The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1907-12-19
INTERESTING REPUBLICAN, HISTORY.


The Fourteenth Republican Ma
tional Convention will be held liz
Chicago next summer.
The first Convention was held ir
Philadelphia fifty-one years ago.
The delegates were not chosen
then on the basis Of representation
which now prevails. For instance
In the convention of 1856 New York
had SO delegates, Pennsylvania 81,
Ohio 10. In the convention nexi
year New York will have only 7s
delegates, Pennsylvania SO, Ohio 46
In the first national convention OF
the Republican party all Of the dis
tinctively Northern States were rep
resented, and, In addition, Dela-
ware, Maryland, Virginia aud Ken.
lucky. In the party's fourteenth
annual convention, which will BE-
held next June, every State and Ter.
ritory will be represented.
In 1856 the popular vote for the
Republican candidate for president,
John @. Fremont, Of California, was
1,341, 264. In 1904 Mr.. Roosevelt
received 7,623,4s6. The State of
New York has more votes now OF
all parties than the entire Republi-
can vote of fifty years ago.
The first national convention of
the Republican party declared in its
platform that "the maintenance of
the principles promulgated In the
Declaration Of Independence and
embodied in the federal constitution
is essential to the preservation of
our Republican Institutions" It
rebuked the Democratic party for the
latter's attitude toward Cuba, and
asserted that "the highwayman's
plea might make right, employed in
the Ostend Circular, would bring
shame and disgrace upon any gov
eminent of people that gave it their
Since these declarations
were made, the United States, under
administration, has ac-
quired the Philippines and Porto
the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the denunciation of
the highwayman's plea" no longer
figured in Republican platforms.
In the first national convention of
the Republican party there were two
for the presidential nomi-
nstion-John @. Fremont, Of Cali
fornia, and John Mclean, of Ohio.
Mclean was the preference of the
old-time Wings who had identified
themselves with the Republican
party. He was tainted with "Know-
Nothingism," however, and that
was the prime cause of his defeat.
When the party held its second
in Chicago, in 1850, the
of William II. Seward,
of New York, seemed a foregone
but the honor was be-
slowed on Abraham Lincoln in 1854
by the Baltimore convention. Gen.
y. 8. Grant was nominated practi-
cally, without dissenting voice, at
the Chicago convention of 1868, and
unanimously at the
convention in 1872. In
the convention of 1875, at Cincin-
natl, James g. Blaine led all other
for the nomination for
six ballots, but was defeated on the
seventh by Rutherford B. Hayes.
On the first ballot Mr.. Blaine had
285 votes, which were increased to
351 on the seventh. Gen. Hayes
had only 81 votes on the first ballot
and 113 on the sixth. On the sew
enth ballot he received 3S4 votes, or
six more than were necessary to a
choice. It was Blaine against the
field-and the field was stronger
than Names "magnetic statesman"
In the convention Of 1880, at
Chicago, the "Old Guard" made a
desperate effort to nominate Gen.
Grant for a third term. The Gen.
eral led all candidates for thirty-five
ballots. The unit rule received its
death blow in this convention, and
on the thirty-sixth ballot James A.
Garfield was nominated. Blaine was
again a candidate, and received al
mort as many votes up to the 35th
ballot as Gen. Grant. Then the
ssdark horse" carried off the prize.
In 1884, at Chicago, Mr.. Blaine real
lied his ambition and was nominated
for the presidency, but beaten at the
polls by his Democratic opponent,
Grover Cleveland. The convention
of 1888 lasted six days. John Sher-
man, of Ohio, led for seven ballots.
On the eighth he was beaten by
Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. At
Minneapolis, in 1892, President
Harrison was renominated on the
first ballot, but was beaten at the
polls by Mr.. Cleveland. William
Mckinley was nominated on the
first ballot at st. Louis in 1896. and
renominated unanimously at Phila-
delphia in 1900. In 1904 at Chicago
President Theodore Roosevelt was