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ADDRESS

OF THE DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF

NEW YORK, TO THEIR CONSTITUENTS AND TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, MAY 26, 1841.

Fellow-Citizens:

We

In compliance with established usage, the undersigned before they finally separate, on the adjournment of the legislature, deem it proper to address you on the subject of the political condition of our. common country. in all frankness say, that we see nothing in the present relative condition of parties, or in the recent democratic defeat, to discourage the democracy of the United States. We believe that a large majority of the people of this state, and of the United States, are, and always will be, the champions of democracy. For it is the principle of democracy which does justice to man; which demands an equal distribution of every social advantage; and an equal participation of every gift of Heaven. It is the principle of democracy which maintains those glorious truths" that all men were created equal," " and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," are inalienable rights. It is the principle of democracy which proclaims liberty to the down-trodden in every land; which exposes the abuses of misgovernment; and explodes ancient prejudice and error. It is the uncomprising enemy of usurpation and oppression in every form. This principle is the basis of free government. It asserts the capacity of man to govern himself. It vindicates his intelligence and honesty. It maintains his imprescriptible title to freedom; and his right to choose his own form of government, and to alter and reform it, from time to time as his judgment shall dictate. It wages an eternal war with tyrants and tyranny; with monarchies and aristocracies. It condemns all special privileges; it demands that equal protection be extended to all in the enjoyment of their rights and in their lawful pursuits. It inculcates honor, virtue, honesty, and inde

dence. It secures to man, dignity, prosperity and happi

ness.

But it cannot be denied, that, although the principles of democracy are founded in truth and justice, and elevate the character, assert the equal rights, and secure the happiness and welfare of the masses, yet that in every community there is to be found a class of persons, the few who incessantly labor to overthrow these principles, or to limit their influence. It is upon this class that the jealous eye of the democracy must be constantly fixed. Their machinations are ever directed against the masses ; their efforts are unceasing to aggrandize themselves, and to encroach upon the rights and privileges of the people. The past history of our government, as well as of our revolutionary struggle, shows that there has always been a party in this country whose object was to engraft upon our institutions the principles of aristocracy.

Many, who took part in the revolutionary struggle, sought to establish an independent monarchy under the name of a republic. The elder Adams was of this num-ber. He advocated a government after the British model, which should recognize three distinct orders, like the king, lords, and commons. He insisted that there was a natural aristocracy in society, composed of the rich, the talented, and well-born; that the most illustrious of this class should be placed by themselves in a senate. He contended that the distinctions of poor and rich were necessary; that "the poor were destined to labor, and the rich, by the advantages of education, independence, and leisure, were qualified for superior stations."

These principles had their advocates in the federal convention. They were zealously maintained by Alexander Hamilton and Governeur Morris. Hamilton insisted there were two orders in society; one the rich and well-born, and the other the mass of the people. That "the people were turbulent and changing," and seldom determined right; that the first class should have a distinct, permanent share in the government, in order to check the unsteadiness of the second. Can," he said, "a democratic assembly, who annually revolve in the mass of the people, be supposed steadily to pursue the 32*

VOL. II.

public good? Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy." Morris said, the senate "must have great personal property; it must have the aristocratic spirit; it must love to lord it through pride."

These distinguished statesmen proposed and advocated a form of government, which provided for an executive and senate for life; an absolute veto in the executive upon all laws: which gave the executive the sole appointment of the heads of the departments, and to the general government the appointment of governors of the states, with the power to negative all state laws, and which proposed to confer on the general government unlimited power in passing laws. This plan would have given us a monarchy instead of a republic. Fortunately for our beloved country, it found no favor with the convention. It was rejected, and the monarchical principles of those who advocated it were repudiated by the stern republicans of that illustrious body. These principles and opinions of Adams, Hamilton, and Morris, were founded upon a distrust of the people; upon a belief that they were incapable of self-government; and hence they contended that a strong government was necessary to check their imprudence and control their turbulence. These monarchical principles were the principles of the political friends of Adams and Hamilton, who afterwards composed the federal party; a party opposed to a popular government, and all whose predilections were in favor of a government after the British model.

Although the monarchical principles of Hamilton were overruled in the convention, they were not discarded by him or by the party of which he was the head; nor was the design relinquished to engraft them upon our political institutions. In proof of this, we see that immediately after the organization of the government, under the auspices of Hamilton as secretary of the treasury, the attempt was made by him and by the friends of a strong and splendid government, to arm it with powers not intended to be conferred upon it; and to establish a system by which an influence in Congress could be created sufficient to counteract the will of the people.

The first measure started to further this scheme was the assumption of the state debts, and to fund them as well as the certificates of the public debt, at par. This was opposed upon the ground that it was believed the plan had been devised and was calculated to bestow on the government an artificial strength by the creation of a moneyed interest which would be subservient to its will.' (2 Mar. Life of Wash. 192.)

The next great engine of influence devised and recommended by Hamilton, was the Bank of the United States. Its incorporation was the first great triumph of the aristocratical principle over the true spirit and meaning of the constitution. It was opposed by Mr. Madison and others in Congress, and by Mr. Jefferson in the cabinet, upon the ground of its unconstitutionality. And it led to the distinct organization of the two great parties, of federal and republican, between which there has ever since been going on an incessant conflict; the republican party struggling to maintain and preserve the simplicity and limited republican character of the general government, and the federal party endeavoring to clothe it with fearful power, not granted by the constitution, and to devise measures calculated to defeat the popular will. Ever since these two great parties sprang into existence, they have had and now have their respective diagnostics. And by these diagnostics the federal party can be unerringly traced through every transformation it has undergone, and detected under every disguise it has assumed. At all times it will be found advocating the exercise of arbitrary power, proposing measures to increase the power and patronage of the general government, and to curtail the rights of the states and of the people. At all times it will be found in opposition to the extension of the liberties and privileges of the people, and in support of the aggrandizement of the few; ever suggesting and pushing schemes to benefit the aristocracy, and to impoverish the democracy; to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer; and never hesitating to employ either fraud, corruption or violence to accomplish their designs. In adversity, restless, active, vituperative and hypocritical. In prosperity, overbearing, proscriptive, and tyrannical.

Not acquiescing in the declared will of the people, and repudiating the doctrine of submission to the will of the majority, they have never scrupled to counteract it at the bidding of the minority. By tracing the history of this party down from the organization of the government, it will be found to have maintained with undeviating uniformity this character. Its history has been a succession of violation of the constitution, of outrages upon the rights of the people, of hostility to their interests, and of steady, persevering efforts to increase the power and privileges of the few. Thus we see that, under the auspices of Hamilton, the great leader of the federal party, the national debt was funded, and a national bank was incorporated. Thus we see that under the federal administration of John Adams, appropriately denominated "the reign of terror," alien and sedition laws were passed-the one aimed at personal liberty, and the other at the freedom of the press. Thus we see that during this administration, the expenditures were carried beyond the means of the government; that stamp and excise duties were imposed, and loans resorted to; that republicans were insulted in the streets of the capital; that their peaceable assemblies were violently broken up; and that even armed forces were sent out to destroy democratic liberty poles. It was the bold usurpations of this federal administration, that roused the democracy of the Union to a powerful effort in defence of liberty and the constitution; which resulted in the triumph of the democratic principle, and in the election of Jefferson as President of the United States.

After the election of Jefferson, the administration of the general government continued in republican hands, until the coalition of 1824-5 defeated the popular will, and elevated John Q. Adams to the presidential chair. With his accession to the office of chief magistrate of the Union, was revived the latitudinarian doctrines of Hamilton and the early federalists. A gigantic scheme of internal improvements, without any limitation to such as were national in their character, was then devised, in opposition to the plain letter and spirit of the constitution, and in face of the direct rejection of a proposition

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