Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-08
Methods of Nomination Have Not Al
ways Been the Same.
CAUCUSES And CABALS At FIRST
National Conventions in Vogue
Only Since 1924
WHERE THEY'VE BEEN HELD

Already the socialist labor party has a
presidential ticket in the field, and the two
great parties and the populists have fixed
the times and places for holding their ma
tionl conventions. The placing in nomi-
nation of candidates for President and Vice
President of the United States by national
body composed of representatives of the
people affiliating with a political party Is
by no means new institution, yet for quite
considerable period of this country's ex-
istence candidates for the high Office were
brought out in an entirely different man
ner.
The first overt nominating convention
held in the United States for the choice of
a President was in 1924, when the legisla-
ture of Tennessee. of which state Andrew
jackson, one of the defeated candidates,
was resident, put him in nomination for
the ensuing presidential race irrespective
OF any congressional caucus or cabal. Orig
lnally, until the Constitution was amended,
the President and Vice President were yot-
ed for on the same ballot, the candidate
receiving the highest vote being chosen
President, and the candidate receiving the
next highest vote being chosen Vice Presi-
dent.
No National Conventions Mt First
When the Constitution was amended in
1884 the electors voted for President and
Vice President separately, and it was not
until 1928 that presidential electors in all
the states, with the single exception of
ooutn carolina. We're chosen by popular
votes in their respective states. From the
beginning and for many years there were
no national nominating conventions, and
prior to 1900 it was the custom for the
legislatures OF the several states to choose
the requisite number of electors, who voted
LOT such candidates as they favored, the
nominee receiving the highest number of
votes becoming President and the man re-
celVlns the next highest becoming Vice
President.
The legislatures of the several states have
under the Constitution, the same right to
choose presidential electors without refer
ence to the vote of the citizens if such a
method of election is lawfully prescribed
by the legislature and as late 1876 Colo
RADIO legislators chose the three electors to
represent that state, without any popular
vote, IN the electoral college, and it was the
three votes of Colorado which turned the
scale from one party to another in that
year.
In 1900 there was established what is
known as the presidential caucus, a gath
eflhS OF the members of Congress OF the
Two great parties for the designation of a
satisfactory and-eligible candidate for the
presidency by each party. This plan Of Sc
tectlnS the candidate by congressional eau
Gus continued in force until 1924 when the
complications and t-unc@raa.-ss1sey arising
from such primitive and unsatisfactory
method eliminated in a failure of rtfre alec
toral college to make choice among four
candidates and the matter was thrown into
the House of Representatives
Inc frst convention held in Tennessee in
ioLt' referred to In the beginning can hard
ly be said to have been national in its char
acter, as 1t was limited to the official repre-
sentat1ves of one state, and the opponents
OF Andrew Jackson, who supported John
Quincy Adams of Massachusetts,, held no
such convention, but agreed upon their cam
dldate In the old way.
First Held In Baltimore.
In the city of Baltimore, in September.
1851 more than one year before the en-
suing presidential election, a veritable ma
tional convention was held by what was
then known as the anti-Masonic party. and
there were delegates in attendance from
each state of the Union as then constituted
put not CHOSEN on the basis of its electoral
strength as is the case now. A President
and Vice President We're nominated ard a
platform OF principles adopted particularly
directed against the evils then said to be
incident TO the existence of secret societies
In May, 1852, six months in advance of
the presidential election of that wear: the
first national democratic convention was
held in Baltimore, and it was at this con-
vention that the two-thirds rule, making
the nomination of a candidate of the demo-
cratic party for the presidency dependent
upon the support of two-thirds of the dele
gates was adopted, and it has been the
rule of the democratic party ever since
There We're 313 delegates present at this
convention and the only disputed contest
was over the vice presidency
The necessity of some uniformity Of ac-
ton, as viewed at this distance from the
date of the convention, seems to be clear
for there were twenty aspirants in the field
Tor the presidency in that year, four only
having what now would be called regular
nominations The opponents of Gen Will
liam Henry Harrison, the democratic nom
inee, held their convention in Washington
and put up Henry Clay. Seventeen states
were represented at that convention though
there were twenty-four states in the Union
at that time.
Following the election of 1882, the system
OF nominating conventions came to be an
established one by both political parties
The democrats in 1886 assembled in Balti-
more and the wings in Harrisburg In 1910
the democrats again met in Baltimore the
wings for second time in Harrisburg and
the abolitionistS held their first convention
in Warsaw, N. Y.
Democratic Split in 1850.
The popularity of Baltimore as meeting
place for democrats caused 1t to be -knoWn
among politicians of a genera ton ago as
the convention city," but in later years it
was neglected by both parties, the demo-
Gratis especially regarding it as omnous to
the chances of a candidate. The overt break
between the northern and southern wings
of the democratic party occurred at the
Baltimore convention of June, 1860 and cul-
minated In TWO rival presidential tickets
the Douglas ticket, nominated in Balti-
more. and the Breckenridge ticket, nomi-
mated in Charleston.
Twelve years later, In 1872 the democrats
held their national convention in Baltimore
and ratified the choice of Horace Greeley
for the presidency, a selection which proved
disastrous one to the party later on In
1874 both the democratic and whiS conyen-
tons were held in Baltimore. In 1913 the
democrats met in Baltimore, and the wings
in Philadelphia. In 1852 both the demo
cratic and wing conventions were held in
Baltimore. In 1856 the democrats met in
Cincinnati. the republicans in Philadelphia-
their first national convention-and the
wings dheir last national convention) in
Baltimore. The native-American or know
nothing party held a convention in Ph:la-
delphia in February and nominated a ticket.
Chicago's Long Popularity.
In 1860 the first change toward the west
as the disputed battle ground between the
two parties was made, and the republicans
held their convention in May that year in
Chicago. Here Abraham Lincoln was nom
mated and the long list of republican Pres
idents began. From then until and with the
exception of the present year Chicago has
been in demand by one or both of the great