Show AV r J 01 4 R 44 i 0 4 jl r L it A 7 9 2 y M 1 4 24 v by JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN IN N ALL the hundreds of thousands of columns that tho the newspapers of the country haye have printed about tile the 1024 republican and democratic national conventions vent ions it Is dollars to doughnuts that these interesting facts acts were never mentioned tile the constitution has nothing to say BRY about presidential nominations it makes no provision for nominating conventions it Is silent on the subject of party platforms in fact the constitution ignores all three as completely na as it does woman suffrage national committees keynoters keyn oters and broadcasting of proceedings lt it Is interesting to see how george washington on the first president was elected there were no conventions no platforms no nominations there was probably no need of nominations there were two partle parties a federalists and anti and federalists they were divided the subject of the constitution rather than ou on choice for or president presidential ident ial electors were chosen january 7 1780 this wits was done by the legislatures in connecticut delaware new jersey south carolina and georgia by popular vote in massachusetts new hampshire pennsylvania Al maryland aryland and virginia in new yorka york a quarrel between the senate and house prevented re action by the legislature north car carolina ina and rhode island had not yet adopted the C constitution tl in the electoral college each elector voted toted for two candidates for or president the one receiving the majority of the votes to be declared president and the one receiving the next largest number of votes to be declared vice president sixty nine of seven ty three electors were present washington re 09 69 votes and john adams 34 washington and adams were declared president and vice president it was soon evident that by this method of voting the vice president elected wits waa the leading opponent of the president under the twelfth amendment to the constitution which went into effect september 25 1804 the electors vote for president and vice president separately and both roust must be ot of the same party washington was inaugurated augu rated april 30 1789 in federal hall ball wall street new york december 0 the seat of government was moved to philadelphia liL the campaign of 1800 saw the first nominations they were made in congressional caucuses adams and pinckney by the federalists jefferson and burr by the republicans A tie ile vote between jefferson ond and burr in the electoral college threw the election into the house which chose the fornier former president and the latt ervice president the first convention marked the campaign of 1812 the federalists nominated clinton first by caucus of new york state legislators at albany and then formally by convention in new york Ido madison the winning candidate was nominated by congressional caucus of the republicans it was not until 1832 that the nominating convention again appeared and then lor the first time all the candidates were nominated by conventions held in baltimore the anti masonic wirt national republican or whig clay and national democratic jackson the republican convention put forth ten resolutions constituting sti tile the first convention platform ever issued the anti masonic convention issued an addre address sa to tile the public but adopted no platform the national republican convention of 1850 was the first arst convention of the pre ent day republican I 1 party it was a great year icar for conventions no less than five being held they are interesting and important as preliminary to the election of lincoln in esgo the american enow convention with a platform of america for Amer americans lenna met in february in philadelphia there were delegates from 27 states stales they nominated former president fillmore 1840 53 0 A rump know nothing convention nominated fremont Frem cat the democratic perna cratic convention met june 20 2 0 in cincinnati and buchanan the platform denounced know warned the country that continued interference by congress with slavery and armed resistance to law as to fugitive slaves would end in civil war and disunion and uphold upheld tile the right of every state seeking g lad admission mission to tile the U union nion to liar or permit slavery tile will whig convention met in september in baltimore i and ratified tile the know nothing nomination of fillmore convention met june IT 17 in this first republican philadelphia under tile the chairmanship of former congressman henry S lane ind by formal fremont and dayi ballot it unanimously nominated ton on the informal ballot tor for vice president abraham lincoln received votes voles as against for or dayton the r republican platform opposed the of 1320 to la re fo ap repeal edtl of the MIs missouri compromise 1 za T gard to slavery favored admitting kansas us ns a free state denied the right of congress to give legal existence to slavery declared the right of congress to prohibit polygamy urged a railroad to the pacific and upheld liberty of conscience and equality of rights among citizens the popular vote on these issues was wag buchan bachan no nn fremont fillmore of the electoral votes were cast for buchanan chanan Du for fremont and 8 for fillmore during the administration of buchanan history bearing on the slavery issue was mode madd rapidly significant events were the dred scott decision of the united states supreme court that no negro tree free or slave wits was a citizen with its implication that the missouri compromise had always been unconstitutional in its discrimination against slavery the farcical vote la in kansie Kan on an the lecomp ton pro slavery state constitution the celebrated freeport debates of 1858 between lincoln and douglas in the illinois senatorial campaign in which lincoln forced douglas to uphold the doctrine of popular sovereignty thus bringing about his own election to the presidency and the defeat of douglas in 1860 the john brown raid on an iiara ers ees ferry in virginia in 1859 the result of the freeport debates as lincoln had foreseen was the splitting up of the democratic convention in april 1800 at C charleston ll 11 ar leston S 0 by the withdrawal of chairman gushing cushing and many southern democrats the charleston convention nominated douglas the seceding delegates held a rump democratic convention Convent lon in baltimore and nominated breckenridge the platform s of both conventions reaf linned that of 1850 the second national republican convention met iri in the wigwam chicago may alay 1018 1618 10 16 18 under the chairmanship of ex congressman george ashmun of massachusetts there were three ballots for the presidential nomination the result of the first was U S senator tor william II if seward of new york abraham lincoln U S senator simon cameron of pennsylvania CO 50 ex governor salmon P chose chase of ohio 49 40 ex congressman edward bates of missouri 48 oen gen willi am L dayton of new jersey 14 U S supreme court justice john mclean of ohio 12 and U S senator jacob col Colla I 1 artier roer of vermont 10 on the second ballot seward got and lincoln during the third ballot when seward had fallen to ISO and lincoln had risen to willium william M evarts chairman of the new york delegation moved that tho the nomination of lincoln be made the delegates so voted the nomination for vice president went on the second ballot tou S senator Il hannibal annibal of maine the platform denounced tile Le compton constitution denounced slavery and denied the right of congress to legalize it called for the admission of kansas and spoke for a tariff for revenue and to protect industrial development the popular vote of the election of 1860 was lincoln douglas brecken bidge bell union of tho the electoral votes were wara cost cast for lincoln ta 72 for breckenridge 89 30 for bell and 12 for douglas the election and inauguration of lincoln brought the slavery issue to a head the civil war began with the fall of fort sumter april 13 the republican convention of 1801 met in baltimore and briani unanimously lincoln on the first ballot ball 0 t andrew johnson of tennessee was nominated for vice vico president lincoln got votes and mcclellan the democratic candidate in this elect election lon the following states did not vote alabama Aln bama arkansas florida georgia mississippi north carolina south carolina texas and virginia Loul Lopi slann slana and tennessee held elections ind and were carried lor for lincoln but their vote was not recognized lincoln was assassinated april 14 1803 1863 johnson johndon Joh nion thereupon became president II 11 ile was impeached in la 1663 and escaped by tt rae of 35 to 10 one ODO voto vote chort of the necessary necess arT two thirds bov or a conviction chicago wits the scene of the republican convention of 1803 1868 which nominated orant and colfax they won over tilt ho democratic nominees seymour it and n d blair tho the rep republican ab lican convention of 1872 nit met in philadelphia noted arant and re colfax with willi 11 son they won over creole arceley y nud brown nominees of a liberal republican convention held in cincinnati and en by tho thi democrats in their baltimore convention ven tion greeley lied died nov 29 lila his electoral voto vote was ca cast mostly for Il endricks of andl ana tile the year ISTO 1870 saw the eon leMed election ile bc wern dinyes and alldon it was vas ulso also a great year for conventions th american Nat Katon ionni nl convention at pittsburgh nominated walker of illinois the do prohibition sunday observe ob observance serva lice and direct presidential elections tile the greenback convention nt ili ali nominated VOL ir cooper of new york tile prohibition convention nf at cleveland nominated smith of kentucky on n plat forn form alleq much ai similar to unit that of 0 tile the pittsburgh convention the democratic convention nt at st louis nominated goy coy samuel J tilden of now new york the republican convention met in cincinnati and on tile seventh ballot nominate ex gov rutherford 11 11 of ohio over congressman james G illaine of 0 maine his close competitor it was then tant blaine the blurted knight Is reported to have said 1 I am tile henry clay of 0 tile tha republican party like clay he was twice defeated for the llie nomination in years when ill his party won when nominated he was waa defeated the election was close and the returns were con on tested congress appointed nn an electoral commission congress ju in joint session march 2 1877 declared clayes dad and wheeler elected over tilden and by an electoral vote of to in the republican convention of ISSO at chicago 1 the adherents of ex president grant prolonged the contest until the thirty sixth ballot when tho the field combined on garfield who got votes to for grant blaine was again a prominent candidate in the platform the solid south was called a menace garfield was assassinated and arthur became president september 10 19 1881 blaine was nominated over arthur at the republican convention of 1884 tit the e pint platform form demanded a protective ta riffa gold money standa rd federal regulation ot of transportation rates civil service reform ana ana a merchant marine 1 it was rev dr burchard heading a delegation of ministers to congratulate blaine who used the phrase rase rum romanism and rebellion held largely responsible tor for blaines alnes Dl defeat by cleveland the year IM 1888 saw the nomination of at chicago by the republicans am and his victory over cleveland Clevel tind Harr laun was at minneapolis in 1892 1802 and beaten by cleveland mckan ley was nominated by the republican Republic ani in 1800 fit at st louis and was successful over brynn who had been nominated by the democrats at chicago in the excitement following his famous cross of gold cold speech BIc mckenley Kinley was in 1000 1900 at philadelphia lat with gov theodore theodora roosevelt for running binate president mckenley wits was shot and roosevelt became president september U 14 I 1 1001 roosevelt was unanimously nominated by the to republicans public ans at chicago in 1001 william 14 kafy and james S sherman were the be t republican nominees la in 1003 1008 at chicago they won over bryon brynn and kern the year 1012 1912 saws the split between taft and roosevelt which led to tile election 0 of the republican convention met in june at chicago and taft the progressive republican convention met in august at chicago and nominated roosevelt and johnson chicago saw two republican conventions again in 1010 this time they were in session at tile the same time the progressive republican convert tion failed to get the republican convention to I 1 agree on joint nominations and juno june 10 nominated Hoose roosevelt four before the republican convention nominated Ilag hes roosevelt juno 20 declined to run um antl advised concentrating on II il wilson lidd been tit at st louis tho the campa was wag carried on while tho world war raged in europe women delegated delegat ca eg nod and jilter alternates nates to the number of were in attendance nt at the chicago republican convention of 1020 which nominated warren G harddng wood lowden and johnson on the tenth ballut ballot and gov calvin coolidge ot of massachusetts for vire president on tho the first ballot tile the platform derion veed the wilson administration and tile league of nations the platform of tile the democratic convention which at still sail francisco nominated gov james 31 cox cos of ohio over ever mcadoo cAdoo 11 palmer and smith indorsed endorsed Indor sed the wilson administration and the league of nations the popular vote was and cox aud arid franklin Frnnk lin D b roosevelt of the electoral votes were cost cast for III ing and coolidge and for cox and roosevelt died august 2 tit at san francisco and coolidge thereupon became president the cleveand convention Is thus tile the eighteenth of the present day republican party ten hava been held in chicago three in philadelphia and one each in baltimore cincinnati minneapolis mid and A st loula it would be interesting could tile the framers of tile the constitution come back 0 and nd see what modern politics las has developed out of 0 f simple directions toi fol electing the president of tta t united states |