Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-08-13
Third Parties
Their Records
History Repeats

Washington, d. c., Aug. 12-In
polltlcS as in other things history has
the age-old habit of repeating itself.
say the men who have watched half
a century of national life. It is par
ncularly important that this should
De Kept In mind at the present mo-
ment, they believe, when many of the
rank and file of the Republican party
are aHected by natural curiosity as
T. the effect that the launching of the
LaFollette candidacy may have on
the fortunes of, President Coolidge
and the success of the Party in the
November elections.
Here follows some information re-
garding previous independent move
ments.
The first lnsurgent attempt to split
the Republican Party was formulated
at Cleveland in 1864 and its purpose
was to prevent the reelection of
Abraham Lincoln. The movement
bore more than surface resemblance
TO the radical convention that nomi-
mated LaFollette at Cleveland and
Tor this reason its history may be
worth recOuntinG.
In 1864 the radical combination
that launched the independent ticket,
the first of it's kind ever launched
nominated General John C. Fremont
for President and General John C.
Cochran for Vice President. Both
candidates were selected from New
York State despite the constitutional
provision against any one state hav-
ing the two candidates on a ticket.
Some of the New York delegates
wanted to nominate General Grant
but they were dubbed Lincoln Hire
nrgs' and promptly suppressed in
the convention.
Fremont and Cochran accepted the
nomination in long letters abusing
president Lincoln as a tyrant who
ignored the Constitution and also as
weakling incapable of administer
ing the government or of conducting
a successful war. For six weeks
they were candidates and thew were
Just as optimistic regarding the cam
paign as third party candidates US
ualy are Immediately after a con-
Ventlon. They made just the kind of
claims THAT are being made at the
present time by the supporters of
the LaFollette ticket.
before the end Of August both
fremont and Cochran wrote other
long letters again abusing and criti-
clzlng the President but withdrawing
their candidates.. The Radical
Democratic Party" as it was desig-
mated by the Convention went into
oblivion with the withdrawal of its
candidates.
Lincoln, by quoting the Bible ref
erence to the gathering around after
ne nao taken refuge from King Saul
In the cave of Adullam, suggested the
name of Adullamites for the Third
Party and as such they were popu-
larly known until their candidates.
were Withdrawn and they were for
gotten.
The only political influence this
Thlrd Party Convention of 1864 had
was on the Democratic National
convention held in Chicago a few
weeks later. Many Democratic lead
ers were impressed with the noise
and claims made by the men who
met In Cleveland and also with the
indiscriminate use made of the
names of prominent Republicans as
In sympathy with the third party.
They had listed Horace Greeley as
a delegate to the Cleveland Conyen.
ton because of his criticism of Lin
coin but Greeley said that the only
convention in which he was inter-
ested was the convention of Grant
before Richmond. Assuming that the
Republican Party was hopeIessly
split the more radical Democratic
leaders in the Chicago Convention
embodied in the platform "a declara-
tion that the war was a failure and
demanded cessation of hostilities.
they then proceeded to nominate
General Mcclellan. the most conspic-
uous failure of the war, as their
candidate. These declarations in the
platform together with the nomina-
tion OF General Mcclellan alienated
thousands of loyal Democrats who
openly gave their support to Lincoln
assuring his overwhelming election.
The Adullamites of 1854 therefore
contributed to the reelection Of Lin
coin rather than to his defeat by mis-