Democratic Party Platform: July 4, 1900

[eridani]

There is a clunker in there approving the Chinese Exclusion Act, but they were pretty sharp in recommending throttling imperialism and corporatism at birth. Too bad they failed.

http://janda.org/politxts/PartyPlatforms/Democratic/dem.900.html

We declare again that all governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that any government not based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny, and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. We hold that the Constitution follows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that an Executive or Congress deriving their existence and their powers from the Constitution can exercise lawful authority beyond it or in violation of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home.

<snip>

We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to seizing or purchasing distant islands to be governed outside the Constitution, and whose people can never become citizens.

We are in favor of extending the Republic's influence among the nations, but we believe that that influence should be extended not by force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and honorable example.

The importance of other questions, now pending before the American people is no wise diminished and the Democratic party takes no backward step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Spanish war involves the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free institutions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign.

<snip>

We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimidation and oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has ever been fatal to free institutions. It is what millions of our citizens have fled from in Europe. It will impose upon our peace loving people a large standing army and unnecessary burden of taxation, and will be a constant menace to their liberties. A small standing army and a well-disciplined state militia are amply sufficient in time of peace. This republic has no place for a vast military establishment, a sure forerunner of compulsory military service and conscription. When the nation is in danger the volunteer soldier is his country's best defender. The National Guard of the United States should ever be cherished in the patriotic hearts of a free people. Such organizations are ever an element of strength and safety. For the first time in our history, and coeval with the Philippine conquest, has there been a wholesale departure from our time honored and approved system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as un-American, un-Democratic and un-Republican, and as a subversion of the ancient and fixed principles of a free people.

<snip>

Corporations should be protected in all their rights and their legitimate interests should be respected, but any attempt by corporations to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to control the sovereignty which creates them, should be forbidden under such penalties as will make such attempts impossible.

[struggle4progress]

1. Context matters. The Spanish-American war in 1898 led to US acquisition

of the Philippines and thus to the Philippine-American war in 1899. The difficulty of transferring US warships from the Pacific to the Caribbean in the Spanish-American war kindled a new interest in the proposal for a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, and in 1899 Congress also created the Isthmian Canal Commission to study the feasibility of the project. Also around that time, the US simply annexed Hawaii

Racism was common and acceptable, and Jim Crow continued to spread in the final years of the nineteenth century

Meanwhile, on the home front, progressivism was just organizing its long long march to break the power of the trusts and to free farmers from the power of the railroads, to end child labor and institute an eight hour day, and to regulate what could sold as food

[bvar22]

6. Meanwhile,

"on the home front, progressivism was just organizing its long long march to break the power of the trusts and to free farmers from the power of the railroads, to end child labor and institute an eight hour day, and to regulate what could sold as food"

We've lost a LOT of hard earned ground over the last 30 years,
under both Democrats and Republicans, and are still sliding backwards at an accelerating pace.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. While reading this, it's easy to see the roots from which modern

Progressives have grown, and it's also apparent how far some people in the Democratic Party have strayed from the party's core beliefs.

[OnyxCollie]

3. That "clunker"

was a way to exploit a group for commercial gain.

In 1900, it was the Chinese. (All Asians, really.) Now, it's the 99%.

[Enthusiast]

4. &quot;In 1900, it was the Chinese. (All Asians, really.) Now, it's the 99%.&quot;

Absolutely correct. Both political parties have been an abysmal failure. They should be embarrassed to show their faces.

[cantbeserious]

5. Thank You For Sharing - Too Bad That The Democratic Party No Longer Supports These Values

eom

[roamer65]

7. William Jennings Bryan was a definite anti-imperialist.

Sadly though, the victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898 gave us the taste of empire and even Bryan couldn't stop it.

[bluestate10]

8. Do you realize that the Democratic Party of 1900 was what the republican party is today? nt

[eridani]

9. The Repukes were NEVER economic populists

If you think otherwise, please cite examples of modern Republicans decrying American empire and attacking corporate dominance.