El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-06-05
wv AsHINGTON. D. c., June o.
. in the two big national con-
vauffor- hold e. 900 ,-,

,
the Democratic party and the Whig
party took an action that utterly de-
stroyed the Wings. that brought defeat
and disaster to the Democracy, and
that made possible the formation Of
the Republican party that has almost
( without interruption, for half a CEN
fury dominated the affairs Of this re-
! public
In 1S4S the slavery question had be-
come acute because of the crisis pre-
I cipitated by the offering in congress
! OF the WllmOt prOviso, an amendment
/ proposed TO the bill to apprOpriate
/ money to close negotiations with Mex
leo concerning the war. and to acquire
[ certain Mexican territory. The prOYfso
/ was that slavery should not be per-
Z mltted in any state or territory to be
( erected out Of the territory to be ac-
I quired from Mexico The Democrats
Z were, at that time, a southern party
J led by northern men; the Wings were
! northern party led by southern men
! Neither party dared take a stand upon
! the WilmOt prOvisO, much less upon the
| main issue Of the extension of slavery.
I As yet, only the comparatively insig-
/ nlIlcant AboluOniSt party, and the
/ even weaker Liberty league had de-
/ clared for emancipation.
SIekIes Only Survivor.
Nal Gen. Daniel L. Sickles. Of New
/ York, is the only survivor Of that mo-
/ mentous and epoch making political
Z
I ventiOn met in Baltimore on Nay D.
/ The race for nomination was between
! Lewis Cass, Of Michigan, and James
/ Buchanan, Of Pennsylvania. President
/ Polk was not candidate for reeIec-
/ ton Immediately after his nomina-
/ ton in 1874 he had issued a letter in
1 which he said that If elected, he would
/ under no .circumsta noes be a candidate
! for another term. When the cOnven-
ton met in 1913, hi sent a letter to the
delegates in which he said that under
no circumstances would he alter this
determination Cass was nominated on
| the fourth ballot without great diff
Guilty, but not until after three DAYS
had been spent in organizing the con-
VenuOn- The great fight came upon
the contest between two rival delega-
tons from New York
Gen. Sickles, then only % years old.
already a member Of the legislature,
was leader and one Of the principal
orators for the "Hunkers," as the con-
servative Democrats Of New York
/. were called His career afterward in
congress, before the war; the tragedy
Of lafayette Square, his gallantry in
battlei the loss OF his leg at Gettys-
burg; his distinguished service in the
diplomatic corps; his return to con-
gress in 1892 and his long retirement
IN New York where he still lives are
matters generally known. But even
those to whom his later activities are
familiar, are surprised to learn how
long ago he was a prominent figure
in national politics.
The "Hunkers' were the cOnserva-
tlves who believed in letting the
slavery question alone "Hunker" is
New York Dutch-English for banker
which is akin to hunger" and the
name was applied to those Democrats
who were accused of an avid appetite
for office The "Barnburners" were
the more liberal Democrats who gem
orally believed in the WilmOt prOVisO,
and who were in reality anti-slavery
because of the alleged similarity OF
their doctrines to the economy OF the
Dutch farmer who burned his barn 10
get rid OF the rats. Barnburners and
Hunkers came down 10 Baltimore.
each faction determined to die in the
last ditch and never to surrender. Be
hind the Barnburners was the awful
shadow of Martin Van Buren, who had
been the head Of the greatest political
machine the Democratic party had pos
sessed- Southern delegates had defeat
ed him IN the convention four years
ago by the imposition Of the tWO-thirds
rule, and now Van Buren, was to have
his revenge. The Hunkers had as their
great strength, the fact that they
sympathized with the determination
Of the majority Of the convention to
maintain the hanos-off policy with re-
spect to slavery.
But the convention would not under
take to decide the New York question. I
The committee on credentials reported I
Tor The seating OF delegations giving I
each delegate one-half a vote This |
the convention adopted over the pro-
test Of both sets OF contestants The /
Barnburners withdrew from the con- |
vention hall, and while the Hunkers /
remained in the room they refused to /
answer when the name of New York 4
was called, and took no part in the ]
proceedings. 1t was only after Cass i
mad been nominated for president and i
William o. Butler for vice president, /
that young Dan Sickles jumped to his 4
Ieet to promise the vote Of New York 4
FOR the nominees. making an 1mpas-
stoned speech which brought the at
tentiOn Of the whole country to him.
Barnburners Name Van BUren.
But the Barnburners went home ]
sore They were resolved that CaSs,
who had first favored the WilmOr pro-
viso but who later had opposed it. !
should not be elected. A Barnburner
convention was held a month later,
on June p, az Utica, New York,
which nominated Martin Van Buren,
for president and Henry Dodge, of Wis
cOnsin, for vice president Gen Dodge
declined the nomination only four
states were represented in this con-
YentiOn. A later convention was called !
which many more states were repre-
scented, and this convention, adopting !
the name of Free Soil Democrats"
nominated Van Buren, for president, |
president. 1t was the large vote
polled BY Van Buren, as the Free Soil I
candidate, especially in New York, that /
determined the result of the election
and enabled Gen. Taylor to defeat I
Cass. Thus was the result OF a presi-
Dental election determined by the ma
tfonaI conventions inability to settle
a quarrel between cOntesting state1l
delegations.
The Democratic convention of 1915 /
also was notable because of the fact l
that it appointed the first national
committee This first committee was
organized exactly as are the national
committees Of today, one member from
each state being selected by the dele
gates from that state to the conven-
tiOn.
The Wing Convention.
The Wing convention met in Phfla.
delphia on June Z. Two days were
spent in perfecting the organization I
one of the principal questions being
whether or not to give the Louisiana
the right to cast the vote OF
Texas Again the Wings were deter
mined to nominate war hero. even
against such leaders as Clay and Web
ster. The four principal candidates
before the convention were Zachary
Taylor. Henry Clay, Winfield Scott and
Daniel Webster. In his campaign for