True Democracy History Vindicated: Speech of Hon. C. H, Van Wyck, of New York, Delivered in the House of Representatives,...

True Democracy History Vindicated: Speech of Hon. C. H, Van Wyck, of New York, Delivered in the House of Representatives,...
ISBN-10
133033471X
ISBN-13
9781330334713
Category
Political Science
Pages
20
Language
English
Published
2015-06-16
Publisher
Forgotten Books
Author
Van Wyck

Description

Excerpt from True Democracy History Vindicated: Speech of Hon. C. H, Van Wyck, of New York, Delivered in the House of Representatives, March 7, 1860 From the deluge of Democratic speeches, I learn that the alpha and omega of your religion and Democracy are the divinity and benefits of human servitude. You are continually forcing this issue upon us. Said the Democratic Senator, [Mr. Bigler,] a few weeks since, in the Senate Chamber: "From tho hour I first came into political life, to the present day, I have never gone through a political campaign in which the rights of the South were not an important, if not the leading issue." The leprosy of slavery is "in the warp and woof of your organization. When the Democratic Convention, in 1856, endorsed the policy of Franklin Pierce in the destruction of the Missouri line and his Kansas forays, I became satisfied that its organization was in the hands of the slave power, and that it was hereafter to be used to extend slavery wherever the flag of the Union might float, and forgetful of its ancient glories, had made allegiance to slavery propagandism the test of good fellowship. With many Democrats throughout the Union, I could no longer worship the divinity when the spirit had fled. The system under which we had grown to be a great and happy people, which had been engrafted on the laws and policy of Democratic Administrations, and was entwined in the expressions of speech and habitudes of thought, was stricken down by the rude hand of invasion. The first attack commenced in 1850, but in 1852 the Democratic Convention professed to check the invader; and while it did not propose to repair the breach, it promised to stay his destructive hand. And Pierce, in his inaugural, promised that he would cicatrize the wound, by an assurance that no fresh incursions should be made. In 1854 the invader commenced sapping and mining, seized the outworks, toppled the battlements to the ground, stormed the strong fortress, and obtained possession. The spirit of Democracy, thus driven from her own home, erected its standard; and while the glory of many achievements remained with the old organization, the fame and honor of its ancient faith gathered legions of its former victorious armies, who believed in Democracy because of its principles, and embracing the principles, assumed the name under which Jefferson triumphed. Could it be expected that we should sit quietly by and see the acts of every Democratic Administration rebuked; could we hold political fellowship with those who were willing to crucify the memory of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe; could we calmly witness the desecration which could say that the men who made the Constitution, and hewed out the path which has led to glory, knew not its provisions, and understood not its spirit? And because I refuse to unite in this unholy work of demolition, and lay my bands on the uniform and time-honored legislation of three-fourths of a century; because I would not unite in this assault upon the memory of the buried dead; because I would not rise up and declare their legislation unjust, unconstitutional, and with abolition tendencies, am I to be reproached as an apostate from Democracy? Sir, I would rather desert a political organization, than to turn traitor to my own conscience, and be guilty of moral treason to my own judgment. I question no man's right to change his religious or political views; but I demand, as justice, that when I profess the faith, I shall be recognised as adhering to the policy, of the Democratic fathers. The Christian may turn Jew or Mohammedan; but how would you stigmatize him, should he insist upon substituting the new doctrines under the name of the faith he abandoned? The liberty-loving Democrat may become a slavery propagandist; but how will history judge his attempt to hide the enormities of his position under the mantle of his ancient name, and rendezvous with his confe...

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