Milford chronicle., 1928-08-10
of the TwO-
Thirds Rule

Thirds Rule
THE two-thirds rule is a party
L practice as old as the institu'
ton of Democratic nominating con-
ventions.
It was at the first Democratic ma
tional convention at Baltimore in
1882 that President Andrew Jack
son, then in firm mastery over his
party, proposed and secured adOp-
ton of the rule 'that tWO-thirdS of
the whole number of the votes in
the convention shall be necessary
to constitute a choice"
It was a foregone conclusion that
Jackson would run to succeed him
self for a second term-thOugh he
previously had declared for but a
single term; so from his stand
point, the purpose of the Baltimore
convention was merely to ratify his
choice of Martin Van Buren,, his
former secretary of state, to be his
running-mate.
"Old HickOry's" determination to
see this cOnsummatiOn was all the
stronger after the senate had re-
jected his nomination of Van Blu
ren to be United States minister to
Great Britain. Jackson was de-
termined to make the senators who
had rejected Van Buren, sit under
him as their presiding officer in the
senate by virtue of his election to
the vice presidency.
"Old Hickory's' exact reasons for
getting the twO-thirds rule prOmul-
gated in this convention never were
thoroughly plain. Probably he
wanted to show his power and rub
in" the fact that the minority in
the party could not thwart his will.
His purpose was overwhelmingly
carried out in the nomination of
Van Buren, for second place on
the Democratic ticket of 1882.
But Little Van," after having
succeeded his patron as President
in the election of 1886 and having
gone down to defeat before the
"singing Wings" in the "log cabin
and hard cider campaign" of 1910,
found the twO-thirds rule a cruel
boomerang that knocked over his
chances of nomination in a subse-
quent Democratic convention.
Van Buren, had a clear majority
on the first ballot in the Demo-
cratic convention of 1874, but it
was considerably short of two
thirds, and efforts of his supporters
to suspend the twO-thirds rule hav-
ing failed, the nomination went to
James K. Polk of Tennessee as the
first American dark-hOrse candi-
date.
The two-thirds rule had become
firmly shackled around the neck of
his party, and never since has been
stricken off, though discussion of
abrogating it is heard in nearly
every Presidential election year.
But for the rule, American his
tory might have been different in
several important periods. Thus
for example, Champ Clark instead
of Woodrow Wilson would have
been nominated in 1912-with all thu
different possibilities that would
have meant for America and the
world in the wartime era.
AS significant an indirect result
of the rule was the temporary wreck
ing of the Democratic party in
1860. When neither the northern
wing of the party, backing Stephen
A. Douglas, nor the southern pro-
slavery wing could command two
thirds of the Charleston convention
vote, the convention broke up,
The Democratic candidates rep
resenting opposing factions were
nominated and diyided the party
vote. Lincoln was elected, and ses
cessiOn came.
But even this experience did not
serve to shake the faith of the
party in the two-thirds rule. 1t had
been a powerful weapon in the
hands of Democratic minorities.