Show little band bandwagon wagon journeys by L T MERRILL iii A 0 1928 1028 Newa newspaper paper union 7 origin of the two thirds rule 6 HE two thirds rule Is a party T TUB practice as old as the institution of democratic nominating conventions it was at the first democratic national convention at baltimore la in 1832 that president andrew jackson then in firm mastery over his party proposed and secured adoption of the rule that two thirds of the me whole number of the votes in the convention shall be necessary to constitute a choice tt it was a foregone conclusion that jackson would run to succeed himself tor for a second term though he be previously had declared tor for but a single term so from his standpoint 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 korys determination to see this consummation was au all the tha stronger after the senate had rejected his nomination of van buren to be united states minister to great britain jackson was determined to 1 make the senators who had rejected f van buren sit under him a as a the their lr p presiding re officer in the senate by virtue of his election to the vice presidency old korys exact reasons for getting the two thirds rule promulgated in this convention never were thoroughly plain probably he wanted to show his power and to rub in the fact act that the minority in the party could not thwart his will nig HIS purpose was overwhelmingly carried out la in the nomination of van buren tor for second place on the democratic ticket of 1832 1 but little van after having succeeded his patron as aa president in the election of 1838 1836 and having gone down to defeat before the singing neing sl whigs tn in the log cabin and hard bard cider campaign of 1840 found the two thirds rule a cruel boomerang that knocked over his chances of nomination tn in a subsequent democratic convention van buren had a clear majority on the first ballot in the democratic convention of 1844 but it was considerably short of two thirds and efforts of his supporters to suspend the two thirds rule having failed the nomination went to james K polk of tennessee as the first american dark horse candidate the two thirds rule had become firmly shackled around the neck of the party and never since has been stricken off though discussion of abrogating ro it Is heard in nearly every presidential election year but for the rule american history night might have been different to in several important periods thus for example champ dark clark instead of woodrow woodro wilson would have been the nominee in 1912 with all the different possibilities bili billt ties les that would have meant for america and the world in the wartime era As significant an indirect result of the rule was the temporary wrecking of the democratic party to in 1800 when neither the northern wing of the party backing stephen A douglas nor the southern wing could command two thirds of the charleston convention vote the convention broke UP cp two democratic candidates representing opposing factions were nominated and divided the party vote lincoln was elected and secession came but even this experience did not serve to shake the faith of the party in the two thirds rule it has been a powerful weapon in the hands bands of democratic minorities |