The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-15

PEOPLE,

/
! congressional Caucus" method IL
1874, though there was only one party
! there were six candidates-John Quiz
! cy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry
! Gay William A. Crawford, John q
! Calhoun and De Witt Clinton. All oe
these were nominated by their homo
J Legislatures, and Crawford, whose
| very name has now been almost for
| gotten, was Endorsed by the Cor
| gressional Caucus" but John OuincI,
Adams was the winner at the polls. In
1873 Andrew Jackson was nominated
nrst by the Tennessee Legislature and
| later by the Legislature of Kentuclrv
while John Quincy Adams was mad,
the opposing candidate by common
consent" and the Endorsement of va
| rlous bodies, none of which were ma
tional in character.
The Anti-MasOnic Party.
Strictly speaking the first National
political convention was held in 1890 bv
the Anti Masonic party. Delegates
from only ten states attended, how
ever, but in 1881 the party held a
second convention and nominated Will
| liam Writ. In the same year the Ma
| tional Republicans, afterward known
| as Wings, held a National convention
| and named Henry Clay. The first
| really efficient and well-organized ma
tional nominating convention was held
by the Democrats in 1882, and it nonni-
mated Andrew Jackson for his second
term.
1t adopted the two-thirds rule. which
has been followed by the Democrats
party in it's conventions ever since.
Though this rule has never been
adopted by the Republicans, the essen
tfal plan of the Democratic National
convention of 1882 worked so well that
it has been followed by all the Nation
a AA15 civ Il,
First Republican Convention.
The first National Convention of the
Republican party, as we know it to-
day. was held in 1856, two years less
than half a century ago. There was no
great contest over the nominee, John
c. Fremont being named on the first
ballot and receiving 359 votes to 1876 for
his chief and now forgotten contestant,
Justice Mclean. 1t was in that con-
Vention that the name of Lincoln was
first heard in the East; it was men
presidency were in order, and it elic-
tied the famous inquiry, Lincoln
Lincoln? Who is hep"
1t is believed by many readers, no
doubt, that the National Republican
Convention this year will be unlike
most of its predecessors, because its
work may be predicted with something
approaching certainty, but this is not
the case. There was a, spirited contest
in 1860, though Lincoln won on the
third ballot; but there was no real
contest in 1856 In 1864 the name of
Lincoln was the only one thought Of
seriously for a moment by the Repub-
licans, and in 1868 Grants nomination
was as much of a foregone conclusion
as Roosevelt's can possibly be now. In
1872 the convention was merely a for
1oli cnpf e int, iroer
for Grant was again the unquestioned
choice of his party, as he afterward
proved to be of the people.
The Great Blaine Convention.
In 1876 and 1880, however, the Repub-
lican National conventions were scenes
of real struggle. Blaine was the lead
ing candidate in 1876, and Robert G.
Ingersoll, till then unknown, named
him in the "Plumed Knight" speech
which made the orator famous in a
day, but failed of making Blaine the
nominee, because. i being late in the
afternoon and the lighting apparatus
of the hall out of order, the convention
had to adjourn till the next day. Then,
on the seventh ballot, Hayes was nom
mated and Blaine suffered his first
great defeat
The convention of 1880 was undoubt-
edly the most exciting and the most
bitterly contested in the history of the
Republican party. 1t was in that con-
vention that the famous 1905" voted
solidly and steadily for Grant through
thirty-six ballots, Garfield winning on
the thirty-seventh.
In 1884, when Blaine was finally NOM
mated, and when Theodore Roosevelt
made his first appearance at ma
tional convention, the work of the con-
vention was far from being cut and
IVin1 Lott A-fIa nd
gan and Sherman all being candidates,
but only four ballots were needed, and
there was only one really exciting day.
There were stiff contests, too, in the
conventions of 1888 and 1892, both Of
which bodies named Benjamin Harri-
son, but no one doubted who would be
the candidate either in 1896 or 1900.
Bitter Contest in 1852.
The first long and bitter contest in
a national convention came in the
nominating gathering of the Demo-
Gratis in 1852, when it took forty-nine
ballots to place Frankie Pierce in
nomination. That same year the Wings
had dreadful time in their convention,
fifty-three ballots and five days be-
ing consumed in putting Gen. Win
field Scott'S name on the presidential
ticket In 1856, when the newly born
Republican party held it's first ma
llOildA COtlNSIltOl lllOSl pCcAGdOlyF NAAS
Democrats had another red-hot gath
ering, requiring fifteen ballots for the
nomination of Buchanan.
But the banner year for turbulent
national nominating conventions was
1860. The Republicans held their con-
vention at Chicago and got along with
only three ballots. Lincoln'S oppo-
nents, however, held five separate con-
ventions, one in Charleston, one in
Richmond and three in Baltimore.
Fifty-seven ballots were taken at
Charleston without result, and on the
tenth day the gathering adjourned to
meet later at Richmond, and still later
at Baltimore.
Since 1860 the bitterest Democratic
Convention was the one that nominal
ted Bryan in 1896, but of that con-
Vention, like the one four years
candidate, it is too late to write news
and too early to write history"