ful leaders were at the head of public affairs, where they could apply those principles 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 intelligence of the people greatly increased in other things, there is therefore all the more necessity for a better knowledge of Democratic principles, and a more strict application of them to the affairs of a government derived from the people, over this vast extent of territory, now almost einbracing the entire continent of North America, and some of the isles of the sea. For these, and many other reasons which might be adduced, the principles of the American Democracy should be well understood-yea they should be better understood than ever before, during the history of our country.

CHAPTER III.

THE ORIGIN OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES.

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES may be traced far back in the history of ancient governments. Their origin-the very dawning of their lightmay 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 attempted oppression of the mother country, and for more than a century nurtured and cultivated along the Atlantic coast, preceding the American revolution. 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 sovereign still pretended to possess the power to grant these God-given rights to his dutiful subjects. But when the Declaration of American Independence 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 formulated into something like a substantial political system, from which began to flow tangible results designed to bless

the whole world by their beneficent 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 political 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 preceding them, can be found the best compend of Democratic doctrines ever promulgated by mortal men. These were framed exclusively for the people, by the agents of the people, and adopted by the people 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 what seems more than human wisdom, even though enlightened by the experience of past ages, they placed, as the foundation of that Constitution those inalienable rights and privileges of freemen which arbitrary power can never successfully or long wrest from them while the people remain true to themselves, and faithful to their political 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, "and the isles of the sea," they seem to be as applicable to-day as

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they were when first engrossed for formal adoption. Their provisions are too plain to be misunderstood, and it is this what Democrats mean when they say that they adhere to "a strict construction of the Constitution," 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 documents a compendium of first principles of free government, to which 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 Independence, 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.

When an unprejudiced voter has fully informed himself of the principles of the Democratic party, he will find no reason to be ashamed of joining 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 enlightened 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 sentiment but who have no other means by which to 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 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. They are the heritage left us by the great leaders of public sentiment anterior to the formation of our government, in their contest against tyranny and oppression-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 barbarism, to the present high position of enlightenment and civilzation. How then could the ordinary reader, who is compelled to toil from day to day to support himself and family, ever expect to acquaint himself with them by detail, when he has neither the time nor means to search for them among the musty records of the past? It is simply impossible, were it not for a work like this.

The strength of the Democratic party, so far as mere numbers is concerned, is in the toiling millions of our country, and in truth it should be equally strong in the general intelligence of the voters on the subject of those principles; because in the justness, the cor