598 



KOKTH CAROLINA. 



a whole do not meet the approval of the Republican 

 party because their adoption would subvert essen- 

 tial principles of the existing constitution ; second, 

 that Republicans can indorse a portion of said 

 amendments, and the next General Assembly may 

 adopt such of them as shall seem best for the gen- 

 eral welfare. 



9. That we cordially indorse the administration 

 of Governor Caldwell, and recognize the fact that 

 our people may rely upon his firmness in upholding 

 their interests and defending their rights, and we 

 heartily thank him for resisting the revolutionary 

 purposes of those who design to deprive the citizen 

 of the protection afforded by the State constitution. 



10. That, forgetful of personal preferences, we 

 pledge ourselves to support earnestly and without 

 reserve the candidates presented by this conven- 

 tion, believing that in unity alone is strength, and 

 that principles are more important than men to the 

 Republicans of North Carolina. 



The Democratic State Convention, which 

 consisted of nearly two thousand delegates, 

 representing every section of the State, as- 

 sembled at Greensboro 1 , on the 1st of May, 

 and nominated Judge A. S. Merrimon for Gov- 

 ernor, Major John Hughes for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Major J. W. Graham for Treasurer, 

 Judge William M. Shipp for Attorney-General, 

 J. A. Womack for Secretary of State, General 

 C. Leventhorpe for Auditor, Dr. Nevins Men- 

 denhall for Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, and J. H. Separk for Superintendent of 

 Public Works. The resolutions, which are 

 very important as expressing the views of the 

 Southern Democracy on the issues involved in 

 the presidential canvass, were as follows : 



The Democratic Conservative party of North 

 Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare : 



That all experience proves that, in a free govern- 

 ment, those to whom power has been delegated are 

 prone to enlarge its sphere and by usurpation and 

 abuses encroach upon the rights and liberties of the 

 citizen. 



The present condition of our country demands a 

 union of all parties by whatever name heretofore 

 designated, to avert perils greater than any with 

 which our Government has been menaced since its 

 organization. 



Constitutional government and civil law are 

 threatened with annihilation, and military govern- 

 ment and bayonet law substituted in their stead. 



Immense sums, not needed for any legitimate pur- 

 pose, are drawn from the people by means of a sys- 

 tem of taxation vexatious in the extreme, and as un- 

 equal as the ingenuity of the maker could fashion it, 

 imposing heavy burdens upon the people, not only 

 to support extravagance and waste by Government 

 officials, but also to meet the demands of wealthy 

 monopolists, wh'j seek to convert the whole Govern- 

 ment into an immense machine, by which the public 

 is to be plundered for their benefit. 



This system has produced an amount of oificial 

 corruption that has astonished the country, and 

 which will, if not soon checked, demoralize the 

 people. 



The Administration at "Washington not only fails 

 to correct these evils, but by its condact encourages 

 extravagance, peculation, and corruption. 



In order that the patriotic men of the North may 

 not be aided in their efforts to reform the Adminis- 

 tration by the Southern States, a large number of 

 the men of most experience in those States are dis- 

 franchised and prohibited from taking efficient part 

 in the management of political affairs. 



In addition to this, and to keep those States under 

 the control of mere retainers and instruments of the 



central power at "Washington, oppressive and tyran- 

 nical laws have been passed f and large bodies of 

 troops distributed to overawe the citizens, and pre- 

 vent a fair expression of public opinion at the ballot- 

 box. 



Resolved, Therefore, that the time has arrived 

 when it becomes the duty of all patriots, without dis- 

 tinction of party, to unite in an honest effort to re- 

 store constitutional government, an equal and mod- 

 erate system of taxation, economy in expenditures, 

 honesty among the officials, and universal amnf.sty, 

 and thus secure the permanent peace and prosperity 

 of our common country. 



Resolved, That the present system of internal taxes 

 on spirits and tobacco is unequal,vexatious, and tvran- 

 nical, ought forthwith to be abolished, and thus, by it8 

 extinction, relieve the country from tne curse of a nu- 

 merous horde of officers, whose conspiracies and 

 frauds demoralize the public mind, and who are har- 

 assing and plundering the people, and by their extor- 

 tions fattening on the hard earnings of a helpless, 

 impoverished, and oppressed community. 



Resolved, That the late radical convention of this 

 State, by recommending J. C. Abbott to a seat in the 

 Senate of the United S'tates, though he did not re- 

 ceive one-third of the votes cast, manifested an utter 

 disregard of the rights of the people of the State, a 

 contempt of the Constitution of the United States, 

 and a plain act of Congress made in pursuance there- 

 of, and a preference for the laws of Great Britain, 

 where the minority rule prevails, and the rights of 

 majorities are habitually disregarded. 



Resolved, That their indorsement of W. W. Holden ? 

 who was deposed from office for gross violations ot 

 the constitution and laws of the State ? squandering 

 its funds, and making illegal arrests of its citizens, is 

 well calculated to alarm our people with the drer * 

 that, in the event of the return to power of his ass' 

 ciates, the State is again to be oppressed with mil 

 tary arrests, penitentiary and railroad swindles, 

 general waste, profligacy, fraud, and corruption. 



Resolved, That the general tendency, both at W* 

 ington and in our own State, of radical action is en- 

 tirely in the interest of monopolists and the wealthy 

 classes, and for the oppression of the masses of our 

 countrymen, and that, instead of such conduct, it is 

 the duty of the Government to aid, elevate, and dig- 

 nify, the laborer, to whose efforts, mainly, we must 

 look for our prosperity. 



Resolved, That education and enlightened public 

 virtue are indispensably essential in a government 

 of and for the people ; and we insist that a fair and 

 just proportion of the public lands or their proceeds, 

 which belong in common to all the States of the 

 Union, shall be given to them for the education of all 

 classes of the people, without distinction of race or 

 color, instead of being granted by Congress, as they 

 have hitherto been, under the most corrupting influ- 

 ences, and in vast quantities, to overpowering rail 

 road corporations and other monopolies of accunir 

 lated wealth, so dangerous to the rights and liber"- 

 the labor and welfai-e of the people. 



Resolved, That, while we accept and faithf 

 abide by the Constitution of the United State- 

 is, with all its amendments, including emancipation 

 and equality before the law, thus conferring equal 

 civil and political rights upon all who arc citizens <>f 

 this Federal RepubliCj we oppose and denounce that 

 latitudinous construction which makes the discretion 

 of Congress or the President superior to the Consti- 

 tution, and, under pretence of enforcing the laws, 

 destroys the most important provisions securing the 



Sersonal liberty of the citizen, and dwarfs the States 

 icmselves into mere provinces or corporations un- 

 der the control of a central government, with no- 

 rights " reserved" to them or the people, except 

 such only as that central government may confer. 



Resolved, That we desire a real and not merely a 

 pretended civil-service reform, and that we believe 

 the "one-term principle" for the presidency would 

 greatly tend to produce that desirable result. 



