| Show YN 44 V 44 ICA by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ALK about the 1532 presidential campaign Is already in the air and it wont be long now until the two major parties will be deciding where they bill hold their conventions to select the standard bearers jn in next years race so it Is appropriate at this time to recall that the first presidential convention was held just years ago and the story of that historic gathering Is one of the interesting incidents in our gur national history which is but little known knon n to most americans most americans americana no doubt believe that we have bare had bad presidential nominating conventions ever since american political parties came into existence and that such a method of selecting candidates was originated by one of the two major parties which have always governmental affairs but the fact Is that neither belief Is correct the republic had been la in existence more than tour four decades and had already chosen six presidents when this procedure which was regarded as a innovation at the time came into existence more afore than that it was not the invention of one of the then leading parties but it was brought into being by an obscure organization which played a minor role in one presidential campaign and then quickly passed out of existence not even the tact fact that the two leading parties of that period immediately adopted the national convention idea as have all later parties until now it Is an essential part of the american political scheme has been sufficient to keep alive the memory of the anti antl masonic party a religious political phenomenon which in september 1831 held in baltimore md the first authentic national presidential nominating convention and to round out the paradox of this historic incident which Is filled filed with paradoxes it should be recorded that the noal nee cee of the antl anti masonic party was himself a mason I 1 it Is probable that a national nominating convention would have come about eventually in the process of american political evolution even it if there had never been an antl anti masonic party but it so BO happened that this organization came on the scene at a time when the growth of the democratic spirit in the american people was rising to a high tide and the dissatisfaction w ith the previous method of choosing presidential candidates had bad reached its peak so whether by design or by chance this party responded to a popular demand alth ich a sew new and acceptable method and thus gets the creale tor for inaugurating a custom which Is a milestone in american political history during the first two decades of our history as a nation it became the practice for each party to hold a congressional caucus and nominate candidates for president and vice president but gradually the caucus grew into III disfavor sf avor the dictum of the party members of congress was wag not always accepted by everybody in 1808 2808 two powerful competitors for the succession to jefferson appeared madison and monroe and both were put forward by state legislative caucuses in virginia the congressional caucus decided in favor of madison several members of congress who did not favor madl son eon appealed to the country not only against the regularity regular ity of the procedure but against the caucus system itself but the caucus won out in that instance and madison was elected dent though the congressional caucus continued continue d to make presidential nominations until 1824 king caucus as it was now called continued to be regarded with more and more disfavor in 1824 william 11 crawford of georgia was the caucus nominee of the republican party but the rank and file ble of the party refused to accept out third in the list of him and he be came candidates in ID the election so king caucus was dethroned dethroner and democratic america was nas ready for a new and more representative method presed president ent of choosing its candidates for this was furnished by the antl anti masonic party which was wag brought into being by the following follow ing events in 1824 2824 a certain william morgan settled in batavia Ea tavla K N T Y ne ile had been a mason but becoming dissatisfied with the fraternity he published a book which purported to reveal the secrets secrete of the order in IV 1820 6 morgan disappeared started that he had been and the rumor was abducted and murdered by the masons there biad ho A anything to do with was wag no proof that they his disappearance but the incident was capitalized cap ital upon by enemies of the order and through new york new kew england and pennsylvania lW spread the suspicion that the order whose membership be was mainly from the he t wealthier classes society as well as a fraternal was a secret political order whose influence swayed juries and legislatures so america had bad a first class menace to get excited over and the politician were T tr f V A vasto quick to seize upon it to promote their own ambitions the result was the formation of the anti masonic party at a national convention held in philadelphia in september 1830 attended by 88 06 delegates from 10 states there it was decided to hold a national nominating convention the next year of this this party prof william 0 lynch in his book fifty years of party warfare 1789 1837 published recently by the bobbs merrill company writes the antl anti magonia strength was waa greatest in the east the movement made little headway in the west save ohio and was weak in the south in the new england states new york and pennsylvania the number cumber of anti masons was great the strongest leaders appeared in these commonwealths among the political leaders who had some prominence irk in the antl anti masonic party were william 11 seward thurlow weed millard fillmore albert H tracy francis granger john crary and frederick whittlesey of new york thaddeus stevens and richard rush of pennsylvania edward everett and john quincy adams of massachusetts other leaders who looked with favor on the party were william wirt john marshall john C calhoun john mclean and daniel webster andrew jackson who was then president was a mason and seemed certain of reelection election re unless some strong combination could be formed against him so an effort was made to induce henry clay to lead the new party or at least to unite the anti masons with the wing of the national republican party of which he was the leader under his banner the only trouble with this effort was that clay himself was a mason and although he was not an enthusiastic member of the order the efforts to get him to renounce it failed in september 1931 clay wrote a letter in reply to a committee of anti masons in indiana who had asked him for his sentiments on masonry which may possibly have vitally affected his political fortunes and kept him from realizing his fondest ambition of going to the white house in this letter clay said that should lie give his views on masonry it would imply that individual sentiments on the subject formed a proper consideration in regard to voting for persons to fill 1111 federal of offices flees lie he declared that americans should vote for president without regard to rell religious ious social benevolent or literary associations further than that he made a statement which was a criticism of anti antl mason ry when he said it if indeed you gentlemen will point to a provision in the federal constitution which can legitimately be made to operate upon the subject in question I 1 would not hesitate to comply with your request this was a definite turndown turn down for the anti anil masons and years later charlow weed declared that it if clay had not written this letter the anti masons would have joined the national republicans and would have defeated jackson such a combination he declared would have given clay new york pennsylvania vermont georgia north carolina and louisiana in addition to the states slates that he be did carry enough to have insured him a safe majority in the electoral votes turning to their next best bet the antl and masons picked upon william wirt of maryland markland as their choice wirt had been one of the attorneys who had bad prosecuted aaron burr bair tor for treason had served as attorney general in the cabinets of both madison and monroe and was widely regarded as an able and outstanding man so when the first national nominating convention ever held in the united states assembled in the old athenaeum in baltimore in september 1831 it selected wirt as its choice for eandi candidate date for president and narn named ed amos ellmaker Ell malter of pennsylvania as his running mate tor for vice president and this despite the tact fact that wirt was a mason of many years year standing and had never renounced his allegiance to that order I 1 his letter of acceptance has often been cited as a practical renunciation of masonry but it was far from that in it he be said in substance that both in conversation and in letters to friends he had spoken of the contentions over masonry as a subject more fit tor for farce than tragedy and had been grieved at seeing some of my friends involved in what appeared to me such a wild and unjust persecution against so harmless an institution as freemasonry the candidate ot of the antl anti masons then admitted his ideas upon the subject had undergone some modification however and that he be did find some cause for alarm in the actions of overzealous members of the order concerning the new party he be was asked to lead wirt wrote after describing his own affiliation with masonry extending over a period of 80 years 1 I had bad supposed that the very principles of your union was a war of indiscriminate proscription against all persons throughout the united states aiho ho had bad ever borne the name of mason that you would put in nomination no persons who had bad ever been a mason and who would not moreover pledge himself to become a party to such a war of indiscriminate extermination and wield the appointing power of the office under your dictation who iio would not in short become the president of your party instead of being the president of the united states I 1 am happy to find that this Is nn an error this attitude of their candidate was far from satisfactory to the more earnest of the anti masons and they became even more dissatisfied ed when the campaign got under way for wirt made no attempt to carry on on active campaign now how plainly he felt that an unpleasant job had bad been wished off on him and that there was nas no hope of his being elected Is shown by a letter which he be wrote to judge corr carr an intimate friend in it he said 1 I had bad thought I 1 had no right to object to the anti masons proposing me to the consideration of the people tor for the office of president every other chance of uniting the opposition to jackson had bad vanished this alone remained and faint as it was I 1 considered it my duty to permit the offer to be made it has been made the national republicans have bare declared against the union which alone I 1 had hadin in view I 1 can perceive neither dignity nor decency in continuing the nomination it Is true that when I 1 accepted the nomination L I 1 knew that this state of things might arise aels but it Is not true that I 1 know knew if it arise the antl anti masons would still persist in the nomination it never entered into my imagination that they could wish to do flo 0 o vain and foolish a thing what abut end can it answer to themselves it will only expose weakness they cannot carry a single state except perhaps vermont in such circumstances what a figure will they and their candidate make in a presidential contest it will annihilate them and me too by the mere force of ridicule he be was a true prophet not only did clay fail to beat jackson jacdson Jach son as wirt wart had hoped but as he had bad also predicted vermont with its seven electoral votes was the only state carried by the antl anti masons even john ployd of georgia who ran as an independent did better than that he got 11 electoral votes after the election of 1832 this party disappeared from the national scene most of its members were absorbed by the whigs although in pennsylvania it continued its identity for several years and elected a governor in 1835 but even though it played such a small part on the american political stage the antl anti masonic party and its standard bearer william wirt tire are deserving of remembrance as the party which gave to the country the national convention system a by western newspaper union |
