Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-04

CiO systematic anu orueliS 10 'iS -
~ chinery by which the political parties
~ in the United States select their can
didates for president and vice president
and so binding is the decision Vi %
party conventions upon the electors clios-
en- hy the people that the whole party
fabric has the weight of law, ana ls'
| indeed. mart of the fundamental lex non
| scripta of the nation. Because ol tlis
binding force one is apt TO forget Una,
| the great party convention was srauut,i
growth in the polity of the country a.
| though its practical nullincation oi lno
constitutional idea of electing presidents
is complete.
George Washington, the first president,
| was the candidate of all tacuohs anu
| parties and by common consent the elec-
| tors chosen by the legislatures OF inc
| thirteen states cast their ballots tor MN
| Until 1904 each elector cast ms vote lor
| two candidates for president, the one re-
| ceivinr n majority of the votes cast to be
president, and the one receiving the next
| highest to be vice president This early
provision OF the constitution was mace
| impra racticable by the organization OF par
| ties, for in the fourth presidential cleo
ton the Republican-D candl-
dates received the solid vote or the elec-
tors Of that party. and there was tle
between Thomas Jefferson ana Aaron
Burr,
From that time forward there was
always a party selection of candidates.
either by caucus Of the members OF con-
gress or BY formal nomination by the
legislatures of states, There was no
party organization, however. for many
years, and for several decades the con-
gressional caucus held sway king eau
ohnsNI and forced to
abdicate by the state legislatures. The
plan was too unwieldy, and the national
convention was born.
The first national political convention
was held by the old Federalist party in
the very hour of its dying, two years
before the Hartford convention, which
threatened the secession of the New Eng
land states. In 1872 the Republicans OF
the New York legislature had put for
ward the name of Dewitt Clinton in op~
position to James Madison, who had the
solid Republican support of most OF the
states. The Fedcralists called conven-
tion. and in September seventy delegates
from eleven states met in New York
After a stormy session it was decided to
indorse Clinton, although he was not
Federalist Clinton was named for presi-
dent and Jared Ingersoll for vice presi-
dent. 1t was in apology for this method
of nominating that the movement against
the caucus begun. The congressional
caucuses had named the first candidates
in 1900, the Federalist caucus openly Sc
lecting> Adams and Pinckney, and the Re-
publicans secretly agreeing on JEFFERSON
and Burr. Clinton was defeated by Madi-
son by 12S to SO votes in the electoral col
lege.
The convention idea did not become
popular at once. The Federalist party
died In 1920 all but. one of the votes
were cast for James Monroe, New
Hampshire elector voting for John Quincy
Adams to keep Monroe from sharing with
Washington the honor of unanimous
election. In 1924 there was but one party,
the Republican, soon to change its name
to Democratic. An attempt was made to
give William H. Crawford the caucus
nomination, but it was unsuccessful, ana
the race was run by four men on purely
personal issues-Andrew Jackson. Henry
Clay. John Quincy Adams and William IL.
Crawford. Jackson received the highest
number of votes, but he lacked ma
jority, and the house of representatives
elected Adams president
When the next election came on there
were again two parties. The Republican
party of Jefferson had adopted the name
Democrat and the opposition had rallied
under the name of National Republican,
which soon gave way to the shorter and
more convenient "Whig." There were no
nominations except by the legislatures,
but all the Democrats were for jackson
and all the National Republicans for
Adams. Jackson was elected.
Under the administration of "Old
Hickory" political parties, as we know
them, had their birth. ITO the victors
belong the spoils," was Jackson's belief,
and he put none but Democrats in office.
"The cohesive power of public plunder'
was a phrase coined to describe the es-
sence of organization of parties. plum
DER is used in Pickwickian sense, gen.
orally for while fat public offices are
very attractive, they sometimes require
much work of the incumbent and there is
little logic in the cry of the "outs" that
a man drawing a public salary as pub
lie officer is necessarily "plundering" the
treasury.
At any rate Jackson brought into be-
ing the principles of party unity and
held out the promise of public reward
for party service. In 1881 the anti-Ma-
sonic party met in the first regular
nominating convention of regularly chosen
delegates. 1t named William Writ for
carried one state-Vermont. The Ma
tional Republican, or Whig, convention
met in December, 1881, and nominated
Jackson and Van Buren,. At this con-
vention the two-thirds rule was adopted,
which has ever since prevailed in Demo
cratic conventions. Thus it Is that
Democratic aspirant for a presidential
nomination must have two-thirds of the
votes in the convention, while in other
parties mere majority is sufficient.
All three of these conventions were
held in Baltimore Which prior to the
Civil war was the meeting place of nearly
all national conventions. Since 1882 the
Democrats have held a national conven-
ton each four years without interrupt
tion,, the party machinery being kept in
tact. The first national committee was
organized in 1S4S, and it's existence has
also been continuous despite the serious
split of 1860 the Generalization of the