The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-06-22

II0SAU0ub Ol the COQV00LlOn, W01Cl contained
$50 delegates, entitled to 226 votes. The first
motion made was intended by the opponents of
Van Buren, to shut him out from the nomina-
ton. 1t was to adopt the rule requiring two
thirds OF the votes cast to make choice
There was long and bitter contest over this
motion. but it was finally carried Then the
convention, amidst hubbub of agitation, pro-
ceeced to ballot. On the first ballot Mr.. Van
Buren, polled LAG, majority of all the votes
cast, but not tWo-thirds. On the second he
fell to plurality on the third he dropped
still lower on the fifth Cass passed him, and
received plurality on the seventh Cass had
majority, but not two-thirds. The conven-
ton now adjourned to the next day. During
the night Calhoun effected stratagem which
was to take all the existing candidates out of
the field. Van Buren's friends, enraged at his
defrat and resolved to kill Cass at all hazards,
agreed with the Tennessee delegates who were
prompted by Calhoun, to support James K
Polk after the next ballot. When the conven-
ton met and ballot was taken, the vote
stood. for Van Buren,. 104 for Cass, ia for
Polk, A and on the next ballot the whole Van
Buren, and a large portion of the Cass party
went over to Polk, nominating him by a vote
of 232, to 20 for Cass, for Van Buren,, for
Calhoua, and for Marcus Morton. The con-
vention then nominated Silas Wright for Vice
president; but he declined, and George NJ.
Dallas replaced him ON the ticket. platform
of principles, much like the former, was
adopted.
The Wings met in convention at Baltimore,
and now once more the friends of Clay had it
all their own way. The great Kentuckian was
nominated by reclamation. A. short struggle
ensued on the nomination for Vice-president.
The candidates were Willard Fillmore, John
Davis, of Massachusetts, and Theodore FIRE.
hnghuysen, the latter finally succeeding. But
Clay, to his intense disappointment and the
despair of his devoted supporters, lost the
State of New York by an imprudent letter, and
Polk became President after an excitingAcon-
test.
The war with Mexico ensued, and provided
number of military as well as civil candidates
for the parties il 1848. Most prominent
among these were Gen. Winfield Scott and
Gen. Zachary Taylor, the one an old Wing, the
other innocent of politics"
The Wing convention, called the slaughter
house convention" from the deadly havoc it
made with great Whig names, met at Philadel-
phia in June, 1848. Once more, and now for
the last time the friends OF Henry Clay made
desperate struggle in his behalf. Webster,
too was avowedly in the field, and, as in 1910,
the rivalry of these giants was destined to
prove the political ruin of both. The military
candidates, Taylor and Scott were both de-
nounced as unfit for the Presidency; and fifth
aspirant appeared in the person of Judge Nc
Lean, of Ohio. But the conflict between Web
ster and Clay was exceedingly factious and bit
ter. The friends Of the former said that Clay
had twice had his chance and that long debt
was now due to the Expounder Of the Uonsti-
tuition" Clay's friends insisted that he should
be the standard-bearer of the Wings just once
| more. Such was the state of feeling when the
first ballot was taken. It resulted thus: Gen.
Taylor, Ill; Henry Clay, 81; Daniel Webster,
81; Gen. Scott, 46; Judge Mclean, 2.
| second ballot being equally Intellectual. the
convention adjourned. The next morning
| ballot was again taken, with similar results.
A second ballot showed these figures: Gen.
Taylor, III; Mr.. Clay, 80; Gen. Scott, So; Mr..
| Webster, IL. The hero of Buena Vista was
| thus nominated, to the intense chagrin both of
| Clay and Webster, the latter OF whom declared,
| in petulant moment, that it was g a nomina-
ton not fit to be made" Willard Fillmore was
nominated for president by one OF those
sudden, happily conceived speeches which have
not seldom captured conventions, his name
being presented by John A. Collier, of New
| York.
The other two conventions Of that year pre-
| sent little interest. A Free soil convention
held at Utica, late in June, put eX-President
Martin Van Buren, and Charles Francis Adams
| in the field. The Democratic convention had
been held at Baltimore in January, with ex-
| Speaker Andrew Stevenson as President The
| two-thirds rule was again adopted. The quar-
rel of Van Buren, and the 'Softs, " with Dick
inson and the - Hards," in New York, resulted
| in the nomination of Lewis Cass for President
on the fourth ballot, he receiving 179 votes,
against 80 for Levi Woodbury., SO for James
Buchanan, and for Gen. Worth. Gen. Will
liam O. Butler was named for Vice-preeident
and platform was adopted. The detection Of
the Van Buren, Free-solers defeated Cass, and
Taylor and Fillmore were chosen.
Both the conventions of 1862 were remark
able bodies, the fields of sharp and uncertain
contests between eminent aspirants, the re-
suits of both of which were surprises to the
country. Both were held in the month Of
Io0Aa Of DALI mo
Gratis came together first rallying nearly three
hundred delegates. Four men of tirst-class
ability, and each with strong following, were
ranged as rival candidates. These were Gen.
Cass, whose friends claimed for him renomi-
nation James Buchanan, who had now become
a perpetual candidate Stephen A. Douglas,
then rising to be the Democratic leader in the
Senate and William L. Marcy who had been
Folks Secretaryeof War. No less than forty
nine ballots were taken. On the first Cass had
1T; Buchanan, SO; Douglas, 90 and Marcv,
| o. Cass rose for while and then fell, and
after several days of balloting, Virginia sud-
denly cast her vote for Franklin Pierce, who
was thereupon nominated in fit OF abrupt en-
thusiasm. The struggle in the Wing eonven-
ton was even more prolonged. Senator Evans,
Of Maine, presided over it. The contest lay
between Fillmore, Scott, and Webster. On the
first ballot Fillmore had 1872 Scott, 131 Web
ster, 20. Fifty-three attempts were then made,
and the fifty-third= ballot resulted in the nomi-
nation of Winfield SCOTT by the following vote:
Scott, 159; Fillmore, 112; Webster, q. This
was the death-blow of Daniel Webster, who
did not survive it till the end of the year. The
Free-soilers nominated John P. Hale and
George W. Julian. The Know-Nothings, then
just organizing put Jacob Brown in the field
an abolition" convention named William
Goodell and Southern Rights" conven-
ton paid similar compliment to George NJ
| Troupe, of Georgia. Thus there were six
tickets in the field but Pierce carried the
Union like whirlwind, completely routing
Scott, who only secured the votes of the four
States of Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky
and Tennessee Since Monroes time there had
not been so complete party victory.
The campaign of 1856 was especially notable
as that in which the Republican party, rising
on the ruins of the Wings. contested the Presi-
dency as anational organization comparatively