Evening star., 1912-06-06
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.
IV-THE FIRST CONVENTIONS.
Bv Frederic J. Haskin.

eaucuses held at night AS result of
these caucuses, in which counsel was
taken of ways and means to encompass
the defeat of Jackson, it was decided to
nominate Henry Clay for President. The
nomination was actually made in open
convention; not by voting by states, but
by polling the delegates per capita, each
saying: Il nominate Henry Clay for
office of President of the United States.
This was intended, as was frankly con-
fessed, to have a great moral effect upon
the country. and to unite all the anti
jackson men under the banner of Clay.
1t was deemed unwise at the time for
the convention to take any further
action, but it recommended that ma
tional convention of young men be held
later.
The young mems convention met in
Washington on May II. 1t was the only
national convention ever held in the cap
ital city. and it also has the distinction
Of being the first national convention to
issue series of resolutions called a
platform"
The democrats had universally accept
ed Gen. Jackson as their candidate for
re cleo
Convention Called tion. He
to Name Vice President. nominal.
ed by many state legislatures, and 1t
was not necessary to hold national con-
vention to ratify formally what the peo-
pie had already done. But Jackson himself
desired to make Martin Van Buren Vice
President, and in this he was opposed
by great many of his own partisans.
Therefore he decided to follow the ex-
ON r1o of ofbo fu0 rfip1 and call
a national convention. Ostensibly the
call came from a meeting in New Hamp-
shire. 1t was formally entitled "A con-
vention of republican delegates from the
several states in the Union for the pur-
pose of nominating a candidate for Vice
President of the United States" It is
noteworthy that at this time the Jackson
men in formal action always called them
selves republicans: that In the news
papers they were called jackson repuo-
icans," and that in the language of the
street, as is proved by the reporters &C
counts of political meetings, they already
were usually known as democrats"
This first democratic national conven-
ton met in Baltimore May 81 1882. Aft
er the invitation of Charles Carroll OF
Carrollton was extended the first action
taken was to admit delegates from the
District of Columbia, although the people
of the District had no vote for President.
HcH the SOHScHllOH pIoCCCuCo ~ "a
ganize on lines which have since been
followed by all national conventions with
one or two exceptions.
The committee on organization reported
two rules. One provided for the an
noun e.
Two-Thirds Plan ment of
One of Two First Rules. each @ state
by a delegate designated by the other
delegates from that state The other was
the famous 'two-thirds'' rule. which
ever since has persisted in democratic
and upon which may hinge
the result of the convention to be held
in Baltimore this month. That rule
read: Resolved. That the delegates
from each state in this convention be
entitled to as many votes in selecting a
suitable person for the Office of Vice
President as such state will be entitled
to in the electoral college for the choice
Of this officer equally to the apportion
ment bill recently passed by the Congress
Of the United States. and that two-thirds
Of the whole number of votes given be
required for a nomination and on all
questions connected herewith
some ueleSdIeS why tWO-
thirds" instead of a majority" was de-
manded. William r. King of Alabama,
who reported the resolution, said that the
only reason was that a nomination by
two-thirds would carry more moral
weight with the people. Upon this SIM
the resolution. and. on the first ballot,
Van Buren was nominated by 2OS votes
as against 40 for Philip p Barbour of
Virginia and 26 for Richard M. Johnson
T1Nfc <In syv
ginning of the two-thirds rule, which was
to be the undoing of Martin Van Buren,
the man for whose benefit it was origf-
mated.
That party feeling was running high at
that time is proved by the fact that the
Baltimore Re-
Party Feeling publican and
Was Running High. Advertiser A e, rs '''a, a
Jackson paper, said of the democratic
conventions:
"It is truly animating to the advocates
of correct principles to witness the ex-
tent of the convention now In cession
(sic) in our city, And then, in the next
paragraph, in commenting on what an
anti-Jackson paper said about the con-
vention, the same editor said: THE
Chronicle has sunk itself SO low in the
slough of abuse and vulgarity that 1t no
longer deserves the notice Of any honest
man. Let it wallow in its own filth
Perhaps the most significant thing that
the first democratic convention did was
to appoint a committee of correspond
ence," which contained the germ of the
present national committee. 1t Is inter-
aSfipp IN note that the first name on the
list of delegates to this first democratic
fret Of