Making the courts equally guilty of the crime of treason.

...About three o'olock in the afternoon, Judge Marshal, Chairman of the committee on Resolutions, presented the following

DECLARATION:

   The Democracy of Illinois, in mass Convention assembled, In view of the alarming encroachments on popular and Individual rights by the federal and State Administrations, do declare that the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, as well in time of war and in time of peace. We will obey it on all occasions, and in that obedience we will exercise all the privileges and claim all the immunities guaranteed by that Instrument. Prominent among these guarantees are the following:

   "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

   "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

   "The right of the people to be secure In their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

   "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or Indictment of a Grand Jury, except In cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger.

   "In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been previously ascertained by law."

   Which guarantees have each been repeatedly violated by the Federal Administration, in the exercise of arbitrary power without sanction of law, but in direct conflict therewith.

   2. The Federal Administration has, through its agents and subordinate officers, issued and enforced orders "abridging freedom of speech;" and has assumed to limit its exercise to those only who would slavishly laud its policy and indorse its measures.
  
   3. It has sought to restrain "freedom of the press," by making use of the military power to suppress the publication of public journals in loyal States, for the only offense of differing from the Administration on measures of public policy, of vital interest to every citizen.

   4. It has, with indifference and without rebuke, seen the military power attempt to deny the people of loyal States the right "peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

   5. It has permitted the issuance and enforcement of military orders preventing the people of the loyal States from "keeping and bearing arms."

   6. It has caused citizens of loyal States, where Courts of justice were In full and unobstructed operation, to be seized without warrant of law, and for pretended offenses transported out of the state and beyond the district wherein such offenses were charged to have been committed.

   7. It has caused citizens who were not "in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service." to be held to answer for pretended offenses "without indictment or presentment of a grand Jury," and denied them the "right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the offenses were charged to have been committed."

   8. It has under pretense of "military necessity," assumed the power and asserted the right to proclaim and extend martial law over States where war does not exist, and has suspended the writ of "habeas corpus" in direct violation of the Constitution. It has, in loyal States, pursued, in general, a policy, the direct tendency of which is, to render tho civil subordinate to the military power.

   9. In condemnation of those several acts of usurpation we adopt the language of the Ohio State Democratic Convention, and declare: "That the arrest, imprisonment, pretended trial and actual banishment of Clement L. Vallandigham a citizen of tho State of Ohio, not belonging to the land or naval forces of the United states, nor in the militia in actual service, by alleged military authority for no other pretended crime than that of uttering words of legitimate criticism upon the conduct of the Administration in power, and of appealing to the ballot-box for a change of policy--(said arrest and military trial taking place where Courts of law are open and unobstructed, and for no act done within the sphere of active military operations in carrying on the war)--we regard as a palpable violation of the foregoing provisions of the Constitution of the United States"--and we further denounce said arrest, trial and banishment, as a direct insult offered to the sovereignty of tne people of Ohio, by whose organic law it was declared that "no person shall be transported out of the State for any offense committed within the same;"--and we unite with our fellow-citizens of Ohio in the call upon the President of the United States, "to restore Clement L. Vallandigham to his home in Ohio."

  10. That the recent suppression of the publication of the Chicago Times should receive the rebuke of all law abiding citizens, and will receive the condemnation of impartial history.

  11. That the arrest of Hon. Charles H. Constable, Judge of the fourth Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois, for a mere judicial opinion, expressed while In discharge of his sworn duties under the Constitution of this State, was a daring and dangerous exercise of arbitrary power, and, if persisted in, will strike down the noblest and safest department of the Goverement, and the only sure shield of the citizen from the assaults of arbitrary and despotic power.

  12. We In like manner particularly denounce the arrest and present imprisonment of Hon. William H. Carlin, and other peaceful citizens of this State, and demand their release, or, if charged with crime, their trial according to the course of civil law.

  13. That the numerous arrests, by mere military power, of citizens of Illinois, have been so many violations of both our Federal and State Constitutions, and a direct insult to the people of the State.

  14. That the right to elect public officers, and decide questions of policy at the ballot-box, derives its value from freedom of speech and of the press; that as these are both natural and constitutional rights, and their exercise dangerous to tyrants only, we will, as a duty to ourselves and to our country, defend and maintain them against all the demands of power.

  15. Regarding the State of Illinois as a sovereign power, subject only to the Constitution of the United States we declare:

   That the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign and Independent State; and do and forever shall exercise and enjoy every power, Jurisdiction and right, which it not, or may not hereafter be by them expressly delegated to the United States, or prohibited to the States by the federal Constitution.

  16. That one or the leading objects in good government is the recognition and protection of individual rights; therefore, we assume that no person in this State can, in any case, be subjected to martial law, or to any penalties or pains, by virtue of that law, except those employed In the army or in the militia in actual service.

  17. That the declaration of martial law and consequent prohibition of all redress for wrongs in the Courts in places where war does not exist, will not be tolerated in this State; and that martial law can not, and ought not to be declared, except in States or parts of States in which, beyond controversy, the civil law is utterly powerless either for protection or punishment.

  18. That the safety of our State depends upon a strict confinement of each department of our State government to the discharge of its appropriate duties, under the Constitution; that any attempt on the part of one to wield the powers vested by the Constitution in another of these departments, is revolutionary in character, destructive of our representative form of Government, and if persisted in, productive of anarchy and civil war.

  19. That we condemn the recent act of Governor Yates in assuming the power to dissolve the General Assembly, and disperse the representatives of the people, as a high-handed usurpation and exercise of arbitrary power, subversive of liberty and destructive of self government; an act producing a practical suppression of the Legislative department of Government, and intended to concentrate in the hands of the Executive the powers vested by the Constitution in the Legislative branch.

  20. That it is the sworn duty of the Governor of the State to protect her citizens in the exercise and enjoyment of all their constitutional rights, and we have beheld with indignation not only the failure of Richard Yates, Governor of Illinois, to perform his duty in that respect, but his actual participation in the violation of those rights....

- The Daily Ohio Statesman, Columbus, Ohio, Sunday Morning, June 21, 1863. Vol. X. New Series. No. 9. Pg. 1.

   And yet again we see historical proof of just how far the democrat party has strayed from its origins. As well as the depth of their hypocrisy.

   We also see how our problems with our right to keep and bear arms started. That the United States government has, and continues to, illegally exercise martial law control over our rights. Especially over our right to keep and bear arms. Which is a right which We The People had specifically denied them power over. For the 2nd amendment to the U.S constitution declares that this "right of the people" "shall not be infringed". Yet, our tyrannically usurping government has, and continues to, unconstitutionally exercise 'power' over a right which they were expressly forbidden to touch upon in any way, shape or form. Knowing this, they have cast aside our Constitution. And have replaced it, presently and in part, by utilizing a form of martial law when it suits their perverse purposes.

   The present treason has been accomplished by employing the tyrannical "State of National Emergency". Which perversely came into existence under the War and Emergency Powers Act of 1933. And illegally allows the president and congress to set aside We The People's Constitution at their corrupt whim.

   The U.S. Senate admitted in Senate Report 93-549, in 1973, that the Emergency Powers given to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Have been utilized as the pretense of the 'National Emergency of 1933' remaining in force. And this in order that the normal function of the Federal government is suspended. After the passage of that tyrannical monstrosity in 1933, we then see the first federal 'gun control law'  being enacted in 1934. Followed by the equally unconstitutional acts of: Federal Firearms Act of 1938, Gun Control Act of 1968, Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1986, Crime Control Act of 1990, and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1994. Our constitution has been overthrown for almost one hundred years. And the supposed guardians of our rights; the courts. Have combined with the executive and legislative branches in allowing the perversion to continue. Making the courts equally guilty of the crime of treason.