Show iao od 0 rp 1 1 0 lff tales and i traditions from american political ici history or FRANK 1 HAGEN 0 ANO o ELMO SC SCOTT tr WATS WATSON 0 DRAFTED FROM time to time there has been talk of drafting some candidate however there have been only two instances in our political history when a man was given the nomination his will and in both cases the drafted candidate was defeated in the election in 1868 1863 one of the issues raised by the democrats was a demand for the payment of the war debt in paper money issued for this purpose its chief advocate was george H pendleton of cincinnati and tile the appeal of the ohio idea was so great that he was the logical candidate for the nomination but horatio seymour the civil civil war governor of new york was opposed to both bolh the ohio idea and the candidacy of its chief supporter As chairman of the convention he was able to prevent pen dlemons dle tons nomination but he could not keep the inflation plank out of the platform after many ballots and some confusion it turned to seymour and although he shouted from the platform your candidate I 1 can not be the delegates went right ahead and nominated him I 1 although seymour polled 2709 popular votes to for gen U S grant the republican nominee and carried eight states the electoral vote stood for grant and 80 for seymour this I 1 defeat ended his political career for he considered his acce acceptance of an unwanted nomination as the greatest mistake of his life and would never again consider running for any office four years later a peculiar political situation resulted in another case of drafting A faction of the republican party dissatisfied with the grant administration and his nomination rc held another convention in cincinnati and chose horace greeley for president and B gratz brown of missouri for vice president when the democrats met in baltimore they decided that a fusion ticket might defeat grant so they also nominated greeley and brown but this action offended the old line democrats so they I 1 beld eld a convention in louisville ky for I 1 president they selected charles charies a distinguished new york lawyer who had won the deep affection of the south by his efforts to secure the release of jefferson davis from prison at fortress monroe and to defend him against the charge of treason was nominated on the first ballot by a vote of to four and for their vice president they named john quincy adams of massachusetts immediately after the balloting was notified by telegraph of his nomination and at once declined to accept it the condei convention was thrown into disorder and an attempt was made to give the honor to the permanent chairman james lyons of virginia but he refused so the convention adopted a resolution reiterating tile selection of and adams and immediately adjourned in the election which followed and adams received votes scattered through 23 states this was not an impressive showing but the Greeley reeley ites did little better and the had the satisfaction of knowing that they had been true to a plank in their platform which read we welcome an eternal minority under the banner inscribed with our principles rather than an almighty and everlasting majority purchased by their abandonment |