Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-02-23
FIRST CONVENTION
Held in New York in 1912 and Was Re.
suit of insurgency In the Party.

suit OF insurgency In the Party.
insurgency was rampant In the
dominant party century ago. and out
of the opportunity thus presented to
the Federalists came the first national
nominating convention of an American
political party.
The men Of the north and the east
believed that Madison was coerced in
to urging on the war with England by
threats upon the part Of western and
southern Republicans to prevent his
denomination in 1912 and antagonlze
him with some popular man Of the
war party. Luckily for Madison he
had conciliated Monroe, disappointed
because he had been forced to wait In
1903. by making him secretary of state
when the war Of the Maryland Smiths
on Gallatin at length resulted In the
forcing Of Robert Smith out Of the
cabinet. After Monroe's nomination
by the Republican caucus Of congress
In May. 1912, Josiah Quincy openly
charged in congress that Madison had
bought his nomination by agreeing to
the war programme Of Clay, Calhoun
and others of the south and southwest,
but nobody has brought direct proof
Of 1t.
In June came the declaration Of war.
ard then followed long summer Of
intrigue against Madison. A Repub-
lican caucus Of the New York legisla-
ture nominated as an independent
peace" candidate for president, De-
Witt Clinton, who had resigned the
United States senatorship at "a to be-
come mayor of New York city. and had
he been elected president in 1912 he
would have been by far the youngest
man up to that time to occupy the
chair Since that time only Grant and
Roosevelt have held the office younger.
The Republicans Of New York and
New England professed to believe that
the politicians Of the south and west
were forcing war upon the country
for their own selfish purposes, with
utter indifference as to the ruin that
II must bring upon the commerce of
the north. while the Federalists shared
that belief, and ardently wished to get
out of the situation whatever partisan
advantage they might snatch. Rufus
King, the leading Federalist Of New
York, was in correspondence with lead
ers in his own and other states with
reference to the situation, and finally
an intimation came to him through q
friend up in West Chester county that
Clinton would be glad to confer with
leading Federalists. Clinton, King and
Gouverneur Morris were finally brought
together In the library Of Morris's
house at Morrissania, where Jay and
King had been having / o'clock din
ner after the manner Of the time. Clin-
got In only in time for dessert, and
Jay, who was in hurry, left the party
about o'clock, and apparently. ac-
cording to Kings letters Of this time.
did not take part in the actual oonfer-
ence. The talk went on In the library
pretty late, and Clinton outlined q pol
Icy that was In the main satisfactory
to the Federalists, though he did not
succeed In quieting the distrust Of King.
Out of this conference between the
insurgent Republican Clinton and the
Federalist leaders, and out Of cor
respondence and conferences between
the Federalists of New York and New
England and those Of the south came
the first national nominating conven-
ton, held in New York city In Septem-
ber, 1912.
Most of the historians dismiss this
convention with only few words. and
the contemporary newspapers tell lit
tie or nothing as to its composition
and doings. The meager story OF the
convention is to be found In the cor
respondence Of some who took part.
especially In that Of King and Morris,
and above all, in the Familiar Letters
of william sullivan. Of Massachusetts,.
written between 1881 and 1888, and
published in 1884. Sullivan was a
typicdi HiSh reucidiiS ouSh 90 "~AS
seldom bred outside Massachusetts,.
He took kindly to Clinton because the
latter had been reproved for his ex-
pressed dislike Of "mobocracy" by an
official government utterance Sullivan
gives his story Of the Federalist con-
vention in one Of his letters. and his
son, who published, in 1847. a revised
edition of the book under the title,
Public Men Of the Revolution gives
in a footnote to that particular letter
his recollection Of what his father told
him.
The elder Sullivan, according to his
sons account, was at Saratoga Springs
in the summer of 1912, along with q
fellow Federalist Of western Massa-
chusetts. Governor Roger Griswold Of
Connecticut, q stiff Federalist, also was