a popular, 
 free government. 
 
 A distinguished Democratic statesman — Hon. 
 Allen G. Thurman — says: "Unfortunately for the 
 credit of the nation, the instances of corruption are 
 so notorious, that a bare reference to them brings 
 forth a picture from which the mind turns with 
 loathing and indignation. The Credit Mobilier, the 
 Pacific Mail, the Belknap trial, the villainies of the 
 Custom House, the straw bids of the Post Office, the 
 Indian and Whiskey rings, and a long list of de- 
 faulters in every department of the Government, 
 have become matters of history." 
 
 Since these words were uttered by this eminent 
 Democratic United States Senator, we have had 
 scandals arising from the Star Route trials, second 
 to none under any government, in any clime. Not 
 only frauds before which all others sink into ilisig-- 
 nificance, in the administration of public affairs, but 
 frauds in elections themselves, through which the
 
 Why we are Democrats. 155 
 
 people have been robbed of their dearest right— that 
 of the result of their sovereign will through the 
 elective franchise — at the head of which stands out 
 in bold relief, the theft of the Presidency itself, by 
 means of forged certificates of election, and the set- 
 ting aside of the returns as made by sovereign 
 States of the Union, through the action of all the 
 departments of their government. Thus have the 
 grossest frauds that ever disgraced a free people, 
 manifested themselves. 
 
 And, had it ceased here, and those who aided in 
 perpetrating them upon the people been punished, it 
 might have satisfied the public mind; but, instead 
 of this being done, those who perpetrated them — the 
 aiders and abettors of these usurpations and frauds 
 were rewarded by place and position. 
 
 When officers in the administration of public 
 affairs thus lose all sense of honor and integrity, 
 what need the people expect, but that "like masters, 
 like men," will be the result. 
 
 The Democracy believe in accordance with the 
 repeated declarations of representative Democrats, 
 that to maintain a free government, there must be 
 purity, honesty, and faithfulness in the administra- 
 tion of public affairs; and that when once corrup- 
 tion and fraud have found lodgment in, or at the 
 head of departments of government, there is no 
 other or better way to reclaim the government, than 
 to remove from office the entire party in all the de- 
 partments, and place them in the hands of new men.
 
 156 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 No party thus affected can purify itself — removal 
 from and out of office is the only sure remedy. 
 
 Civil service reform as to mere clerical or mental 
 qualifications, will not purify the government; nor 
 will the mere manner of making appointments cor- 
 rect the evil, nor will a tenure of office, because, 
 the promotions from lower to higher positions, 
 will but embolden and entrench dishonesty more 
 securely, and create an office-holding aristocracy; 
 while the people will in no wise be benefitted there- 
 by; but removals and rotation in office will excite 
 a healthy competition, and will give the people that 
 equal right to office and official position, which the 
 theory and genius of our Democratic form of gov- 
 ernment contemplates. 
 
 The Democracy therefore, advocate these methods 
 to purify the administration of public affairs, and 
 an economical and simple execution of the powers 
 of government, they believe, will materially reduce 
 the temptations to fraud and corruption in its ad- 
 ministration; and they therefore demand from its 
 candidates as well as its supporters, the strongest 
 pledges, that such will be their conduct if permitted 
 to exercise the powers of Government in behalf of 
 the people. We are Democrats because we believe 
 this to be the true method of preserving a pure and 
 faithful civil service. 
 
 The DiFPEEENCE. — It may be said, all this may 
 be true; but do not all parties profess these princi-
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 167 
 
 pies more or less? Why then are you a Democrat 
 when so many of these principles are held only in 
 common with those who act with the opposing 
 party ? 
 
 We answer, there is an essential difference be- 
 tween the Democracy, and those who oppose that 
 party. This may arise from various causes — cer- 
 tainly it does exist. It may arise from early train- 
 ing, but doubtless more from natural disposition, 
 from an innate, inherent and so to speak, constitu- 
 tional difference which inclines the mind to view 
 duty from a different standpoint. The opposition 
 assumes superiority of intelligence and virtue, 
 whicli they claim as a reason why their peculiar no- 
 tions should prevail. Were the majority ever so 
 large against them, they would look upon these, 
 nevertheless, as of a lower order of intelligence; 
 vicious in their purposes, destructive in results, 
 while they pay little regard to the principles these 
 people profess, or the policy they desire adopted. 
 Their opponents have ever assumed superior intelli- 
 gence, and have not refrained from expressing a 
 disdain for a party which, they say, is largely made 
 up of the laboring and " ignorant " classes of the 
 country. They seek to govern by different methods 
 than do the Democrats. With them it has been the 
 strength of government relied upon to preserve 
 peace and good order; with the Democracy, love 
 and affection h? been appealed to, as the stronger 
 incentive.
 
 158 Why we ar^e Democrats. 
 
 The Democracy seek to elevate the citizen. The 
 opposing idea is to magnify the government; with 
 the Democracy it has been a favorite idea to grant 
 the largest possible liberty to the individual citizen, 
 consistent with public order; but the opposing idea 
 is, that the least liberty is safest to a naturally de- 
 praved nature. Expansion, elevation, personal 
 freedom in the one; a strong government to subdue 
 human nature has been the other. 
 
 The Democratic idea is, "do as you please so long 
 as you do not trample on the rights of others;" the 
 opposing idea is, "the State so wills and joumust 
 obey. Compulsion, force, fear, is the mainspring of 
 peace with that class; love, reverence, respect, is 
 the incentive held out in the other to secure obedi- 
 ence to law. It has thus always assumed a moral 
 and intellectual superiority, and by virtue of these 
 qualities has claimed the right to govern. The De- 
 mocracy have not only denied this authority as well 
 as the claim, but denounced the principle as a vic- 
 ious one. 
 
 This may and doubtless is not the disposition 
 which actuates every man who opposes the Demo- 
 cratic party, but there is a certain spirit so to speak, 
 which actuates every large mass of men, and this 
 manifests itself in the general conduct of the 
 body. 
 
 Every association has its distinct features — oft- 
 times consisting of temperament, and various other 
 peculiarities existing in mankind. Such as agree,
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 159 
 
 more readily associate themselves together. They 
 feel at home in each other's society, and this gene- 
 ral agreement gives them a character, which mani- 
 fests its peculiarity by its general conduct and in- 
 tercourse with men. It is to this peculiarity we 
 allude as existing both in a party composed of De- 
 mocrats, and those more or less opposed to them in 
 these fundamental principles. 
 
 The wealthy class engaged in non-producing pur- 
 suits; the self-assumed aristocracy of the country; 
 the would-be rulers of their fellow men, instead of 
 sharers with them in the benefit of government, are 
 chiefly those who look with disdain upon the more 
 humble pretentions of the Democracy. 
 
 For twenty-five years or more, this spirit in the 
 opposition has denounced the Democracy. They 
 have denounced them because they stood by the 
 Constitution, guaranteeing the rights of the people 
 of the several States to control their domestic insti- 
 tutions in their own way. 
 
 Because of this, they of the North were denounced 
 as being guilty of supporting and maintaining 
 human slavery, and likewise denounced with equal 
 vehemence as rebels and traitors to their country, 
 when they were only defending the most sacred 
 rights of freemen guaranteed to all men in the Con- 
 stitution. They have for more than a quarter of a 
 century been constantly and persistently denounc- 
 ing Democrats as enemies of their country and their 
 race. <•
 
 160 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 Denunciation is their constant means of political 
 warfare. To generously look at what they might 
 deem a mistaken view of what results might be ex- 
 pected to follow, is out of the question. The indi- 
 vidual must necessarily have an evil purpose in 
 view, else he would not differ from them ! They 
 are the intelligent, moral, virtuous, 'Moyal " class, 
 and those who differ from them must necessarily 
 have vicious objects in view ! There is neither 
 charity, generosity, nor tolerance in their com- 
 position. 
 
 They are unwilling to believe that a person can 
 differ from their view, and be honest in his opin- 
 ions; and being vicious in their purposes, must 
 necessarily be repressed by the power of govern- 
 ment ! Thus they have persistently denounced De- 
 mocrats, as enemies of their race, more because of 
 their faithfulness to the doctrines of the fathers of 
 the Republic, than for any other reason. It has of- 
 times assumed the character of absolute tyranny 
 and oppression, instead of that toleration and free- 
 dom which Democrats at all times are willing to 
 accord to their fellows. These are peculiarities 
 which exist aside from those fundamental differ- 
 ences of opinion upon questions of national or do- 
 mestic policy, upon which intelligent men might 
 honestly differ. 
 
 Men are Democrats because they hate and despise 
 this spirit of intolerance and oppression, and can 
 act wi#i no party harmoniously, which is charac-
 
 Why we are Democrats. 161 
 
 terized by such methods and habits of thought. 
 These differences are plainly to be seen in the char- 
 acter of their deliverances — laudatory and manda- 
 tory, and denuncicvtory of the purposes of those who 
 differ from them as to measures designed for the 
 welfare of both. The Democracy is doctrinal, tol- 
 erant, liberal and patriotic. Its motto is " Principles 
 not men." It asks nothing but what it concedes. 
 Destructive only of despotism, it is the conservator 
 of liberty, labor and property. It cherishes the sen, 
 timent of freedom, of equal rights and equal obliga^ 
 tions. Its object is, '' good will to men."
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 AN ANONYMOUS OBJECTER ANSWERED BY RESOLUTIONS OF DEMO- 
 CRATIC CONVENTIONS— NEW YORK, 1868 — BALTIMORE, 1872 — 
 ST. LOUIS, 1876— DEMOCRATS NEVER REPUDIATED— RADICAL 
 OBJECTORS LIKE THE ELDER BROTHER IN THE PARABLE— THE 
 QUESTION OF THE " REBEL DEBT " SETTLED BY SECTION 4 OF 
 ARTICLE XIV OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 There are some objections put before the coun- 
 try by an anonymous vv^riter, but published by a re- 
 spectable publishing house, under their endorse- 
 ment, which should be ansv^ered. One of the state- 
 ments is, that " since the war the Democratic party 
 occupies an apparent attitude of sullen dissatisfac- 
 tion with what has been accomplished by the war, 
 and evinces a disposition to undo it." How this can 
 be established we are at a loss to know, no proof 
 whatever being offered in support of the proposition. 
 At the first National Democratic Convention after 
 the war, which met in New York, in 1868, it was re- 
 solved that, "we recognize the questions of slavery 
 and secession as having been settled for all time to 
 come by the war, or the voluntary action of the
 
 Why we are Democrats. 163 
 
 Southern States, in constitutional convention as- 
 sembled, and never to be revived or re-agitated." 
 
 In 1872 they adopted the following at Baltimore: 
 " We pledge ourselves to maintain the union of 
 these States, emancipation, and enfranchisement, 
 and to oppose the re-opening of the questions settled 
 by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amend- 
 ments of the Constitution." 
 
 In 1876, at St. Louis, they declared: "we do here- 
 by re-affirm . . . our devotion to the Constitution 
 of the United States, ivitli its amendments, univer- 
 sally accepted as a final settlement of the controver- 
 sies that engendered the civil war." 
 
 In 1880, it again reaffirmed these principles, and 
 nominated a candidate positively pledging himself 
 to support and maintain them; hence, no reasonable 
 mind can imagine any cause for the assertion that 
 they are dissatisfied with the result. 
 
 It is true, they oppose the measure of executive 
 control over "Federal elections," so-called, in the 
 States, but these were not measures for which the 
 war was prosecuted to establish; and to say that 
 more than one-half of the American people tell a 
 falsehood before the Avorld when they resolve in 
 favor of a certain measure, is such sheer presump- 
 tion and insolence as to need no further reply. 
 
 Again, that writer says, "that for earlier issues 
 it has substituted intimidation, repudiation, irre- 
 deemable paper currency, and depreciated silver
 
 164 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 currency;" but he brings no proofs whatever to 
 sustain his mere assertion. 
 
 Not one word or syllable does he find in any na- 
 tional platform of the Democratic party, in favor of 
 any of those propositions, or even hinting in that 
 direction, unless he assumes that the remonetizing 
 of the old silver dollar, a measure which a large 
 part of the Republican party sustains, is a " depre- 
 ciated currency." 
 
 If he assumes that because here and there Green- 
 backers, so-called, sometimes gave individual utter- 
 ance to sentiments which he construes to mean 
 what he says, he should remember that the great 
 Democratic party is no more responsible for these, 
 than is the Republican party for the utterances of 
 Republicans who allied themselves with that party. 
 
 The Democratic party has ever stood as a national 
 party, on the platform of a currency convertible 
 into coin at the pleasure of the holder, which is 
 their acknowledged and avowed doctrine. 
 
 Again, that writer speaking for his party, says, 
 ''So long as the States recently in rebellion remain 
 united, presenting a solid front, so long are their 
 late adversaries bound in patriotic prudence to re- 
 tain an opposing " attitude." As if to say that, be- 
 cause the Southern people will not join their party 
 organization, the country must be constantly 
 threatened with the dangers to be apprehended 
 from geographical parties. The problem is and has 
 been since the war, to perfectly reunite the severed
 
 Why tve are Democrats. 105 
 
 sections, and when the results of tlie war are fully 
 assured, Avhat matters it which party controls in 
 certain States. Is no party to have any right to 
 govern by consent of the people, but a party in the 
 North, calling itself Republican ? If the national 
 Democratic party furnishes a better common ground 
 on which both sections can stand and reunite their 
 efforts in behalf of common interests and the gene- 
 ral welfare, it is one giUat result of the war not 
 yet fully accomjjlished until that has been done. 
 The war was fought to restore the Union, and to 
 bring back to their allegiance the people of the 
 South, and it is the bounden duty of every patriot in 
 the land to aid that party which gives the strongest 
 assurance, that under its banner this can be done. 
 
 Another charge this writer makes against the 
 Democracy is, that " it stood ready, the war over, 
 to call back into the old fold the former elements." 
 If the writer means that the Democracy were ever 
 ready to welcome back into the Union the Southern 
 States, and Southern people, it may well plead 
 guilty of the charge (?) and glory in it as evidence 
 of a true Union sentiment pervading the entire 
 party. It longs for that result. It stands like the 
 merciful father of the prodigal son, to welcome 
 back with open arms those that had gone out from 
 their father's house; those who had eaten the husks 
 of a bitter experience; those who have squandered, 
 for a season, their father's rich inheritance. They 
 Gopie back with half a million of their youth slain
 
 166 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 upon the battle-fields of their own section. They 
 too have slain our own youth, and the blood of 
 Americans has been shed by their brothers; but now 
 that the war is over, let no one dare to cast away 
 an opportunity to establish a permanent peace on 
 the basis of a common constitution, and equal rights 
 to all sections, with the only cause of sectional ani- 
 mosities permanently removed. 
 
 This radical brother, Kke his prototype in the 
 beautiful example given by the Savior of the world, 
 is himself standing outside of the Union " in an ap- 
 parent attitude of sullen dissatisfaction" at the 
 prospect of its early accomplishment, while the les- 
 son our Savior would teach us is, that the father 
 shouM gladly welcome him back. He fell upon the 
 necl' of his erring son and kissed him. He put the 
 ring of adoption upon his finger, and made merry. 
 Our i"5avior tells of his radical brother, jealous of the 
 lovo the father still bore for his lost son — no doubt 
 ready to call his father " disloyal," and an enemy 
 to his family for thus treating his prodigal, long lost 
 and erring son — but the lesson is nevertheless 
 taught by "One wlio taught as one having author- 
 ity," and not as one of the self-righteous scribes 
 and political pharisees we have in our day. 
 
 We must do this — self-interest prompts it. We 
 have high taxes to pay, enormous revenues to raise, 
 a large amount of bonded indebtedness to liquidate, 
 and we need the fertile fields of the South, and the 
 resources of that section of our country to aid us iu
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 167 
 
 doing it. This is what the nation needs. This is 
 what the Democracy wants, and this is another 
 reason why we are Democrats. 
 
 This same writer assumes that alliance is sought 
 by the Democrats with the South, in order that "the 
 eventual assumption by the United States of their 
 (the rebel) debt; the reimbursement of their expendi- 
 ture; the pensioning of their soldiers; compensation 
 for their losses incurred in the war; compensation 
 for emancipated slaves; * * * ^j^^ relegation of 
 the negro to a condition of political nullity." 
 
 Does the writer take his partisan friends, and the 
 young men of the country whom he especially ad- 
 dresses, for fools, lacking common intelligence; or 
 does he want the world to believe that he is either a 
 fool himself, or else the knave he appears to be? 
 
 The Constitutional amendments settle all these 
 questions. Section 4, of article XIV, of the Consti- 
 tution of the United States declares: 
 
 "Section 4. The validity of the public debt of 
 the United States, authorized by law, including 
 debts incurred for the payment of pensions and 
 bounties for services in suppressing insurrection 
 and rebellion shall not be questioned. But neither 
 the United States nor any State, shall assume or pay 
 any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection 
 or rebellion against the United States, or any claim 
 for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all 
 sucli debts, obligations, and claims shall be illegal 
 and void,"
 
 1§8 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 Can anything be more explicit on this subject, 
 even were it not guaranteed by the universally con- 
 ceded aversion prevailing in all minds, to paying 
 any more than their just debts, and many even re- 
 fuse to do that? In the first place, no man, wo- 
 man, or child advocates such a proposition. It 
 could not be paid, even if a majority of Congress, 
 and a President approving it, passed such a law. 
 Every judge in the United States is sworn to be 
 governed by that Constitution. It is the supreme 
 law of the land, any law of the United or of any 
 other State to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 In order to accomplish the purpose this writer 
 proclaims, two-thirds of both houses of Congress 
 would have to agree to submit a Constitutional 
 amendment striking that provision from the Consti- 
 tution, which would liave to be ratified by three- 
 fourths of the State legislatures before that could be 
 accomplished. 
 
 All this in the way of its accomplishment, and 
 supported by the universal antipathy of mankind, 
 the self-interest of parties, and every possible ob- 
 stacle in the way, it is reserved for some writer who 
 has the effrontery to charge in one page of his book 
 that Democrats desire to repudiate their own public 
 debt; and upon another, that they desire to pay 
 that which they could not pay if they wanted to, 
 nor do they want to if they could. 
 
 Surely such a writer would have the cool assur- 
 0,nce to attempt to make the country believe that
 
 Why tee are Democrats. 169 
 
 Democrats proposed to construct a railroad to the 
 moon! But of such arguments are the objections to 
 the Democratic party and its principles chiefly 
 made up. They present no good reason whatever, 
 why men should not be Democrats.
 
 CHAPTER XYIIL 
 THE RATIONALE OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 WE ARE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN THE UNION OF THE 
 STATES AS ESSENTIAL TO FREE GOVERNMENT — A DEMOCRAT 
 BELIEVES IN ALL PARTS OF HIS COUNTRY — HE DOES NOT BE- 
 LIEVE IN SECTIONALISM OR HEAVY PUBLIC DEBTS — DEMO- 
 CRATS BELIEVE IN THE RIGHT OF ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE 
 — IN THE SUPREMACY OF THE CIVIL OVER THE MILITARY 
 POWER— IN A GENERAL DIFFUSION OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 We are Democrats because w^e believe that the 
 Union of these States is absolutely necessary to 
 preserve free government in America. To preserve 
 tranquility at home, to insure prosperity, to main- 
 tain liberty itself, the Union under our Consti- 
 tution must be preserved. Because v^e believe 
 this, Democrats must never be found advocat- 
 ing doctrines in any part of the Union calcu- 
 lated to weaken the ties which bind every 
 other section to it; must never listen to the 
 promptings of self-interest; such would lead them 
 into a course of policy that would injure the in- 
 habitants of other sections, and cause them to lose 
 their affection for the welfS^re of the whole country. 
 They must regard this as the citadel of their hopes, 
 entrenched within which all assaults from without
 
 Why ice are Democrats, 171 
 
 can be easily withstood; nor must they tolerate 
 within their own ranks any doctrines which would 
 permit professed friends to overcome their vigi- 
 lance. 
 
 We are Democrats because we believe that to 
 cherish this feeling within our organization will 
 influence the opinions of those without, and will 
 cause them to share this anxiety, yet within our 
 party will always be found the largest numbers of 
 our fellow citizens holding truly national principles 
 equally strong and popular in all sections of the 
 land We are Democrats because like Washington, 
 we frown upon all attempts from whatever source — 
 by whatever means — to alienate any portion of our 
 countrymen from the remainder, "thus enfeebling 
 the sacred ties " which bind together the various 
 parts. 
 
 A man is a Democrat because he believes that all 
 parts of this country. North, South, East, and West 
 have one common destiny, and the interests of 
 every section are as sacred to him as his own. 
 
 A man is a Democrat because he is the inveterate 
 and uncompromising enemy of sectionalism. It is 
 his duty to condemn it wherever he finds it. He 
 gives no countenance to designing men, or parties 
 who would seek to array any one section against 
 another; or who, in order to gain a personal or 
 party advantage, would seek to ride into power by 
 fomenting jealousies and distrust; or to indulge in 
 misrepresentations calculated to alienate and dis-
 
 172 Why we are De7nocrats. 
 
 tract, rather than unite and cement them in their 
 loyalty to the whole. 
 
 We are Democrats because, like Washington, we 
 do not believe in foisting upon the people heavy 
 public debts for posterity to pay. In just so far as 
 we favor the opposite course, to just that extent we 
 wander from those fundamental truths taught by 
 the Democratic Fathers of the Republic. 
 
 We are Democrats because our jealousy is ever 
 awake against the machinations of foreign powers, 
 which are inimical to the prosperity of free institu- 
 tions. We denounce the practices of royalty when- 
 ever sought to be imitated in this country. We op- 
 pose familiarizing freemen to the methods of 
 monarchists, or anything which would lead them to 
 think lightly of Democratic institutions. 
 
 We are Democrats because, like Washington, we 
 are opposed to innovations upon the principles of 
 our Government, however plausible they may ap- 
 pear. It is because of this Democrats have ever 
 opposed amendments to the Constitution, granting 
 new and additional powers to the general Govern- 
 ment, which has served this country so well through 
 the whole past century. It is our jealousy in this 
 regard, and fears as Washington expressed them, 
 that when once a breach is made, evils will come in 
 like a flood, that compels us to resist. It is because 
 we refuse to be experimenters upon this system, that 
 we are called obstructionists, and taunted with a 
 lack of progress, whereas, it is but our anxiety for
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 173 
 
 the perpetuity of our institutions, and our regard 
 for the Constitution — our loyalty to the faith of our 
 Fathers — which induced us to withhold our consent 
 from the proposition of every theorist who would 
 mar its beauty, harmony, and perpetuity, by en- 
 grafting upon it some new amendment. We are 
 Democrats because followers of that great apostle of 
 freedom, Thomas Jefferson. Like him, we look 
 with alarm upon any encroachments upon the 
 rights of man, or of States. 
 
 We are opposed to all appliances of monarchists, 
 like alien and sedition laws. We believe that man, 
 no matter where born, what his religion, or what 
 his station in life, he has equal rights as to religion 
 or politics, person or property. 
 
 It is because we believe that the support and 
 maintainance of the State Governments, in all 
 their reserved rights, is the best guardian of these 
 rights, that we resist any encroachments upon 
 those rights, and refuse to have any of them exer- 
 cised by the General Government not absolutely in 
 accordance with the powers already expressly 
 granted to the General Government. These rights, 
 we believe, are as Jefferson expressed it, the surest 
 bulwark against anti-Republican tendencies. 
 
 While we are thus determined to maintain these 
 rights of States, and to liand them down unimpaired 
 to future generations, we believe most emphatically 
 in preserving the General Government in all its 
 granted powers — and to administer its affairs with
 
 174 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 all the vigor necessary^ as the surest method of 
 insuring peace among the States, and securing 
 respect from abroad. 
 
 "We are Democrats because we believe to the full- 
 est extent in the right of election by the people. 
 We believe that freemen are capable of governing 
 themselves, and have the honesty, patriotism, and 
 ability to guard the polls of freemen themselves, 
 without the aid of Federal bayonets, of Federal 
 appointees, either to overawe the electors, or influ- 
 ence their ballots. We believe that the people 
 need no guardians at the polls, least of all such as 
 have arms in their hands, supported by the agents 
 of Federal power. 
 
 Because we so believe, we are falsely charged 
 with desiring to perpetrate frauds at elections, and 
 falsely accused, because of our fealty to the very 
 foundation principles of free government, as enun- 
 ciated by freemen in all ages. 
 
 We are Democrats because we believe in appeal- 
 ing to the intelligence, virtue, and discriminating 
 justice of the people; and demand that when votes 
 are cast, they shall be counted; and that when thus 
 ascertained, the decision should stand, as the judg- 
 ment of the whole, until another appeal can be law- 
 fully made to the popular judgment. 
 
 We are Democrats because inveterately opposed 
 to large standing armies, to be used to overawe the 
 people, and rob them of their liberties, at the beck 
 and nod of executive power. We believe that in a
 
 Why ice are Democrats. 175 
 
 republic, the intelligent, patriotic militia is all that 
 is needed to enforce the lawful commands of exec- 
 utive power. 
 
 We are Democrats, because we believe in the su- 
 premacy of the civil over the military power of the 
 State; and are jealous of any attempt at military 
 coercion, until all efforts to enforce lawful demands 
 by the civil authorities have failed. 
 
 Democrats believe in economy of the public ex 
 penditures, not only as Jefferson says, '' that labor 
 may be lightly burthened," but because large ex- 
 penditures breed corruption in the public service 
 and induce unseemly scrambling for public ser- 
 vice. 
 
 The man who wonJd repudiate a public debt may 
 call himself a Democrat, but is not in accord with 
 the teachings of his party. 
 
 The public faith and honor is a high trust, which 
 cannot be violated without producing demoraliza- 
 tion in private life. Our efforts to prevent the pub- 
 lic treasury from being robbed by legalized plunder- 
 ers, is no indication that we are repudiationists of 
 honest debts. 
 
 Men are Democrats because they believe in en- 
 couraging commerce and agriculture as the surest 
 method of elevating those engaged in these pursuits 
 so largely composing the yeomanry of the country. 
 
 Notwithstanding the falsehoods of uur opponents, 
 charging Democrats with being, not only'ignorant 
 themselves, but having a desire to keep others so, we
 
 176 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 arcj like Jefferson, in favor of "a general diffusion of 
 information — of public and private education," be- 
 cause our confidence in the people is based upon a 
 correct judgment formed by the people upon all 
 public questions. The slanders of opponents of the 
 Democratic party in this regard, is incomprehensi- 
 ble, when every public act of theirs, and the expres- 
 sions of their leading minds, have always been pre- 
 cisely to the contrary. 
 
 The intelligent ballot, cast by intelligent men, is 
 what Democracy relies upon to support its meas- 
 ures. What it fears most, is the persuasive elo- 
 quence of purchasing power, without integrity and 
 intelligence to direct itself. 
 
 It is no disgrace to say, that the common laboring 
 classes of the country are more inclined to support 
 the Democracy, than are the rich, intelligent and 
 aristocratic classes. This may be true, and yet not 
 prove that men who belong to this class are not suf- 
 ficiently intelligent to know what is best for their 
 own interest. It is but natural for men who have 
 lived under political bondage, in the aristocracies 
 of the old world, when they caine hei"e to people a 
 new one, devoted to liberty, to instil into the minds 
 of their children, the doctrines of true and genuine 
 Democracy, to be handed down from generation to 
 generation as such. It is because they know that 
 wealth, power, and political influence is oftimes the 
 bitterest enemy of free government, and hence they 
 array themselves under the banner of Democracy, in
 
 Why we are Democrats. 177 
 
 order to guard and preserve what they have left of 
 liberty. 
 
 This is not asserting that ignorance is not to be 
 found in the ranks of Democracy; nor that vice 
 never invades its precincts; but we do assert that 
 the principles of Democracy teach precisely the 
 opposite doctrine, viz: that intelligence in the 
 masses is the safeguard of our institutions.
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE RATIONALE OF DEMOCRACY CON- 
 TINUED. 
 
 DEMOCRATS FAVOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY— THE FREEDOM OF THE 
 PRESS— " HABEAS CORPUS" — DEMOCRATS ARE DISCIPLES OF 
 WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, MADISON, JACKSON— OPPOSE LARGE 
 STANDING ARMIES— ROTATION IN OFFICE. 
 
 Men are Democrats, because they favor religious 
 liberty- -freedom in religious faith and worship — to 
 the fullest extent. No political rights can be taken 
 from any, nor privileges added, not possessed equally 
 by all. Hence in years gone by, when a crusade 
 was made against the Catholic religion. Democrats 
 defended them against any persecution, or proscrip- 
 tion on that account. It was charged against them 
 that they favored the Catholic church as against 
 others. The charge was unjust as it was unneces- 
 sary. Should any denomination, whether Catholic, 
 or Protestant, assume to control the affairs of State, 
 by means of legislation, whether favorable to them- 
 selves, or derogatory to others, none would more 
 readily condemn them than Democrats, educated in 
 these fundamental principles of free government. 
 Persecution or proscription for opinion's sake meets 
 at all times, with the severest condemnation from
 
 Why we are Democrats. 179 
 
 the Democracy, if they remain true to the principles 
 they profess. 
 
 Men are Democrats, because they believe in the 
 freedom of the press. No " sedition law " has ever 
 received the sanction of an American Democrat 
 who understood the principles he professed. When, 
 tlicrefore, during the war, the Democratic press 
 criticised the action of the administration, and their 
 presses were sought to be stopped by military 
 orders, Democrats denounced such measures, be- 
 cause they violated two fundamental principles in 
 their creed, and they could not permit these viola- 
 tions to go unchallenged even though in time of 
 war, lest by silence they gave consent, that these 
 rights should be lost, though guaranteed to them, in 
 the Constitution of their country. They believe em- 
 phatically in the doctrine of Jefferson, " that error 
 of opinion may readily be tolerated, when reason is 
 left free to combat it." Hence it was, that because 
 they insisted that their constitutional rights should 
 not be invaded, that they were wrongfully charged 
 with sympathy with those in rebellion, when in 
 truth and in fact, it was their strongest desire to 
 maintain free institutions, in war as well as in 
 peace, as the surest bulwark of our liberties. 
 
 Men are Democrats because they believe the per- 
 son should at all times be protected by the great 
 writ of habeas corpus. That it is the inalienable 
 right of every person to have himself brought be- 
 fore any court, when the same is open arid
 
 180 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 unobstructed by insurrection or rebellion, to learn the 
 reason of his imprisonment. That no man not in 
 the military or naval service of his country, can be 
 lawfully thrust into prison without being charged 
 with a crime, made so by the law, indicted and 
 speedily tried by a jury of his peers. They deny the 
 right of any authority to suspend this writ of lib- 
 erty, except inhere rebellion and insurrection makes 
 it impossible to hold court, unawed by armed forces. 
 Men may have committed crimes or may not have 
 done so. When thrust into prison, Democrats be- 
 lieve that persons have a right to have their cases 
 speedily adjudged. They believe this is a sacred 
 right, guaranteed to every Englishman since the 
 days of Magna Charta, and secured to Americans in 
 every American Constitution; and hence they have 
 at all times and under all circumstances, resisted 
 and denounced the exercise of arbitrary power, no 
 matter by whom attempted, or under what circum- 
 stances exercised, save within the lines of military 
 occupation. In the advocacy of these principles they 
 have been fully sustained by the supreme court in 
 every case brouglit before it. 
 
 Men are Democrats, because they believe in trials 
 by jury impartially selected. They deny the right 
 of military commanders to try by courts martial, 
 civilians not in the military service; but insist that 
 all such trials shall be by juries of their peers, im- 
 partially selected, and upon indictments 4)resented 
 by grand juries. In this, alsOj) they have been sus-
 
 Why we are Democrats. ' 181 
 
 tained by the courts, whenever a case has been pre- 
 sented. Thus it is that Democratic principles 
 require absolute personal liberty to the citizen, as 
 guaranteed by every State Constitution as well as 
 of the United States, which is the supreme'law of 
 the land. " Democracy is the true conservator of 
 life, liberty, labor and property." 
 
 Passing from the doctrines of Washington and 
 Jefferson, to those enunciated by Madison, we find 
 the same harmony between them all existing. They 
 are all impliedly guaranteed, if not expressly so, in 
 the spirit of our Constitutions. It is a system that 
 cannot be safely administered upon any other plan, 
 than in accordance with these fundamental prin- 
 ciples of Democracy. Madison, the framer of our 
 Constitution, "the Father " of it, as he is called, 
 understood well those principles, and sought to have 
 them engrafted thereon; and when he came to 
 administer the affairs of govei'nment under it, he 
 faithfully applied them. He but repeated substan- 
 tially what his compeers had announced before him. 
 Nothing could be more explicit in enunciating De- 
 mocratic principles, than his declaration that the 
 support of the Constitution is the cement of the 
 Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; 
 and to respect the rights and authorities reserved to 
 the States and the people, as equally incorporated 
 therein, and essential to the success of the general 
 system. Without maintaining these, success cannot 
 be secured. Every violation brings with it trouble
 
 183 , Why we are Democrats. 
 
 and confusion. So 'through all his compend of 
 principles, by which he would guide his oflScial 
 actions, we have the utterances of a thoroughly 
 educated Democrat, in the principles of his party. 
 
 So, §lso, when we come to the days of Jackson, 
 through the whole series of his messages are found 
 these same leading principles of the Democratic 
 party. 
 
 Experience had only the more indelibly impressed 
 them upon his mind, and by him upon the American 
 people. His caution was, that we do not confound 
 the powers reserved to the States, with those granted 
 by them. Thus it was, that when nullification 
 raised its head under his administration, he crushed 
 it by the exercise of just powers expressly granted, 
 without in the least violating any of the reserved 
 rights of the States. 
 
 He announced the great advantage of economy 
 in public expenditures as resulting in purity to its 
 administration — absolutely necessary for the per- 
 manence of free government. Luxury and corrup- 
 tion have ever been the forerunners of the downfall 
 of republics — and why not be vigilant, lest they 
 secure a foothold in this? Why not check and 
 eradicate the evil, while freemen have power? 
 
 Men are Democrats because they believe this is 
 their duty. If they wander away from the practice 
 of these principles, they are forgetting the most
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 188 
 
 important part of their duty to their party and to 
 their country. 
 
 Men are Democrats when they do not believe ''a 
 public debt to be a public blessing." Jackson de- 
 clared its unnecessary duration ''incompatible with 
 real independence." It is a species of slavery, 
 which no true Democrat desires to see continued a 
 day longer than necessary. It creates a bond aris- 
 tocracy, who live upon the revenues extracted from 
 the laboring class, hanging like an incubus upon 
 the enterprize and business of the country, which 
 no true lover of his country will permit one moment 
 longer than possible. It is a false theory, and false 
 Democracy which teaches that posterity shall pay 
 the debts we contract. They will have enough to 
 do to discharge their own obligations. No people 
 are truly free, until they are entirely free from debt. 
 To bond communities. States, or the United States, 
 unless absolutely necessary for the preservation or 
 security of their lives, liberty, ' or property, is 
 undemocratic, and should not be indulged in if pos- 
 sible to avoid. 
 
 The collection of revenue, either by internal taxes 
 or by tariffs, has always been a bone of contention 
 between political parties. 
 
 The doctrine of the Democratic party has ever 
 been, that the safest place for the people's money 
 was in their pockets, until required; hence, no more 
 should be collected by any meansj than just enough
 
 184 Why tve at^e Democrats. 
 
 to defray public expenditures, and pay the public 
 debt. High protective tariffs on specific articles 
 has never been a favorite mode of raising revenue, 
 with that party. President Jackson advised that it 
 should be levied in a spirit of equity, caution, and 
 compromise, requiring that the great interests of 
 agriculture, manufactures, and commerce be equal- 
 ly favored. When possible to meet required expen- 
 ditures, a low tariff has been a favorite motto of the 
 Democratic party. 
 
 A high protective tariff is a species of class legis- 
 lation, at variance with Democratic principles, 
 which seeks to protect the greatest number, grant- 
 ing special privileges to none. 
 
 All Democrats oppose large standing armies, be- 
 lieving them dangerous to the liberties of the peo- 
 ple, unnecessarily expensive, and of no general 
 utility, excepting to guard our western frontiers 
 from the sudden incursions of Indians, They, how- 
 ever, place great reliance upon citizen soldiers in 
 case of necessity, as sufficient to protect the govern- 
 ment in any emergency. It is, perhaps, sufficient 
 to say, that these expectations were amply fulfilled 
 during the late war, when millions of men, from all 
 the avocations of life, were speedily transferred 
 from recruits to veterans. 
 
 The principles held by Jackson, that the people 
 should elect the President, without the interposition 
 of Congress, is in accordance with that other Dem<Ti-
 
 Why we are Democrats. 185 
 
 cratic principle announced by Jefferson — the sacred 
 right of election by the people, and an -absolute ac- 
 quiescence in the will of the majority. The legal 
 votes cast, Democracy demands, shall be counted; 
 and that by no trickery or fraud, or technicality, 
 shall the sovereign voter be defrauded out of this 
 sacred right of a freeman by interested agents. 
 
 Rotation in office has always been a cardinal doc- 
 trine of Democracy. That no privileged class born to 
 office should be tolerated, but that public place and 
 position should be open to all. That frequent 
 changes of public office preserves purity in the ad- 
 ministration of public affairs, and therefore highly 
 beneficial to the general welfare. President Jack- 
 son said, "that corruption would spring up among 
 those long in power," and therefore he claimed ap- 
 pointments should not exceed the period of four 
 years; and he favored removals from office, as a 
 leading principle which would give healthful action 
 to the political system. 
 
 In cases of real doubt, it has ever been a favorite 
 doctrine of the Democratic party, to submit such 
 questions to a direct vote of the people, a practice 
 which has of later years become nearly general in 
 some States of the Union. 
 
 Jackson declared this "to be a submission to the 
 source of all power, the most sacred of all obliga- 
 tions;, and the most wise and safe course to pur- 
 sue/'
 
 186 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 We are Democrats, then, because we believe in 
 these principles. We believe the just application 
 of them has made this country what it is, and that 
 a proper observance of them will continue to bring 
 us peace and prosperity in the future.
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 SUMMAEY. 
 
 DEMOCRACY OPPOSED TO THE CENTRALIZATION OF THE GENERAL 
 GOVERNMENT — TO SUMPTUARY LAWS — HIGH PROTECTION 
 TARIFFS— TO THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE— DEMOCRATS 
 BELIEVE IN THE BALLOT— HOME RULE — HARD MONEY— THE 
 RIGHTS OF LABOR — THE DEMOCRACY NEVER TAUGHT RE- 
 BELLION. 
 
 We are Democrats, therefore, because we beliv3ve 
 as we have repeatedly declared and reaffirmed, in 
 National platforms, that these principles are Con- 
 stitutional doctrines in accordance with the teach- 
 ings and examples of a long line of Democratic 
 statesmen and patriots. We are Democrats because 
 we are opposed to centralization in the General 
 Government, and to that dangerous spirit of en- 
 croachment which tends to consolidate all in one, 
 and thus to create, whatever the form of govern- 
 ment, a real despotism. We are opposed to high 
 protective tariffs; opposed to sectional parties, op- 
 posed to' a union of Church and State; opposed to 
 regulating elections in the States by the Federal 
 authority, no matter under what pretexts, so long 
 as the people are willing to hold them under their 
 own local. State laws.
 
 188 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 We are Democrats because we believe in the 
 education of the masses — the basis of an intelligent 
 ballot; we favor the fostering and protection by 
 State action, of common schools. We believe in 
 home-rule, the strict maintenance of the public 
 faith, state and national; in honest money, consist- 
 ing of gold and silver, and of paper convertible into 
 coin on demand; we believe in a tariff for revenue 
 in the subordination of the military to the 
 civil power; in a genuine and thorough reform of 
 the civil service, by prohibiting by law the appoint- 
 ment of men to office guilty of frauds upon the 
 government or the people, in depriving them of the 
 fruits of fair elections; we believe in a free ballot, 
 the right preservative of all rights, and pledge our- 
 selves to sustain this right at all hazards; we believe 
 in free ships, and a living chance for American 
 ships upon the seas; and on land no discriminat- 
 ion in favor of monopolies, corporations, or trans- 
 portation lines; we believe in public money and 
 public credit, for public purposes solely; in public 
 lands for actual settlers only. The Democratic 
 party pledges itself as the friend of labor and labor- 
 ing man, and to protect him alike against the 
 cormorants and the commune. 
 
 These are the utterances of the Democracy in 
 National Conventions assembled, the only body 
 which can speak for the party; and these are some 
 of the reasons, we think sufficient, why every patri- 
 otic citizen should be a Democrat.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 189 
 
 The foregoing are some of the most prominent 
 principles enunciated by tliose who aided in fram- 
 ing and first administering the affairs of our gov- 
 ernment; and whose principles have almost, if not 
 altogether, as a whole, been adopted by the Demo- 
 cratic party of the country. 
 
 Who will dare to say they are not eminently wise, 
 valuable and good ? 
 
 What change has taken place since that date, in 
 mankind, or the country we inhabit, that does not 
 make them just as applicable now, in the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs, as on the day they were 
 uttered ? 
 
 It may be said that the Democratic party has not 
 always adhered to them! That may be so, but that 
 is no valid objection against the principles, them- 
 selves. They are as valuable to-day as ever they 
 were, if, indeed, not more so; and it is to call atten- 
 tion to them that these pages are written, with the 
 hope that they may fall into the possession of those 
 who will never cease to urge them upon the atten- 
 tion of the public. 
 
 But it is not conceded that the party departed 
 from the practice of those cardinal principles of 
 Democracy. Exceptional cases do not destroy gene- 
 ral rules. 
 
 As an army is not to be judged of its purposes by 
 the deeds of a few foragers without authority; of a 
 few camp followers, for place or power; or by de- 
 serters, who betray the confidence reposed in them.
 
 1$0 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 So no political party can be fairly judged by what a 
 feiv of its adherents may do or say. Or it may be 
 that even professed leaders like Benedict Arnold, 
 may prove traitors to the cause they once espoused; 
 still the great heart, and mind, and purpose of an 
 army, the spirit of it, so to speak, is tlie criterion by 
 which it is to be judged, and not by the faults of its 
 unfaithful friends. 
 
 So with the Democratic party. It may have been 
 led into entertaining false views sometimes; doubt- 
 less it has been betrayed by trusted friends, as well 
 as denounced and misrepresented by open and 
 avowed enemies; still, whatever may be said of it, 
 these principles announced are the principles of the 
 American Democracy, by the application of which 
 they have sought to administer the affairs of gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Whoever denounces them has no claim to be 
 called a Democrat. Whoever will not support and 
 defend them is unworthy the name. They are tlie 
 principles, nevertheless, of that great party which 
 has for so many years in the past, and if this is to 
 remain a free country, must in the future be again 
 called to the administration of its affairs; at least 
 these principles must he applied in the administra- 
 tion of public affairs, by whatsoever name the 
 party may be called, if the administration is to be a 
 successful one. The foundation of the government 
 is laid upon these; all its machinery is adjusted with 
 reference to them, and the moment they are mi sap-
 
 VTJiy IV e are Democrats 191 
 
 plied or omitted, confusion and irregularity will be 
 the result. Thence it is that the party that best un- 
 derstands them — is most devotedly attached to them, 
 gives the best assurance of good government under 
 them, and hence the reasons for the endurance of 
 the Democratic party. 
 
 The Democratic party has a distinct policy to an- 
 nounce upon every great question, if it pays any * 
 regard to its landmarks. It has the people upon its 
 side, if it remain true to its principles, as it ought. 
 It has the hope and promise of final reward, by the 
 complete establishment of its principles, if it dis- 
 charges its duty which it naturally owes to the 
 people. 
 
 These pages are not designed as a history of the 
 party. To enter into a critical examination of all 
 its acts, and those of its agents, for sixty years be- 
 fore it was displaced from power in the General 
 Government, would fill volumes instead of a few 
 pages; still it would prove the assertions here made 
 to be true. The party has ever looked upon the 
 Union of these States as the first great requisite of 
 peace and prosperity. The fact that whole States 
 rebelled against the authority of the General Gov- 
 ernment is no proof that the principles of that gov- 
 ernment itself were defective. So, too, the fact 
 that Democrats in the seceding States, together 
 with the old line Whigs who still remained, disre- 
 garded the teachings of Washington, Jefferson,
 
 193 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 Madison, and Jackson — especially the latter — who 
 taught them directly to the contrary, in the most 
 solemn manner, and violated those principles held 
 sacred by the Democratic party, is just as little 
 proof that the principles of that party are unsound 
 as was the government itself unstable. 
 
 Therefore the charge that the Democracy taught 
 rebellion is utterly false and unfounded — precisely 
 the contrary is its teaching. Absolute acquies- 
 cence in the will of the majority, constitutionally 
 expressed, is their doctrine on that point; hence no 
 cause for rebellion existed. It is folly to charge 
 this great mistake as one made by the teachings of 
 a great party. It was in defiance of its teachings 
 and not in accordance with it, that the deed was 
 done. 
 
 When the war was over, there was, and still is 
 greater reason for the application of those sound 
 principles of the National Democracy to the admin- 
 istration of public affairs. True to its principles, 
 its mission will never be ended, while the present 
 form of our government endures. 
 
 As the number of States and inhabitants increase, 
 and the borders of the country become enlarged, 
 there is greater need then ever before, for the appli- 
 cation of them, in order to give peace and security 
 to the whole country. 
 
 This, then, is the faith and mission of the great 
 Democratic party of the country. These are some
 
 ♦ Why ive are Democrats. 193 
 
 of its principles, which it were well if everj member 
 of the party, indeed, of all parties, would ponder 
 well, and apply in directing the votes which they 
 have to cast.
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 WHY NOT BE A DEMOCRAT ? 
 
 EVERY LOVER OP TRUTH AND FREEDOM SHOULD BE A DEMOCRAT— TBfi 
 CREED OF DEMOCRACY IS ONE OF WHICH A MAN MAY BE PROUD- 
 THERE is] "'WEALTH, 4 INTELLIGENCE AND RESPECTABILITY'' 
 AMONGST DEMOCRATS AS WELL AS REPUBLICANS — THE PART"V 
 COUNTS IN ITS RANKS SUCH MEN AS JEFFERSON, MADISON, 
 MONROE, JACKSON, POLK, WRIGHT, MARCY AND DOUGLAS — DE- 
 MOCRACY THOUGH our OF POWER IS INFLUENTIAL— REPUBLI- 
 CANS ON THE THRESHOLD OF WAR— PATRIOTIC DEMOCRACY 
 SAVED THE UNION — WHY NOT BE A DEMOCRAT ? 
 
 Then why not be a Democrat ? In view of the 
 soundness of their principles, and the results to be 
 attained, when asked why we are Democrats, we 
 might retort. Why not be such? What is to hinder 
 men from being Democrats ? No matter what 
 amount of " intelligence, respectability, and 
 wealth " a man may possess, the Constitution of 
 our country gives to the poor man, without regard 
 to race or color, an equal voice in the affairs of the 
 nation — the right to vote as he pleases. He has a 
 constitutional right to be a Democrat, and why 
 should he not be one? Every man should vote as he 
 conceives the best interests of his country demand, 
 without regard to the '' respectability" (?) of his po-
 
 Why we are Democrats. 195 
 
 litical faith. Truth is not always considered ''re- 
 spectable." Christ was crucified by "respectable" 
 Jews, "who then belonged to the " dominant" party 
 in their church — the scribes and pharisees of their 
 day. He ate with " publicans and sinners," not at 
 all " respectable " in the eyes of his critics. He 
 was "only the carpenter's son " — the son of a me- 
 chanic; they said he cast out devils by Beelzebub; 
 he was denounced as a traitor to his church, and a 
 rebel against God, and yet he was really "Lord of 
 all." His doctrines were true, and did prevail. So, 
 too, our inquiry should be after truth, and we 
 should not be frightened from embracing it, by the 
 cry of " rebels, traitors, enemies of their country, 
 supported by the worst classes of society," and all 
 tliat kind of talk, addressed to prejudices, instead 
 of the reason and judgment of men. In view of the 
 fact, as we have seen, that the Democracy of this 
 country have established a system of political ac- 
 tion unsurpassed in its good effects upon the coun- 
 try, we may well ask any man, " Why not be a 
 Democrat ? 
 
 To look only to wealth, intelligence, and "respect- 
 ability," from which to learn your political duty, 
 and govern your interests, is not sufficiently safe, 
 nor is it patriotic, in a country like ours. Intelli- 
 gence, wealth and respectability are no crimes. 
 They are nothing to be ashamed of. It is a result 
 every true man may be ambitious to honorably ob- 
 tain; and it is no reason why you should not be a
 
 196 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 Democrat. There are hosts of Democrats who are 
 intelligent, wealthy and respectable. There is noth- 
 ing in their creed that need bring the blush of 
 shame to the cheeks of any man. The man who 
 pins his political faith to respectability and wealth 
 alone may live to see his errors when too late. The 
 aristocracy of England is wealthy, respectable and 
 presumedly intelligent, yet it rules the English na- 
 tion; and the j»eqpZe only have such power as they 
 have from time to time wrested from the ruling 
 class. The ruling class of all monarchies, and aris- 
 tocracies, might well make the same arguments 
 those do, that they belong to the "intelligent, 
 wealthy, respectable " party. But if left alone to 
 that class, where will the toiling millions be ? The 
 Democracy seeks to elevate the lower classes. Be- 
 fore the war, it had gone to the very verge of sound 
 principle, to lay broad and deep the foundations of 
 popular suffrage; and when four millions of ignor- 
 ant slaves were to be suddenly brought to the ballot 
 box, they /eo?'ed the result; but now that it is so, 
 they feel that safety only exists in educating and 
 elevating them to be worthy citizens, rather than 
 idle, ignorant and vicious ones. Democratic prin- 
 ciples demand this. 
 
 Democracy seeks to give all classes an equal 
 voice in the affairs of government. It binds them 
 down to no "property qualification." It insists that 
 mantis a man for a' that." It is a fact, that if 
 only wealth and so-called respectability were per-
 
 /"% we are Democrats. 197 
 
 mitted to govern a country, the lower classes of so- 
 ciety would soon descend to be mere slaves. It is 
 the ballot which elevates the masses. Giving- them 
 an equal interest in public affairs, excites them to 
 acquire information, stimulates education among 
 them, and lifts them up to a higher plane of exist- 
 ence; and to say that a party is unworthy of popu- 
 lar support— the support of the young men— because 
 of its sympathy with the struggles of the laboring 
 classes, because it has attracted the toiling millions 
 to its banner^ is no reason why they should not be 
 Democrats; but rather should it be a stronger rea- 
 son why they should, early in life, espouse the 
 cause, and unite their fortunes with the party of 
 those grand old principles which have made Amer- 
 ica what it is to-day — the home of liappy millions of 
 laboring men who have fled from the oppression of 
 the ''wealthy, respectable, aristocratic" class 
 which governs Europe. Instead of being ashamed 
 to espouse such a cause, let them be proud to ask 
 "why should I not be a Democrat? Why not be 
 one of those who seek to give the toiling millions an 
 equal chance in the battle of life. 
 
 But we deny that '• wealth, intelligence, and re- 
 spectability " is alone found in the ranks of opposers 
 of the Democracy. For sixty years before the war, 
 intelligent and respectable men governed this coun- 
 try, and they were Democrats. The Democracy 
 added to the magnificent domains of the country, 
 East, along the Atlantic seaboard, and the even
 
 198 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 more magnificent Territories of the almost bound- 
 less West. 
 
 It stretched out its borders even across the Rocky 
 Mountains, to the far-off shores of the Pacific, and 
 opened to the sea the borders of the land to the 
 South, through which flows the '' father of waters," 
 on the shores of which are laid broad and deep the 
 foundations of mighty States. It advocates doc- 
 trines which will let each State take care of its own 
 interests, while it also performs its duty to the 
 whole, thus establishing a family of States, "a na- 
 tion " such as no country on earth can be com- 
 pared with, which in the intelligence and happi- 
 ness and freedom of the "lower orders of so- 
 ciety;" at whom the "lords" of the land would 
 sneer, because they are Democrats. This great 
 party numbered among its leaders, a Jeffer- 
 son, a Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Wright, 
 Marcy, Douglass, and a host of intelligent, noble 
 patriotic Statesmen, than which no country, or 
 party, can claim superior in the education neces- 
 sary to frame and administer the affairs of the most 
 free, and best government on earth. Ashamed of 
 being a Democrat ? 
 
 'Just as soon 
 Let midnight be ashamed of noon." 
 
 Why then not be a Democrat? When such as 
 those have gone before and blazed the way through 
 9, forest of difficulties, until our country has emerged
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 199 
 
 upon broad plains. Under the brilliant sunlight of 
 past experience, we can now see our way under the 
 blessings of Providence, as over the plains of the 
 West, far as the eye of imagination can reach, and 
 beneath it a country blooming and blossoming as 
 the rose. 
 
 Then look at the past twenty years and over, 
 since the Democracy have gone out of power, but 
 not retired from influencing public affairs. The 
 darkest spot upon our country's page has been 
 those twenty years. No other twenty years have 
 equalled them in human woe, misery and distress. 
 Out of this woe, this misery, God brought the coun- 
 try at last, we believe more resplendent with true 
 glory, than ever before. 
 
 The dark spot of human slavery was wiped from 
 its disc; but it was not the Republican party that 
 alone did it. True, their agitation of the slavery 
 question, and the corresponding fanaticism of the 
 South, plunged the country into a civil war, but at 
 its commencement the Republican party resolved to 
 amend the Federal Constitution so as to secure slav- 
 ery in the States where it existed. It was wiped 
 out as the result of war, which every patriotic 
 citizen would gladly have averted, but an overrul- 
 ing Providence strangely brought about the result, 
 and no one party can lay claim to it alone. 
 
 The Republican party stood aghast and trembling 
 at the threshold of war, when they first came into 
 power. They were willing to confirm slavery in the
 
 200 Why tve are Democrats. 
 
 States as the price of peace. The abolishment of 
 slavery was the work of a higher source in spite of 
 parties or the people. But look at all which history- 
 has written since then, and where is there anything 
 to boast of, or that would lead young men to be 
 proud of it, above all others ? Surely not the gal- 
 lantry of its troops alone put down the rebellion ! 
 There were nearly one million five hundred thou- 
 sand men in the North, who supported Douglass in 
 1860, and many more hundred thousands, Bell and 
 Everett, the so-called Union candidates, and only 
 one million and a half who voted for Abraham Lin- 
 coln. There were more Democrats and Union men 
 in the Union army from the North, perforce of cir- 
 cumstances, than from the Republican ranks; and 
 without their aid the war could 7iot have been suc- 
 cessfully brought to a close. It mas the patriotic 
 aid of Democrats that saved the Union, and without 
 their aid, or else the establishment of a military 
 dictatorship, it could not have been saved from the 
 destruction into which sectional madness had forced 
 the country, and the latter itself would have destroy- 
 ed it. But where is there anything specially com- 
 mendable in the civil administration of public af- 
 fairs since the close of the war, that marks the 
 career of the opposers of the Democracy as a bright 
 epoch in the history of this country ? Was there 
 ever a time of more stupendous frauds committed 
 upon the government than during those years, and 
 b^ those who had sworn to protect and defend it?
 
 Why tve are Democrats. 201 
 
 All this done under the partisan cry of '' loyalty " 
 to the government. We do not charge the Republi- 
 can masses with being participators; rather do we 
 say that we know that upon their cheeks mantled 
 the blush of shame for the men to whom thoy trust- 
 ed their honor, when they so shamelessly had be- 
 trayed their trust. It was deeply humiliating to 
 know that even a Vice-President had to be retired 
 to private life in disgrace; that fraud and corrup- 
 tion nestled close to the presidential chair, filled by 
 a representative of that party — yea it crept into his 
 cabinet and was expelled therefrom for robbing the 
 government, but they are responsible so far as they 
 sustain men in it. Tell us, is there anything like it 
 in history ;7 [and why should we not be Demo- 
 crats, when leaders on the other side have thus be- 
 trayed their country and their party, and have not 
 even repented of their sins, as the rebellious States 
 of the" South, who have accepted every condition 
 mposed upon them. 
 
 ' But not only these things, but when were the 
 principles of English and American liberty more 
 recklessly violated than during the past twenty 
 years of our history. When men were plunged 
 into dungeons without affidavits or warrants, mere- 
 ly at the beck and nod of some military satrap — or 
 Secretary of State — the same refused trials in courts 
 that were open, by a jury of their peers, according 
 to the Constitution of their country; but upon the 
 contrary, were tried by military court-martials or-
 
 202 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 ganized to convict! Legislative halls guarded by 
 armed men, and civil administrations stricken down 
 yet all under the broad aegis of a free Constitution ! 
 Why not then be a Democrat, when its principles 
 are those on which rest the best hopes of the world 
 — civil and religious liberty — and the emancipation 
 of the masses.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 COMPLETE RECONCILIATION MUST COME — CENTRALIZATION JIEANS 
 DESPOTISM— DEMOCRACY ALONE CAN DESTROY SOCIALISM — 
 EVERETT'S SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG— ENGLAND'S WARS OF THE 
 ROSES— CIVIL WAR OF THE 17TH CENTURY — THE FRENCH RE- 
 VOLUTION — DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES MUST TRIUMPH— WHILE 
 FREE GOVERNMENTS LIVE DEMOCRACY CANNOT DIE— NOW IS 
 THE TIME — YOUNG MEN RALLY TO THE STANDARD. 
 
 The Democracy believes that complete reconcilia- 
 tion must take place — that their principles will 
 finally triumph in the administration of our public 
 affairs, they have no doubt. The progress our coun- 
 try has made under the benign influence of Democ- 
 ratic ideas, notwithstanding their interruption by 
 the events occurring during the greatest civil war 
 known in history, foreshadows this. 
 
 No other policy will preserve the Union, and the 
 liberties of the people at the same time, and we 
 believe both will be our heritage. The limits to 
 which this principle of co-equal sovereign States, 
 bound together in one national government, under 
 a Constitution of granted powers, can be extended, 
 is scarcely conceiveable. Each attending to its 
 local concerns, and domestic affairs, free from inter-
 
 204 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 ference by the central or supreme government, 
 brings the power to govern the people home to their 
 own firesides. 
 
 If dissatisfaction arises, it can be remedied by 
 themselves without disturbing the peace of the 
 whole. It is emphatically the principle of local self- 
 government in the States. They are alone respon- 
 sible for their bad laws. They reap the blessings of 
 good ones, while the great mass of the people of the 
 United States, now numbering over fifty millions, 
 can go on with their enterprises, developing the 
 country, and building up the great West, founding 
 States, each possessing this same right to pass such 
 laws as to them may seem best. As the country be- 
 comes enlarged and population increases, the appli- 
 cation of these principles becomes still more neces- 
 sary. Then why not adopt them as the rule of our 
 political action ? Why demand a stronger govern- 
 ment, as the Republicans do, when this is absolutely 
 the stronger of the two. Centralization must mean 
 despotism. A government, to reach out to theverge 
 of a mighty empire, must of necessity be central- 
 ized, powerful, and not depend upon the masses but 
 the military, for enforcing its requirements, or else 
 its duties must be few and simple, and only concern 
 national affairs, easily enforced, and felt as little as 
 possible by the citizens of the country. This the 
 Democracy want — any other form will be a failure. 
 Our present form of government is, therefore, the 
 best ever devised by man; especially is it so, for the
 
 Wliy ive are Democrats. 205 
 
 circumstances under which we find the country 
 placed. A climate ranging from the rigorous win- 
 ters of the extreme North, to almost the tropics of 
 the South, has a variety of productions of the soil, 
 and diversified interests to consider. No legislation 
 could, under these manifold conditions, be gene- 
 rally acceptable. We must have legislation by 
 smaller districts. The whole people could not be 
 sufficiently represented in one great national as- 
 sembly Therefore, of necessity, the great mass of 
 our laws, in order to be satisfactory, must be 
 remitted to the people in the States. 
 
 When Congress has regulated commerce with 
 other nations, established a uniform rule of natural- 
 ization and bankruptcy, coined money, and regula- 
 ted the value thereof, declared war in case of 
 necessity, established post offices and post roads, 
 and exercised a few other powers, it has not only 
 enough to do to occupy all its time, but has ex- 
 hausted all its powers granted under the Constitu- 
 tion. If these powers be wisely exercised, in such a 
 manner as to bear with equal weight upon all, in no 
 spirit of sectional superiority, there is no limit to 
 the power of expansion under our system. What- 
 ever makes men love their government, makes it 
 strong — especially is this true in a free government 
 like ours. If this system be adhered to, and the 
 North, and the South, and the East, and the West 
 be made to love, respect and obey it, because of the 
 blessings it brings to them, what may not the next
 
 206 Why we are Democrats 
 
 hundred years in America witness? With a soil 
 naturally productive in all sections of the country, 
 mineral wealth stored away beneath it in abund- 
 ance; lakes, rivers, and railroads affording abun- 
 dant facilities to interchange products and manu- 
 factures with each other; the wants of one section 
 supplied by another, creating activity in trade, in- 
 centives to enterprise, stimilants to progress, where 
 are to be found brighter prospects for a nation, if 
 we are true to the principles on which our govern- 
 ment is founded, than here in this heaven-favored 
 land. But in order to continue our national pros- 
 perity, and enjoy the full fruition of our hopes, we 
 must bury our sectional prejudices, and enforce the 
 benign principles so patriotically announced by 
 Washington, when he took public leave of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 This reconciliation cannot be brought about by 
 force. It is alike impossible that the bitter passions 
 of the war period can long be continued, or that 
 force and oppression, or denunciation should bring 
 about reconciliation. A beneficent providence has 
 so constituted our natures, that a violent degree of 
 passion exercised in one direction, is sooner or later 
 followed by a re-action in the opposite direction. If 
 this were not so, and as Everett said, upon the 
 brow of cemetery hill, at Gettysburg, where but a 
 few months before had been turned back the rebel 
 armies, and their success become impossible, " were 
 hatred always returned by equal and still stronger
 
 Why ive are Democrats 207 
 
 feelings of hatred; if injuries inflicted always lead 
 to still greater injuries, by way of retaliation; and 
 thus forever a compound of accumulated hatred, 
 revenge, and retaliation were the result; then for 
 thousands of years would this world have been in- 
 habited with demons only, and this earth have been 
 a perfect hell. But this is not so; all history tells 
 us, it is not true." The North and South will and 
 must be reconciled. The Democrats must do it. 
 All must feel that they have a common interest, 
 and a heritage under a common government; and 
 the strength of the government will be beyond cal- 
 culation; but upon the other hand, you station the 
 military force of the union in their towns and cities, 
 place n tional supervisors of elections at their polls, 
 send F leral Deputy marshals to arrest and impris- 
 on the people, distrusting their ability and patriot- 
 ism to guard their elections against fraud and vio- 
 lence, and the generation is yet unborn that will 
 see a perfect union of those states. The great prob- 
 lem, how to break down sectionalism, North and 
 South, and so order affairs that parties shall not be 
 divided by geographical lines, is still unsettled. 
 What party is so well qualified to do this as the na- 
 tional Democratic party, under the guidance of its 
 chosen leaders. 
 
 When Everett delivered his last great address at 
 (jetty sbury, in A. D. 1863, he did not know that he 
 was predicting a parallel to the history recited, in 
 portraying the close of other rebellions. He brought
 
 208 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 to mind the fact, that the War of the Roses in Eng- 
 land had lasted thirty years, from 1455 to 1485. It 
 was one of the fiercest civil wars known in history; 
 eighty princes of the royal blood had lost their lives, 
 and the families of the nobility almost annihilated. 
 The strong feelings of affection which kindred fam- 
 ilies then bore for one another, and the vindictive 
 spirit which that age of the world made it a point 
 of honor to maintain, rendered the great families of 
 England implacable enemies. But at last the titles 
 of the two contending families were centered in one 
 person. Henry VII went up from Bosworth field 
 to mount the throne. He was received everywhere 
 with joyous exclamations, and regarded as one sent 
 by Heaven to put an end to that terrible strife, and 
 give peace and prosperity to a distracted country. 
 
 Take the instance of another rebellion in England 
 lasting from 1G20 to 1640, twenty years, ending sud- 
 denly with the return of Charles II. These again 
 were twenty years of discord, of conflict, civil war, 
 confiscation, plunder, havoc, and destruction A 
 proud, hereditary peerage trampled in the dust; a 
 national church overturned; its clergy beggared; its 
 most eminent prelate put to death; a military des- 
 potism established upon the ruins of a monarchy 
 that had lasted seven hundred years, and its legiti- 
 mate sovereign brouglit to the block. All this and 
 more done to embitter and estrange a people, and 
 madden and enrage contending factions, and yet 
 these people were reconciled ! Not by a gentle
 
 Why ive are Democrats. 209 
 
 transition, but suddenly, when the restoration had 
 appeared most hopeless. The son of the beheaded 
 monarch was brought back to his fathers house, 
 and to his bloodstained throne, amid such universal 
 and inexpressible joy as led the merry monarch to 
 exclaim, he doubted it was his own fault he had 
 been so long absent, for there seemed to be no one 
 who did not protest that he long since wished for his 
 return. 
 
 God has oftimes in a wonderful manner ended re- 
 bellions. It was hoped at one time that ours — by 
 Sherman's agreement — would have ended as sud- 
 denly and as joyously; but those in authority did 
 not so will it. 
 
 Take one more instance — that of the French 
 Revolution. It was a reign of terror understood by 
 all. A blacker page of crime cannot be found in all 
 history. Another church broken up; its clergy 
 murdered; men slaughtered by boat loads, and be- 
 headed by machinery! A monarchy destroyed; a 
 royal family extinguished, and their adherents ex- 
 iled or beheaded. If the most deadly feud had the 
 power permanently to alienate one portion of a 
 people from another, surely here we have an ex- 
 ample; but far otherwise was the fact. Napoleon 
 brought order out of chaos; the Jacobins of France 
 Welcomed home the returning emigrants, and 
 royalists, whose estates they had confiscated, 
 and whose kindred they had brought to the 
 guillotine. ,
 
 210 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 After another turn of the wheel of fortune, Louis 
 XVIII was restored to his throne, and lie took the 
 regicide Fouche to his cabinet and to his confidence, 
 though he had voted for the decree ordering his 
 brother's death. So, too, should the dissentions in 
 this country cease. It would long since have been 
 so had not base, designing men, for their own sel- 
 fish purposes, prevented it. But they can not pre- 
 vent it much longer. This Union must be restored. 
 The great public heart yearns for it. Should not 
 the whole country have welcomed back those once 
 in rebellion, into the folds of a common nationality, 
 and forever silenced the distrust of sections ? 
 
 Let us cast away this revengeful disposition; let 
 the better principles of our nature do their work, 
 and soon we shall see a nation of freemen rejoicing 
 over the restoration of their Union, and the recon- 
 ciliation of their difficulties, as none have ever re- 
 joiced before. It is the knowledge of these things, 
 their importance to the country, the necessity that 
 it should be speedily accomplished, that impels De- 
 mocrats to the task. They are Deruocrats because 
 they earnestly desire to see this great result ac- 
 complished. They know in their principles no 
 North, no South, no East, no West — but take the 
 whole country into their affections and esteem, and 
 this is one great reason why they ai-e Democrats. ' 
 
 Democratic Principles Must Triumph. — It may 
 be true that the party has not always faithfully
 
 Why tve are Democrats. 211 
 
 carried out these principles, as declared to be funda- 
 mental Democratic doctrines. The more is the pity. 
 It is with the view of recalling these ancient land- 
 marks of the party to the attention of its voters, and 
 urging them not only upon the young men just com- 
 ing upon the stage of action, those in the discharge 
 of active duties in the part}^ but also the old, gray 
 headed veterans of this cross, which they have 
 borne for so many years, in order to brush up their 
 faith for a renewed and long continued contest for 
 the final supremacy of those grand principles which 
 have stood the assaults of the enemy, that we have 
 prepared these pages. They need not be discour- 
 aged; their words, and actions, and votes, have not 
 been in vain, even though their opponents have 
 quite frequently pilfered their principles; yet thus 
 have they given law to the land. They have con- 
 tended for a recall of troops from the South, and ob- 
 tained that. They have pleaded for reconciliation 
 and peace, and will have that also; and when once 
 more the country shall have been fully restored and 
 the small New England States will feel their power 
 and prestige departing from them, and the grand 
 old doctrines of the Democracy — properly under- 
 stood State rights — will be their own salvation; and 
 when the agricultural districts of the great West, 
 will have struck hands with those of the South, in 
 whose welfare they are so deeply interested, the 
 party which professes these national doctrines will 
 gain the ascendancy as if by magic, and all wlio
 
 212 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 oppose them will be buried in the tomb of the 
 Capulets. 
 
 Such we fondly believe must be the manifest des- 
 tiny of those immortal principles of Democracy 
 which can only die when our country, under its 
 present form of government, has no longer an exist- 
 ence. While free government lives, these prin- 
 ciples of Democracy cannot die. 
 
 Now IS THE Time ! — There is no time at which 
 men more readily change their political relations, 
 than during Presidential elections. These represent 
 broad issues, of a national character, while the con- 
 tests in the States are not always calculated to unite 
 otherwise harmonious political elements. The De- 
 mocratic party has had a national creed for more 
 than three-quarters of a century. Many of their 
 principles have been adopted even by their op- 
 ponents. The question of secession has been settled 
 by war — there is now no difference of opinion as to 
 that heresy. The question of slavery has likewise 
 been settled. These war issues are buried; the sub- 
 ject of reconciliation, and the best mode to accomp- 
 lish it has been an issue ever since Sherman's and 
 Grant's terms with Johnson and Lee. The complete 
 unification of our country, North and South, with a 
 common sentiment of nationality pervading the 
 people, has been the hope and wish of the American 
 Democracy for more than eighteen years* Their 
 method is about to triumph. The methods of war
 
 Why we are Democrats. 213 
 
 are laid aside, and those of perfect peace are to pre- 
 vail. The Constitution is about to be enforced as 
 our fathers understood it, when Jackson laid down 
 the true doctrine in regard to it. These have never 
 been dead issues; many Republicans have ever be- 
 lieved in them. Now is the time for men to take 
 anew their position on national grounds. A new 
 era is about to dawn upon us as a nation; therefore 
 let the young men of the country come to the front; 
 they can soon throw themselves to the head of a 
 great party, which has ever taught true doctrines. 
 Its flag went down when sectionalism prevailed. It 
 goes up all over the Union when true national 
 views prevail; its banners should now be borne by 
 the men who are coming upon the stage of action 
 during the next quarter of a century; let them make 
 the party what they desire it to be — true to the Con- 
 stitution, and true to the Union, and no sectional 
 party can drive them from their position; the whole 
 country is ready for peace and good will to all. 
 
 Now let them rally to its standard; let the methods 
 of the war era be forgotten. Let the party 
 which so long held its position, and which has come 
 to think that the country belongs to them alone, be 
 asked to retire; and if they refuse to go, as they did 
 a few years ago, let them be compelled to vacate. 
 This country is for other, and more men, than a few 
 hundred thousand party machinists ! It is well to 
 teach them that it belongs to the people. 
 
 Young men, rally to the standard of the Democ-
 
 214 Why we are Democrats, 
 
 racy. Take your position in their ranks and aid 
 them in this work, and with a regenerated country, 
 will come a reinvigorated party, with you at its 
 head, which will make our country even more than 
 our fathers ever dreamed it would be. Young men 
 to the front ! Be Democrats ! Why not?
 
 ORDER OF BUSmESS IN CONVENTIONS. 
 
 DUTY OF CENTRAL COMMITTEES— THE CALL— TEMPORARY ORGANI- 
 ZATIONS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO CONVENTION— ELECTION OP 
 OFFICERS— ORDER OF COMMITTEES— CALLING FOR REPORTS- 
 AMENDMENTS — THE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS — RESO- 
 LUTIONS—MINORITIES AND MINORITY REPORTS — PRESIDENTIAL 
 VOTE FROM 1789 TO 1880. 
 
 The writer deems it a matter of sufficient import- 
 ance, to devote a chapter on the subject of conducting 
 party political conventions. There is nothing more 
 humiliating and demoralizing to a party, than to 
 have its business in conventions transacted in a dis- 
 orderly manner. The few practical directions here 
 given if observed, will prevent much confusion, and 
 sometimes absolute disorganization. 
 
 There is scarcely a political division which has 
 not a central committee appointed at a previous 
 convention to perpetuate itself, and thus preserve 
 the organization of the party. It is the duty of this 
 committee to fix the iiie and place of meeting, and 
 to apportion the number of delegates, to the several 
 subdivisions comprising the district, municipality, 
 township, county or state for which the convention 
 is to be held. 
 
 When this committee has issued its call definitely 
 settling the time and place of meeting, the number,
 
 316 Why we are Democrats. 
 
 manner and time of selecting the delegates, it 
 ought also to provide for a temporary organization 
 of the convention, when it shall have so assembled; 
 or it ought to meet, shortly preceding the time set 
 for the opening of the convention to provide for a 
 temporary organization of the same, as the most 
 orderly manner of proceeding. It was formerly the 
 custom, and doubtless still is, in some parts of 
 the Union, for a member to arise in his place at the 
 opening, and propose the name of some one to act 
 as temporary chairman, or president of the conven- 
 tion, or meeting, as must still be done in mere mass 
 meetings, where no committee of arrangements has 
 the assembly in charge; yet, undoubtedly, much 
 the best method is for the chairman of the central 
 committee, or of the committee of arrangements, or 
 some one in his place, to be at the time and place 
 announced for the assembly to meet, a,nd to name 
 the temporary presiding officers through whom to 
 effect the permanent organization of the body. 
 
 Having announced the names of the temporary 
 officers, it is his duty to introduce those thus select- 
 ed, who will take charge of the meeting, and pro- 
 ceed to effect a permanent organization of the 
 same. 
 
 After having announced his readiness to proceed 
 to the business in hand, his first duty will be to call 
 for the appointment of suitable committees through 
 whom to permanently organize the convention.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 217 
 
 These committees usually are appointed in the fol- 
 lowing order: 
 
 1st. Committee on credentials. 
 
 2nd. Committee on permanent organization, 
 rules and order of business. 
 
 3rd. A committee on resolutions. 
 
 4th. A committee to present names composing 
 the central committee for the ensuing term. 
 
 When all these, and other committees desired, 
 have been duly appointed, it is customary, indeed 
 necessary, to take a recess, to a time fixed in the 
 motion, in order that these committees may have 
 time to meet and complete their reports; he should 
 also ascertain and announce before the recess is 
 taken, where and when the several committees are 
 required to meet, for the transaction of the business 
 entrusted to them. 
 
 When the time has arrived to which the conven- 
 tion has taken a recess, it becomes the duty of the 
 temporary presiding officer, to again assume his po- 
 sition, and call the convention to order, and to an- 
 nounce the business of the convention. 
 
 The first thing in order will be the report of the 
 committee on credentials, because it is, of course, 
 not in order to transact any business to be brought 
 before the convention, until the body itself has first 
 settled who are, and who are not members thereof. 
 
 It is the duty of this committee to hear and de- 
 termine all contests between delegates for seats in 
 convention, and to make^a report of their finding to
 
 218 Why we are Democrats 
 
 the same. When this report is presented, the ques* 
 tion before the convention will be, the adoption of 
 the report, and when adopted those named in the 
 report are considered members of the body to which 
 elected. 
 
 The next thing to be done is to call for the report 
 of the committee on permanent organization, rules, 
 and order of business. 
 
 This committee selects the permanent officers of 
 the convention, and presents some code of rules by 
 which the body is to be governed, usually the rules 
 of the House of Representatives of the State where- 
 in assembled; and this report should be in writing. 
 The question before the convention, really is with- 
 out a motion, the adoption of the report. 
 
 Should any one desire to see other officer's elected, 
 than those named by the committee, it is competant 
 for a member of the convention to move that cer- 
 tain names be substituted in place of others, named 
 by the committee to act as the permanent officers of 
 the body. It is the duty of the temporary presiding 
 officer to put this motion before the convention, as 
 it bears the relation of an amendment to the report. 
 If this be carried, then the next question is, the 
 adoption of the report as amended; or if the amend- 
 ment has failed, then to put the question on the 
 original report of the committee. If this report be 
 adopted, it is customary for some member of the 
 convention to move, that a committee of three be 
 appointed to wait upon the president or chairman
 
 Why IV e are Democrats. 219 
 
 elect, inform him of his election, and to escort him 
 to the temporary presiding officer, introduce the 
 person so chosen to preside, to the temporary chair- 
 man, who in turn should introduce the person elect- 
 ed to the body over which he is called upon to pre- 
 side. When this has been accomplished, the tem- 
 porary officers must retire, and place the permanent 
 officers in charge of the convention. 
 
 It is usual for the permanent chairman to address 
 the convention upon the subject and work before it, 
 and thereafter to announce that the convention is 
 now permanently organized, and ready for the busi- 
 ness for which the body has assembled. 
 
 After this has been accomplished, the first busi- 
 ness in order should be the report of the committee 
 on resolutions, if ready to report, because it is gen- 
 erally advisable to adopt the resolutions before nom- 
 inating candidates. If, however, a different order 
 or business has been reported by the committee on 
 permanent organization, rules, and order of busi- 
 ness, that order must be observed. If not, then, if 
 the convention desires to proceed to business, before 
 the committee on resolutions has reported, a motion 
 is proper to be made, providing, that the rules be 
 suspended, and some other order of business be 
 taken up, which generally requires a two-thirds vote 
 to pass. 
 
 If this is not done, then the order of business laid 
 down by the committee must he observed, and as 
 this generally provides for the reports of all commit-
 
 220 Why we are Democrats, 
 
 tees before nominations of candidates, nothing else 
 can be done until the reports of committees have all 
 been acted upon. 
 
 The selection of a central committee sometimes 
 creates confusion. It would seem proper that in a 
 State convention, where Congressional districts 
 have each the selection of a member of the commit- 
 tee, no committee to select a committee is necessary, 
 but each district can elect their own member, and to 
 announce the names is all that is necessary; but in 
 all cases this cannot be done, and inasmuch as small 
 bodies can give more deliberation in the selection of 
 agents than larger ones, it would seem to be in ac- 
 cordance with the fitness of things, that the selec- 
 tion should be made by a committee appointed for 
 that purpose. 
 
 It is the duty of the presiding officer to observe 
 closely the order of business, and rules of proceed- 
 ing adopted by the convention. Any variation from 
 these rules will necessitate a motion to suspend 
 them, a matter that would require, generally, a ma- 
 jority of two-thirds to adopt. 
 
 It is frequently the case that enthusiastic mem- 
 bers offer resolutions before a permanent organiza- 
 tion has been effected. These, when not in aid of 
 organization are out of order, and the chairman 
 ought not to entertain such, as his only duty is to 
 see that the body is fully organized, and not permit 
 any business to be transacted regarding the purpose 
 of its assembling together.
 
 Why we are Democrats. 221 
 
 After the convention has been thus legally and 
 fully organized, it becomes the duty of the chairman 
 to announce the business to be done, and in the 
 order named as adopted by the assembly. 
 
 In this way all confusion can be avoided, and the 
 business'^^before the body can be speedily and har- 
 moniously transacted. To permit business in delib- 
 erative bodies to be done irregularly, and out of 
 order, confuses conventions, destroys their influence, 
 and is calculated to bring the body and the cause 
 into disrepute before the people. 
 
 When the point has been reached to nominate 
 candidates, the chairman should announce that 
 order, and when all the names of candidates have 
 been presented, he should declare nominations 
 closed and direct the secretary to call the roll of 
 constituencies represented in the convention, such 
 as wards, townships, counties or districts as the case 
 may be, for the announcement of the vote of each. 
 When the roll is being called nothing else is in 
 order, but the call and the announcement of the 
 vote cast. It frequently happens that votes of dele- 
 gations are disputed. These cannot be counted,nor 
 the disputes settled by the convention while the call 
 is being made. It would be entirely proper to pro- 
 ceed with the call, and then, when the same has 
 been concluded, and the result announced, stating 
 the fact, doubtless the matter could be referred to 
 the convention, but the rule is, that the several con- 
 stituencies must agree among themselves as to how
 
 222 Why ive are Democrats. 
 
 they desire their ballots to be cast. The convention 
 can only adopt rules as to how the vote shall be 
 taken, and if those represented in the convention 
 refuse to obey these rules, it would seem proper 
 that their votes should be lost — which is a proceed- 
 ing that will generally reduce refractory constitu- 
 encies to obey the rules of order provided for their 
 government. 
 
 When a committe is unable to agree unanimously 
 upon any proposition, the minority may present 
 what is called a minority report, but this has no 
 standing in the body until a member moves that it 
 be substituted for the majority report, which brings 
 it before the convention to be acted upon, and if 
 adopted, takes the place of the majority report, and 
 may then be adopted by the body. 
 
 To speak of all the parliamentary rules applicable 
 to proceedings of conventions would swell this work 
 to undue proportions, and those given must suffice. 
 However, these few practical directions might, if ob- 
 served, avoid much confusion, and not unfrequent- 
 ly much bad feeling between members, and hence 
 here given, in order that he who is even not skilled 
 in parliamentary rules, may at least see his way 
 clear, when called on to preside over such meetings, 
 and be able to manage political conventions to the 
 satisfaction of himself, and those over whom he has 
 been called to preside.
 
 PRESIDENTIAL VOTE FROM 1789 TO 1880. 
 
 Year. CANDIDATE. 
 
 1789 -i 
 1796-} 
 
 1800 -j 
 
 1804] 
 
 1808] 
 
 1813] 
 
 18ic] 
 1820 ■! 
 
 f 
 1824 j 
 
 1828] 
 
 r 
 
 1833] 
 
 ]8;i6] 
 ISIO] 
 
 1844] 
 
 1848-| 
 1853] 
 
 Geo. Washington , 
 
 Joliii Adams 
 
 Thomas Ji'ffcrsou. 
 
 Tliomas Jeiforson. 
 
 Aaron Burr 
 
 John Ailanis 
 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 C. C. I'inckney . . . 
 
 James Madison . . . 
 C. (;. Pinckney . . . 
 
 James Madison ... 
 DeWitt t'lintou ... 
 
 James Monroe. 
 Rufus Kin^ 
 
 James Monroe... 
 
 *Jolin Q. Adams. 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 W. H. Crawford.. 
 Henrj Clay 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 John Q. Adams.. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. . 
 
 Henry Clay 
 
 John Floyd 
 
 William Wirt... . 
 
 Martin VanlJuren. 
 Wm. H. Harrison. 
 et Ills 
 Wm. H. Harrison. 
 Martin VunBuren. 
 
 James K. Polk 
 
 Henry Clay 
 
 Zachary Taylor 
 
 " ewis Cass 
 
 Martin VanBuren.. 
 
 Franklin Pierce. .. 
 Winfield Scott... . 
 
 et al. 
 
 Party. 
 
 Federal 
 Deni. 
 
 Dem. 
 Dem. 
 
 Federal 
 
 Dem. 
 Federal 
 
 Dem. 
 Federal 
 
 Dem. 
 Federa 
 
 Dem. 
 Federal 
 
 Dem. 
 
 Federal 
 Dem. 
 Dem. 
 Whig- 
 
 Dem. 
 Federal 
 
 Dem. 
 Whig- 
 Whig 
 Whig 
 
 Dem. 
 Whiff 
 
 Whiff- 
 Dem. 
 
 Dem. 
 Whig 
 
 Whig 
 Dem. 
 Dem. 
 
 Dem. 
 
 Whig 
 
 Popular Vote 
 
 Electors chosen 
 by State Legis- 
 latures. 
 
 do do 
 
 Elected by 
 House of Rep. 
 on 36lh ballot. 
 
 Electors chosen 
 by State Legis- 
 latures. 
 
 do do 
 
 do do 
 
 do do 
 But one elector- 
 al vote in oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 10.5,331 
 155,873 
 44,383 
 46,587 
 
 647,231 
 509,097 
 
 987 503 
 530,189 
 
 761,549 
 736,056 
 
 1,375,011 
 1,135,761 
 
 1,337,343 
 1,361,363 
 
 1,360,099 
 
 1,230,.5,54 
 
 391,263 
 
 1,601,474 
 1,542,403 
 
 Electoral 
 Vole. 
 
 Unani- 
 mous 
 71 
 69 
 
 73 
 73 
 65 
 
 148 
 
 38 
 
 133 
 
 47 
 
 138 
 89 
 
 183 
 34 
 
 84 
 99 
 41 
 37 
 
 178 
 83 
 
 319 
 49 
 11 
 
 170 
 131 
 
 3;i4 
 
 60 
 
 170 
 105 
 
 163 
 137 
 
 354 
 43 
 
 Electoral Vote,1880 1884 
 
 No. 
 ...10 
 
 State. 
 Alabama 
 
 Arkansas 6 
 
 California 6 
 
 Colorado 3 
 
 Connecticut 6 
 
 Delaware 3 
 
 Florida 4 
 
 Georgia 11 
 
 Illinois 21 
 
 Indiana 15 
 
 Iowa 11 
 
 Kansas 5 
 
 Kentucky 13 
 
 Louisiana 8 
 
 Maine 7 
 
 Maryland 8 
 
 Massachusetts. 13 
 
 Micliigan 11 
 
 Minnesota 5 
 
 Mississippi 8 
 
 .Missouri 15 
 
 Vebraska 3 
 
 Mevada 3 
 
 N. Hampshire. 6 
 
 New Jersey 9 
 
 New York 36 
 
 .V. Carolina.... 10 
 
 Ohio 23 
 
 Oregon 3 
 
 No. 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 33 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 IG 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 
 11 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 * Elected by House of Representatives.
 
 PRFSIDENTIAL VOTE.— Concluded. 
 
 Year. 
 
 CANDIDATE. 
 
 Party 
 
 Popular Vote 
 
 Electoral 
 Vote. 
 
 Electoral Vole, 1880 1884 
 
 
 James Buchanan. . . 
 John C. Fremont .. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln.. 
 Stephen A. Douglas 
 
 Abraham Lincoln . . 
 Geo. B. McClellan. 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant .. 
 Horatio Seymour . . 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant .. 
 Horace Greeley — 
 
 Ruth. B. Hayes.... 
 Samuel J. Tilden.. 
 Peter Cooper 
 
 James A. Garfield . 
 W. S. Hancock.. . 
 
 .TaniPG R WpflVAr 
 
 Dem. 
 Repub. 
 
 Repub. 
 Dem. 
 
 Repub. 
 Dem. 
 
 Repub, 
 Dem. 
 
 Repub. 
 Dem. 
 
 Repub. 
 Dem. 
 G. B. 
 
 Repub. 
 Dem. 
 G, B. 
 
 1,838,169 
 2,215,768 
 
 1,866,352 
 2,810,501 
 
 2,316,067 
 1,808,725 
 
 3,015,071 
 
 2,709,613 
 
 3,597,070 
 2,834,079 
 
 4,042 067 
 
 4,291.491 
 
 80,911 
 
 4,443,950 
 
 4,442,035 
 
 306,867 
 
 12,576 
 
 174 
 122 
 
 180 
 123 
 
 213 
 31 
 
 314 
 
 80 
 
 300 
 66 
 
 185 
 184 
 
 
 1856 1 
 I860] 
 
 1864-} 
 1868-1 
 
 State, No. .Vo. 
 
 Pennsylvania.. 39 30 
 Rhode Island . . 4 4 
 S. Carolina.... 7 9 
 
 Tennessee 13 13 
 
 Texas 8 13 
 
 1873] 
 1876 -j 
 
 Vermont 5 4 
 
 Virginia 11 13 
 
 West Virginia. 5 6 
 Wisconsin 10 11 
 
 1880 - 
 
 314 
 155 
 
 
 
 
 Total 369 401 
 
 
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