John Quincy Adams On The Issues

The following letter from John QuiKOT Adams, accepting the Democratie iiominnlion for Governor of Massachusetts, po cloarly defines the political issues of the day lliat we givc it a place in oür columns Deraocrucy n MirirmAM mcans the same as Democrnej in Massachusetts, an1!, barring a local rIIhbíoii or two, it is ae fit a leiter au a Michigan candidato could havo writtea to a Michigan comtnittee : Qnxcv, Oct. 18,1870. ITon. Jumes 3t. Kcith, PpettdetU of the Con'teniioH. Dear Sir : - Presuming that my declared desire to withdraw from the cand:ciacy would have insured tho ditnii'Sal of my nnme from the minds of tho conventen nt Fitchburg, the nomination a-)noiinced bv you in yonr favor of this dite: which I have the honor to aoknowledge, wnR pomewhat unexpected by me. Dift'ering iu that respect from my eloquent ompetitor, I havo for three years past wished to bo Govornor of Massachusctts very rauch, but hav iogfailed to discover the reciprocity of seutimeut among a majoritv of my fellow-oitizens, wliioh ia so desirabte in suoh cases, I ihought it woulil bj wisc for thu Democraoy to select a moro attrnctive candidato But tho conveiition hiiving apparently detected a valuó .in my ser vices whieh liad escaped my observation, it would be arrogating nn abiurd im portance to my individual prefurenccs to persist in an obstinate nni iiugraeious refu-al of so small a sacrifice to a body of citizens from wbom I have aóoepted euch flattering favors. I therefore cordially undertake tho duty iuipossd. The only re%claim of the Itepublican party of late to public confidonce is by a parade of trophie.i, without head, or system, or principies; it is held together only by the lifo of docay - corruption. Ite system of taxation is tho most burdensome and the least democratie in tho world ; its currency in the robbery of the porr, whileits vaunted reduction of the debt has only been acooniplished by a cruel taxfition, wbich doubles tbc burden bv takiog two dollars from the people for each dollar paid to the publio creditor. This soheme of imposts is deliberately and craftily organized in tho intctests of apgociated capitiil alone, and is as certainly, ir not as palpubly, a violation of every principie of equal democratie government as was ihe eognato polioy of the ?ame party, by which two hundred millions of acres of tho people's homestead lands have been given away to railroad corporati.ins. This cuoningly lov;?od sclieme will this year take five or six hundrod millioDS of dollars fr.nn tho p3op!o, and pay it over to the capitalists who own your mine?, aud milis, :md furnaces, and s.ilt-woiks, to allevia e their unprofitable labors, a? certainlv ap ifthetax was openly leviod and the bounty avowedly [aid. Under the system our ocean fliipping :s broken up and our ship-yards are clüsed, and this fanning land of New Engiand no longtr fetches (he eost of the buildings apon it. And that its conspicuous merit in affording protección to the American work man from thfi pauper labnr of Eurore may be apnarent to the meancst capacity, alinost tli only arlicle which it admits duty freo is ar) unlimitcd supply of clieap Chinese, imported in lots to suit capital ists. The Demoeracy, on tha contrary, accepting the past and frankly recuning to the principios of Jefferson, hold out the haud to all who long for reform and press forward to redeem the fu'ure. To that end they cali on all men wro are fora moderate and equal tariff, (Onjeived in no interest loss universal ifatta that of the wholo people - on all who know that a depreciateel currency is a curse to cvery one, but utter perdition to the poor - and on those men who see liow corruption is sapbing the foundations of the government, to n aintain by their votes the truly democratie measuros of hard money, a revenuc tariff, and a radical reduction and reform in tho civil service. In State affairs tho success of the Dernocracy would mean the absolute cessation of grnuts of public funds or credit to local or partial uses. The stnrdy beggars who infest tho State House need no longer doubt whether the Executive can be scrowed up to forbid their plans of plunder, Democratie ecouomy will not mean a crowded lobby and a swolling debt. Special legislation shall no longer drag out the sessions of your Ieg slature to midsummer, and the Democracy dare trust tho people to buy their food and diink unwatched by an odious and expensivo corps of informers, Above all, sir, the Democracy intend to try for a new Union, under what a Iladical Senator of the United States has called that "decayed and worm-eaten bequest of the fathers of the repnblic," the Coustitution of the United States' And in pucccps, the Demooraiic party at least, will not utterly forget that a government, no matter what title it may asume, is truly democratie only in so far as tho guiding will of most permita the free developrnent of each in every attribute of independent manbood. Very truly, your obfiriient serrant,