The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-13
Democratic National
 Conventions

It was with the election of Jackson Fin 1928 that the faction of the old Republican party which soon took the name of Democratic came into power, and in 1882 the first Democratic na- tional convention was held in Balti- more. Jackson and Van Buren were nominated for president and vice pres ident, respectively, at this earliest con- vention of the political organization now headed by Woodrow Wilson. The Maryland metropolis was also the scene of the second Democratic con- ventiOn, at which Martin Van Buren received the presidential nomination, and was later elected. Van Buren was nominated at the third convention, also held in Baltimore, but he failed of re- election, the Wings under William Henry Harrison winning the cam paign- It was at the 1840 convention that the Democrats adopted their first party platform, the main blanks being limitation of the powers of the Fed eral government; oposition to protec- | tive tariff; the divorce of bank and state, and the declarations that Con gress has no power to carry on a gen. eral system of internal Improvements ,nor to charter a bank.
 The Democratic convention at Bal timore in 1844, which nominated James K. Polk, was followed by a re-
 
 i Cass, of Michigan, was the presiden- tia1 choice of the Baltimore conven- tion of 1848, but he was defeated by the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor. Franklin Pierce was nominated a compromise candidate at Baltimore in 1852, and was elected.
 The first Democratic convention held elsewhere than in Baltimore was that of 1856, when Cincinnati was 1 chosen as the scene of the gathering, preceding by two weeks the first na- tional convention in Philadelphia of
 the new Republican party, henceforth
 to be the partisan foe of the Demo- I crats. James Buchanan was nominat- ed at Cincinnati, and was elected the
 last victory of the party for many
 weary years. P
 1 In 1860 the impending civil strife
 had already cast its dark shadow over l the Democratic, party. A convention
 was held in Cha1eston, S. C., early in the year and, after much discord, the
 southern members seeded, and the | convention after fifty-seven unsuc-
 cessful. ballots, adjourned to meet in
 Baltimore in June. Stephen A. Doug-
 las was nominated for the presidency,
 while the seceders from the Charleston convention also met in Baltimore and
 named John C.. Breckinridge as their standard bearer.
 | In 1884, when the civil strife was at | lChfcago and named Gen. George B. Mcclellan for the presidency. The 1868 gathering was held in Tammany l Hall, New York, and Horatio Seymour 1 was nominated for the presidency. The convention returned to Baltimore, it's 1 first love, and Horace Greeley, the ed- | itor of the New York Tribune, who
 had already been chosen as the candi- | date of the National Liberal Repub- l lican convention, was nominated on 1 the first ballot.
 l St. Louis, this years Democratic convention city, first entertained the
 Democrats in 1876, when Samuel J.
 Tflden was chosen as the party's lead l CT. In the subsequent election of Democrats obtained a majority of the popular vote, a majority of the mem l bers of Congress, and claimed to have
 elected TiIden, but the electoral com mission decided in favor of the Re- | publicans.
 In 1880 the Democrats met in Gin ctnnau and nominated Winfield Scott l Hancock, who was defeated. The 18S convention in Chicago ,at which C1eve- land was nominated, presaged a re- | turn of the party to power. Cleveland
 was renominated by the St. Louis | convention of 1888, but was defeated, but he was again named by the Chi cago convention of 1892, and was re- elected. Bryan was chosen by the Chicago convention of 1896, Four years later the convention was held in Kansas City, and Bryan again lead I the party to defeat. The 1904 conven- I1908 at Denver, and that of 1912 at
 Wilson, respectively, as the presiden- tial candidates.