The Works Of James Abram Garfield Vol 1 Classic Reprint

Author : James A. Garfield
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330852958
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (529 download)

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Download or read book Can the Democratic Party Be Safely Intrusted With the Administration of the Government?, Vol. 1 written by James A. Garfield and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-06 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Can the Democratic Party Be Safely Intrusted With the Administration of the Government?, Vol. 1: Speech of Hon. James A. Garfield, in the House of Representatives, Friday, August 4, 1876 He emphasizes the statement that the South cheerfully accepts the results of the war; and admits that that much good has been achieved by the Republican party, which ought to be preserved. I was gratified to bear the gentleman speak of Lincoln as "the illustrious author of the great act of emancipation." That admission will be welcomed everywhere by those who believe in the justice and wisdom of that great act. While speaking of the condition of the South and its wants he deplores two evils which afflict that portion of our country: First, Federal supervision; and second, negro ascendency in its political affairs. In that connection, it will be remembered, he quoted from John Stuart Mill and from Gibbon; the one, to show that the most deplorable form of government is where the slave governs; and from the other, to show the evils of a government which is in alien hands. The gentleman represented the South as suffering the composite evils depicted by both these great writers. That I may be sure to do him justice 1 quote a paragraph from the Associated Press report of his speech: The Inevitable effect, of that reconstruction policy had been to draw one race to Its support and drive the other race to its opposition. He f-noted Gibbon, the historian, as saying that the most absurd and oppressive system or government which could be conceived of is that which subjects the native of a country to the domination of bis slave. He also quoted Irom John Stuart Mill to the effect that when a government is administered by rulers not responsible to the people governed, but to some other community, It is one of the worst of conceivable governments, and be said that the hideous system established in the South is a composite of Those two vicious systems. The people are subject d to the domination of their to. liter I slaves, am are ruled over by people whose constituents were not the people for whom they should act, bill the Federal Government. Now, I have stated - of course very briefly, but I hope with entire fairness - the scope of the very able speech to which we listened. In a word it is this: the Republican party is oppressing the South; negro suffrage is a grievous evil; there are serious corruptions in public affairs in the national legislation and Administration; the civil service of the country especially needs great and radical reform; and therefore the Democratic party ought to be placed in control of the Government at this time by the election of Tilden and Hendricks. It has not been my habit, and it is not my desire, to discuss mere party politics in this great legislative form. And I shall do 1 now only in so far as a fair review of the gentleman's speech requires. My remarks shall be responsive to his; and 1 shall discuss party history and party policy only as the logic of his speech leads into that domain. From most of the premises of the gentleman, as matters of fact and history, I dissent: some of thorn are undoubtedly correct. But, for the sake of argument only, admitting that all his premises are correct, I deny that his conclusion is warranted by his premises; and, before I close I shall attempt to show that the good lie seeks cannot be secured by the ascendency of the Democratic party at this time. Before entering upon that field, however, I must notice this remarkable omission in the logic of his speech. Although lie did state that the country might consider itself free from some of the dangers which are apprehended as the result of Democratic ascendency, he did not, as I remember, by any word attempt to prove the fitness of the Democracy as a political organization to accomplish the reforms which he so much desires; and without that affirmative proof of fitness his argument is n