r
The Commoner.
JANUARY 1, 1904.
J
Mr. Bryn on the Democratic Party
Mr. Bryan has written for tlio Encyclopedia
'Americana, now being published by the Ameri
cana company of New York, an article on the
democratic party. This article gives in condensed
form the history of the democratic party together
with a discussion of some of the more important
issues advocated by that organization, and will bo
reproduced in The Commoner by courtesy of the
publishers. Papers quoting from this article will
please give credit to the Encyclopedia Americana.
It is not convenient to publish the entiro ar
ticle in one issue. The first, chapter is presented
in this issue and other chapters will follow until
the entiro article has been reproduced.
THE DEMOCRATIC. PARTY.
To Thomas Jefferson belongs the honor of be
ing the founder, and for a third of a century the
undisputed leader, of the democratic party.
Scarcely had the present constitution been auopt
ed before there appeared a lino more or less dis
tinct dlvlding.thoso who, like Jefferson (q.v.), be
lieved the people fully capable of self-government
and trusted them, and those vho, like Hamilton
(q.v.), thought that the masses needed to be
under the control of a strong and centralized gov
ernment. This fundamental difference of opinion
manifested itself in the treatment of every im
portant question, and party organizations were
soon perfected.
As Jefferson himself has described the birth
of parties in the United States, his opinion can
be accepted as authoritative. In a letter written
in June, 1823, near the close of his life, to William
Johnson, he said:
"At the formation of our government, many
had formed their political opinions on European
writings and practices, believing the experience of
old countries, and especially of England, abusive
as it was, to be a safer guide than mere theory.
The doctrines of Europe were that men in num
erous associations cannot be restrained within
the, limits of order and justice, but by forces phy
sical and moral, wielded over them by authori
ties independent of their will. Hence their or
ganization of kings, hereditary ' nobles, and
priests. Still further to constrain the brute force
of the people, they deem it necessary to keep
them down by hard labor, poverty and Ignorance,
and to take from them as from bees, so much of
their earnings, as that unremitting labor shall be
necessary to obtain a sufficient surplus barely to
sustain a scanty and miserable life. And these
earnings they apply to maintain' their privileged
orders in splendor and idleness, to fascinate the
eyes of the people, and excite in them an humble
adoration and submission, as to an order of su
perior beings. Although few among us had gone
all these lengths of opinion, yet many had ad
vanced, some more, some less, on the way. And
in the convention which formed our government,
they endeavored to draw the cords of power as
tight as they could obtain them, to lessen the
dependence of the general functionaries on their
constituents, to subject to them those of the
states, and to weaken their means of maintaining
the steady equilibrium which the majority of the
convention had deemed salutary for both
branches, general and local. To recover, there
fore, in practice the powers which the nation had
refused and to warp to their own wishes those
actually given, was the steady object of the fed
eral party. Ours, on the contrary, was to main
tain the will of the majority of the convention
and of the people themselves. We believed, with
them, that man was a rational animal endowed
by nature with rights and with an innate sense ol
justice; and that he could be restrained from
wrong and protected in right, by moderate pow
ers confided to persons of his own' choice, and hem
to their duties by dependence on his own will.
We believe that the complicated organization or.
kings, nobles, and priests, was not the wisest
nor best to effect the happiness of associated
man; that wisdom and virtue were not hereditary
that the trappings of such a machinery consumed
by their expense, those earnings of industry they
were meant to protect, and, by the inequalities
they produced, exposed liberty to sufferance, we
believe that men, enjoying in ease and security
the full fruits of their own industry, enlisted by
all their interests on the side of law and order
habituated to think of themselves and to follow
their reason as their guide, would bo more easny
and safely governed, than With mlndo nourished
in error and vitiated and debased, as in Europe,
by ignorance, indigence, and oppression. Too
cherlshment of tho people then was our prin
ciple, the fear and distrust of thorn that of tho
other party. Composed, as wo wero, of tho land
ed and laboring interests of tho country, wo could
not be less anxious for a government of law and
order than wero tho inhabitants of tho cities, tho
strongholds of federalism. And whether our ef
forts to save tho principles and form of our con
stitution have not been salutary, lot tho present
republican freedom, order, and prosperity of our
country determine."
Jefferson not only gave a history of tno for
mation of parties, but fortunately for later gen
erations, ho enumerated tho elements which bach
party contained. In a letter to C. E. Ebeling In
1795 ho said:
"Two parties exist within tho United States.
They embrace respectively tho following descrip
tions of persons. The antl-republ leans consist of:
(1) the old refugees and torles; (2) British mer
chants residing among us, and composing the main
body of our merchants; (3) American morchants
trading on British capital, another great portion;
(4) speculators and holders in tho banks and pub
lic funds; (5) officers of the federal government
with some exceptions; (6) office hunters willing
to give up principles for places a numerous and
noisy tribe; (7) nervous persons, whoso languid
fibres have more analogy with a passive than
active state of things. Tho republican party of
our Union comprehends: (1) the entire body of
landholders throughout tho United States; (2) tho
body of laborers not being landholders whether
in husbanding, or the arts. The latter is to tho
aggregate of tho former party probably as BOO to
1; but their wealth is not as disproportionate,
though it is also greatly superior and Is In truth
the foundation of that of their antagonists. Trif
ling as are the numbers of the anti-republican
party, there are circumstances which give them an
appearance of strength and numbers. They all
livo in cities together, and can act in a body and
readily at all times; they give chief employment
to the newspapers, and, tnerefore, have most of
them under their command. The agricultural In
terest is dispersed over a great extent of country,
have little means of intercommunication with
each other, and feeling their own strength and
will, are conscious that a single exertion of these
will at any time crush the machinations against
their government"
Jefferson's philosophical mind sought not
only the facts, but tho reason for tho facts, and
in 1824, in a letter to H. Lee, he thus classified
men according to their party tendencies:
"Men by their constitutions are naturally di
vided into two parties: (1) those who fear and
distrust the people and wish to draw all powers
from them into the hands of tho higher classes;
(2) those who identify themselves with the peo
ple, have confidence In them, cherish and consider
them as the most wise depository of the public
interests. In every country these two parties
exist, and in every one where they are free to
think, speak, and write, they will declare them
selves. Call them, therefore, liberals and ser
viles, Jacobins and ultras, whigs and toriev, re
publicans and federalists, aristocrats and demo
crats, or by whatever name you please, they are
tho same parties still, and pursue the same ob
ject. The last appellation of aristocrats and dem
ocrats is the true one expressing tho essence of
all." , . t
Jefferson's purpose was to found a party tnat
.would be really democratic in personnel, In pur
pose and in method. The party, however, was at
first called the republican party, and afterward
the democratic-republican party. It was not un
til in Jackson's time that it became universally
known by its present name. As there were no
national conventions and no national platforms
in the early days of tho republic tho position of
the party on public questions must be gathered
from tho words and speeches of tho leaders and
from tho votes of the members of the party in
congress. Jefferson's first inaugural address con
tained the essence of the party creed as generally
accepted during tho first quarter of the 19th cen
tury In fact, it is still tho creed of the party,
and no group of men desiring to maintain an In
fluence In the party can even now admit any es
sential departure from it. It will be found below:
"About to enter, fellow-citizens, on tho exer
cise of duties which comprehend everything dear
and valuable to you, it is proper you should un
derstand what I deem the essential principles of
our government, and consequently those which
ought to shape Its administration. I will com
press them within tho narrowest compass they
will bear, stating tho general principle but not
all Its limitations. Equal and oxact justice to all
men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or
political; pcaco, commorco, and honest friendship
with all nations, entangling alliance with none;
tho support of tho state governments In all their
rights, as the most competent administrations for
our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks
against antl-ropuhllcan tendencies; tho preserva
tion of the general government in Its whole con
stitutional vigor, as tho sheet anchor of our peace
at homo and safety abroad; a jealous caro of tho
right of election by tho people a mild and safe
corrective of abuses which are lopped by tho sword
of revolution where peaccablo remedies aro un
provided; absoluto acquiescence in tho decisions of
tho majority and vital principle of republics, from
which Is no appeal but to force, tho vital prln
clplo and Immediate parent of despotism; a wcll
discipllncd militia, our best reliance in penco and
for the first moments of war, till regulars may re
lieve them; tho supremacy of tho civil over tho
military authority; economy In tho public expense
that labor may bo lightly burdened; tho honest
payment of our debts and sacred preservation of
tho public faith; encouragement of agriculture,
and of commerce ns Its handmaid; tho diffusion
of Information and arraignment of all abuses at
tho bar of tho public reason; freedom of religion,
freedom of the press, and freedom of person under
tho protection of tho habeas corpus, and trial by
juries Impartially solected. These principles form
tho bright constellation which has gono before us
and guided our steps through an ago of revolu
tion and reformation, 'a no wlBdom of our snges
and blood of our heroes havo been devoted to their
attainment. They Bhould bo tho creed of our po
litical faith, tho text of civic Instruction, tho
touchstone by which to try tho sorvices of thoso
we trust; and should wo wandor from them in
moments of orror or of alarm, lot us hasten to
retraco our steps and to regain tho road which
alono leads to peace, liberty, and safety."
Tho first and most fundamental difference
between tho democratic party (when It was
known as tho republican party, afterward as tho
democratic-republican party, and today as tho
democratic party) and tho party which has op
posed it (first known as tho federal party, then
as the whig party and more recently as tho
republican party), was upon tho construction of
tho constitution. The former party has insisted
upon a strict construction, while tho latter has
leaned toward a liberal construction of tho fed
eral constitution. This dliforenco Is a natural ono
for the democratic party, believing in the right
of tho people to, and in the capacity of the peo
ple for, self-government, has Insisted upon giving
thorn as largo a part as possible In the control of
their own affairs.
It follows, thcreforo, that tho democratic
party favors local self-government and opposes
the centralization of power in remote centers.
It believes that the nearer the people are to
their government the more effective will be their
control over it. The various parties that havo
opposed tho democratic party have given moro
or less emphasis to the Hamlltonian view and
havo increased the power of tho representative at
the expense of the constituents.
While this distinction has not at all times
been clearly marked, and while these views have
not been held by all tho individual members, tho
general tendency has existed.
In the very beginning this tendency was Il
lustrated In the alien and sedition laws, enacted
by the federalists and in tho Kentucky and Vir
ginia resolutions supported by the democrats.
Both parties in this instance went to the extreme,
the federalists attempting to confer dangerous
power upon tho federal government, the demo
crats asserting views which wero afterward so
misconstrued as to weaken the federal union.
Tho preservation of the balance between tho fed
eral government and the state governments has
always been a delicate matter, and as tho line
cannot bo drawn with mathematical accuracy
there has always been room for dispute; the pub
lic sentiment having gone to the ono side or tho
other as it was necessary to maintain the equili
brium. It is likely that this discussion will con
tinue, but the efforts to carry tho government to
an extreme In either direction will bo thwarted
by tho conservative middle class, which rallies to
the support of the side that Is attacked.
Beginning with Jefferson's administration In
1801, and continuing to the end of Monroe's ad
(Continued on Page 11.)