The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-02
III.-EARLY LOCAL AND STATE
PARTY ORGANIZATION.
BY JESSE MACY. Ii. d.

Just as the government of the Tn
States is the outgrowth of the two AZ
dependent and sometimes conflicting
IDEAS of locahsm and Capitalization, so
Is American party machinery a devel-
opment from two independent sources
and along two corresponding indie
pendent lines. The history of national
nominations has been traced in pre-
vlous chapters, TIL the uncertain and
irregular party methods Of early years
nave been seen to give way to the
great federal nominating body, with its
self-perpetuating organization. But
there il also the intricate local and
state party apparatus correlated to
the FEDERAL party machinery and es-
sentlai to its harmonious working.
1hls latter is Of far older origin. far
more diverse in form. and has a more
varied and obscure history.
Nominations In the Colonies,
The local organizations for formuIat-
ing and expressing political opinion
Wi4lch existed in the colonies before the
adoption of the national constitution
mad come down from the early DAVIS of
popular government in England-with
such modification and admiration as
our practical forefathers were accus-
TONED TO make in their familiar insti-
tutlons under changed conditions. Two
methods Of placing candidates for office
DeIore the voters had been familiar to
the hrst English colonists in their an
ceStraI nome. They had been accus-
toned to see aspirants for public posi-
ions stand forth before assemblies of
voters and discourse upon their own
quanncatloI9 for the office sought, and
they had also seen candidates an
nounced by coteries Of the local land
owners receive the suffrages Of the lin
lteQ number Of voters. So in the col
ONES candidates. were frequently self
announced. especially in the south.
Where, as we'll as in the southwestern
states, that method largely prevailed
down TO the civil war. But in the
northern colonies it was more common
Tor cllqueS Of the leading men in a
community to agree together in private
conference respecting those for whom
the people should be asked to vote in
an approaching election. This sort of
influence controlled the New ENGLAND
town meeting to a great extent, and the
parlor caucuses," as they came later
10 De called, were a really worthy and
acceptable political agent They fairly
represented the limited number of legal
voters, and they led in general to the
choice of suitable persons for office.
Some sort Of official nomination also
grew up in certain colonies by which
men designated for the purpose in each
county chose candidates, while in Con-
necticut a. complex system arose by
which the freemen of the colony were
accustomed TO vote for their governor
M ri -FF. %,
dates nonlinGC ted by deputies of each
town and the central court of cleo
ton, and votes could be cast for those
only who had been previously nOmin-
ated There seems 10 have been an i'm
percepuble change, at least in northern
colonies, by which nomination by pri-
vate conference of leading citizens and
men of substance became nomination
by members of the legislature. Per-
haps it was because these men of means
and influence had become legislators
and could act in that capacity as well
as in that of simple citizens.
Professor Howard author of Local
Constitutional History of the United
States" finds in the colonial records of
Massachusetts, evidence Of the gradual
development of nominating system,
in which are the beginnings Of both the
caucus, or primary, and the conven-
ton, running back to the year 1870
Nominations for magistrates were
made by the freemen in town meeting,
and the general court, acting as a can
vassing board returned back to the sew
eral towns the names Of those having
the largest number of votes as the ac-
cepted candidates to be voted for at the
general election. Two years later a
change in procedure required each town
10 select one or two freemen, who
should all meet and agree upon the re-
quired number ''of the most able and
fit men" to be nominated for magis-
trates; while only those so nominated
should be eligible. By this law the del
6gates chosen by the primaries met
in state convention to make the nOm-
nations.
Rise Of the Caucus.
The word caucus did not come into
use until about the year 1924, when,
historians tell US, a group of some
twenty men in the town of Boston, Of
whom the father of the patriotic orator,
Samuel Adams, was one, were accus-
toned to meet to consider practical
questions in local politics and to '1ay
their plans for introducing certain per
sons into places of trust and power"
Then, having agreed as to the persons,
each member of the group used his in
huence with others to accomplish what
they wished. And they provided s-'baI-
lots. including the names of the parties
fixed upon. which they distributed upon
the days Of election" So successful
were their methods that they gener-
ally carried the elections TO their own
mind. In like manner it was that Mr..
Samuel Adams first became a repre-
sentative for Boston" (GOrdon's His
tory of the American Revolution')
Because these meetings We're attend
ed by certain mechanics called "caulk-
ers,' from the shipbuilding yards at the
north end of Boston, they came to be
called "calkers' clubs, which was cor
rupted into caucus clubs" or eau
cuses.' Though writer's differ. this is
the derivation given by colonial au-
thors Of the word which fills so large
a place in American political history
Like many another institution IN
known to the law. the caucus has
played a far more influential part in
politics than have multitudes of gov
ernmental devices having all legal
sanctions. The caucus of pre-revOIu- !
tionary times was identical in its func-
tons with the caucus, or primary" Of |
today
Closely allied 10 the caucus clubs in !
composition and purpose were the nu-
merous patriotic societies and commit /
tees of safety which sprang up
throughout the land before and during 4
the revolution-such as the "SOns Of 4
Liberty with it's many branches. /
Wherever despotic government presses /
upon a people intelligent enough to 4
work together TO accomplish an end, |
such organizations always arise. The /
people inevitably combine TO resist Op- |
preston. To some extent the American |
societies were modelled after the French |
Jacobin societies, but they acted also /
as nominating bodies. When one of 1