THE PRINCETON CONVENTION. 313 



in not being consulted in the matter, and resolved to hold 

 a meeting on the subject, not with any intention of sup 

 planting Judge Lawrence (whom the originators of the Con 

 vention intended to nominate), but with the object of show 

 ing that the people were determined to be consulted on 

 questions affecting their interests. Unfortunately, between 

 the calling and the meeting of the Convention, Judge Law 

 rence, in accepting the nomination, expressed himself in 

 contemptuous terms about the power of the people. This 

 put the farmers on their mettle. They considered them 

 selves as much entitled to be represented as any other class, 

 and determined to run a candidate of their own. Such was 

 the origin of the Princeton Convention. 



THE PRINCETON CONVENTION. 



This meeting ventilated farmers grievances fully, and 

 unanimously passed the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That the provisions of the Constitution of 1870, of the 

 State of Illinois, in regard to railroads, are, equally with the other 

 provisions of the Constitution, the supreme law of the State, and our 

 Legislature should provide the necessary legislation to execute such 

 provisions, and our courts should sustain and adopt the same. 



Resolved, That the charters of the railroads in this State are not 

 contracts in the sense that they are paramount to the Constitution 

 and laws of this State, and that the provisions of the Constitution of 

 the State in regard to railroads, and necessary legislation to enforce 

 the same, are not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States. 



Resolved, That the railroads in this State are public highways, and 

 their operators common carriers, and the General Assembly, as re 

 quired by the Constitution of this State, should pass laws establish 

 ing reasonable maximum rates of charge for the transportation of 

 passengers and freight on the different railroads in this State, and 

 should also pass laws to correct abuses and to define and prevent 

 extortion in the rate of freight and passenger tariffs on such roads ; 



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