OHIO. 



685 



intended or expected that the noble patriots 

 sent forth to fight in the war for the Union, 

 were to be detained as a police guard to over- 

 see political reforms in the South, whether as 

 to whites or blacks, still less to be marched to 

 the Rio Grande to menace or assault Maximilian 

 or any other despot. In this connection, speak- 

 ing of the Monroe doctrine, he said : 



What the Monroe doctrine exactly is we hare never 

 agreed among ourselves. Its origin is doubtful, its 

 purposes uncertain, its means to this day are un- 

 specified. Mexico has never been and can never be 

 a republic, unless her people will accommodate us to 

 be born again, and of entirely different parentage. 

 She, with all her sister republics of South America, 

 has been from the beginning uninterruptedly a most 

 violent, bloody, incendiary, disgraceful anarchy. She 

 has continually inspired all nations with hate ; has 

 ruthlessly ruined and oppressed her own people. 

 And her 'Government has brought disgrace alike upon 

 the sacred name of republican liberty, and of human 

 nature. 



The Union State Convention met at Colum- 

 bus on the 23d of June, and adopted nine reso- 

 lutions, among which were the following : 



Resolved, That the name and fame of Abraham 

 Lincoln stand out from the history of the epoch un- 

 rivalled and alone, and while we deplore his untimely 

 and cruel death and venerate his memory, it becomes 

 us to imitate his wisdom, firmness, and. moderation 

 in the treatment of vexed questions, and especially 

 to imitate his example in waiting for the solution of 

 difficulties, to be furnished by the progress of time 

 and the logic of events. 



Resolved, That President Andrew Johnson, by his 

 unwavering devotion to the Union through years of 

 severest trial, has now our highest confidence, that 

 we cheerfully endorse the policy of his administra- 

 tion, looking to the restoration of peace and civil 

 order in the so-called seceded States, and that, as 

 Union men of Ohio, we will give him our hearty and 

 undivided support. 



Resolved, That four years of sanguinary war, with 

 its fearful sacrifice of life and_ treasure, forced upon 

 us by the slaveholders' rebellion, have demonstrated 

 to us and to the world that slavery and its institutions 

 are irreconcilably opposed to freedom and free insti- 

 tutions ; and all the teachings of history, the dealings 

 of Providence, and our own bitter experience, point 

 unerringly to their overthrow and eradication as our 

 only safeguard against the recurrence of like evils in 

 the future. 



Resolved, That while we are anxious for an early 

 reconstruction of fraternal relations with the insur- 

 gent States, we demand that such reconstruction 

 shall be at such time and upon such terms as will 

 give unquestioned assurance of the peace and security, 

 not only of the loyal people of the rebel States, but 

 also of the peace and prosperity of the Federal Union. 

 Resolved, That the experience of the last four years 

 shows the absolute necessity in all our political action 

 of keeping steadily in view the great principles of our 

 Government as set forth in the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. 



The Chair decided that a motion to add the 

 following resolutions, presented by Mr. Piatt, 

 would be out of order : 



Resolved, That it is the belief of this Convention 

 that the reconstruction of the revolted States consti- 

 tutionally belongs to the Legislative department, and 

 that the Executive can only promise provisional 

 military government until such time as Congress 

 may act. 



Resolved, That time can alone heal the wounds 

 inflicted by this war, and therefore there is no cause 

 for haste in the reconstruction of the revolted States ; 



and when the time comes for such reconstruction, 

 our indemnity for the past and security for the future 

 demand that the revolted States shall be given to 

 loyal men only. 



The Democratic Convention met also at Co- 

 Inmbus, on the 24th of .August, and adopted 

 nineteen resolutions, of which the following were 

 the most important : 



Resolved, That the Democracy of Ohio will main- 

 tain and defend, as they have always heretofore 

 done, as essential to the existence of our federal 

 system of Government, the true doctrine of State 

 rights, not nullification, nor secession, but the theory 

 of that system as laid down in the Virginia and Ken- 

 tucky resolutions of 1798, as interpreted by their 

 authors, the one by Madison in his report of 1799, 

 and the other by Jefferson in his solemn official in- 

 augural of 1801. 



Jtesolvqd, That their ordinances of secession being 

 void, the so-called seceded States are in the Union 

 as States, and are therefore entitled to all the re- 

 served rights of the States, and to their due repre- 

 sentation in Congress, and to vote at future elections 

 of President and Vice-President; and any attempt of 

 the General Governmeut, or any department thereof, 

 to deprive them of these rights, would be an assault 

 upon the rights of every State in the Union, and an 

 effort to overthrow the Government ordained by the 

 Constitution. 



Resolved, That to each State belongs the right to 

 determine for itself the qualifications of its electors, 

 and the General Government cannot, nor can any 

 department thereof, interfere directly or indirectly 

 with the exercise of this right without a palpable 

 violation of the Constitution and of the reserved 

 rights of the States. 



Resolved, That the effort now being made to confer 

 the right of suffrage upon negroes, is an insidious 

 attempt to overthrow popular institutions by bringing 

 the right to vote into disgrace ; that the negroes are 

 not competent to the exercise of that right, nor is it 

 necessary to their safety or protection ; on the con- 

 trary, its exercise by them, if attempted, would be 

 fraught with terrible calamities to both them and the 

 whites, and we are, therefore, unequivocally opposed 

 to negro suffrage. 



Resolved, That under the rule of abolitionism, and 

 especially under the recent military orders in Ken- 

 tucky, the emigration of negroes into Ohio is a grow- 

 ing evil; and in order that white labor should be 

 protected against negro labor, and the people against 

 negro pauperism, it is the duty of the Legislature to 

 discourage negro emigration into our State. 



Resolved, That we most explicitly condemn the 

 policy of the party in power, in creating thousands 

 of millions of Government debt, and attempting to 

 exonerate the holders thereof from all obligations to 

 pay their just proportion of taxes for the support of 

 the State in which they reside, and thereby creating 

 an odious and privileged moneyed aristocracy ; and 

 we declare it to be the immediate duty of Congress 

 and the State Legislature to use all the legal and 

 constitutional power they possess, to subject money 

 so invested to a burden of taxation equal to that 

 imposed upon other property for Federal, State, and 

 municipal purposes. 



Resolved, That freedom of speech, of the press, and 

 of elections, habeas corpus, and trial by jury, are the 

 birthright of all American citizens, guaranteed by 

 both Federal and State Constitutions ; that we will 

 maintain and defend them as such in every extremity, 

 and that we denounce especially the arrest of citizens 

 by military authority in Mates or places where civil 

 tribunals are established, and their execution, im- 

 prisonment, or trial bv military commissions as pal- 

 pable infractions of the Constitution and outrages 

 upon public liberty and private rights. 

 Resolved, That the continued suspension of the writ 



