PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS JOSEPH BUCKLIN BISHOP GIFT OF Prof. Yoshi S. Kuno PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS From a photograph copyright by Underwood & Underwood. Inauguration Day, Washington. PKESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CONVENTIONS NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS, INAUGURATIONS AND CAMPAIGN CARICATURE WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOSEPH BUCKLIN BISHOP AUTHOR OP "THE PANAMA GATEWAY," ETC. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1916 COPTBIGHT, 1916. BT CHARLES SCRIBXER-S SON'S Published April, 1916 -- : . .. ::': x: :.::!..! PREFACE A PORTION of the material in this volume ap- peared in a book published by me in 1904, en- titled "Our Political Drama," which is now out of print. It consisted mainly of articles published at various times in the Century Magazine y and was a compilation of notable phases of presidential politics, together with personal anecdotes and in- cidents, rather than a comprehensive survey of the field. In the present volume the original ma- terial has been retained, and to it has been added sufficient new matter to present a complete review of presidential conventions, elections, and inaugura- tions down to the present time. Chapters have been added also giving an account of the electoral machinery and the results of each national elec- tion. I am much indebted to Stanwood's "History of the Presidency," which is an inexhaustible mine of exact information upon all subjects connected with conventions, campaigns, and elections, and to Colonel A. K. McClure's "Our Presidents and How We Make Them." I have drawn freely from these and also from Thurlow Weed's "Autobiography," from Greeley^s "Recollections of a Busy Life," and from the volumes of "The American States- M199179 vi PREFACE man Series," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company. I wish also to make grateful acknowledgment to the Century Company for permission to use the illustrations which accompanied my articles in their magazine, to Harper Brothers for the illus- trations reproduced from Harper' 's Weekly, and to the former firm of Messrs. Keppler & Schwarz- mann, for the Gillam cartoons from Puck. J. B. B. NEW YORK, April, 1916. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. ORIGIN OF NOMINATING CONVENTIONS ... 1 II. FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTIONS 8 III. THE FIRST "DARK HORSE" 16 IV. CLAY'S BITTERNESS IN DEFEAT 22 V. WEBSTER'S LONG AND HOPELESS QUEST . . 28 VI. LINCOLN'S Two NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS 37 VII. LAST DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIONS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR 51 VIII. ELAINE'S FATE LIKE CLAY'S 55 IX. CLEVELAND'S FIRST NOMINATION AND CAM- PAIGN 62 X. REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS BETWEEN 1868 AND 1908 70 XL THE THIRD-TERM CONVENTION 77 XII. THE TWO-THIRDS RULE AND ITS EFFECTS . 89 XIII. THE "STEAM ROLLER" CONVENTION .... 99 XIV. THE PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION 120 XV. MACHINERY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS . 125 XVI. CAMPAIGN METHODS AND CARICATURE ... 132 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVII. GENESIS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL CARICA- TURE 142 XVIII. CARTOONS OF LINCOLN'S FIRST CAMPAIGN 151 XIX. WEEKLY AND DAILY JOURNAL CARTOONS 157 XX. WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATIONS 165 XXI. JOHN ADAMS'S GLOOMY ENTRANCE ... 176 XXII. THE TRUTH ABOUT JEFFERSONIAN SIM- PLICITY 181 XXIII. INAUGURATION CLOTHES AND CUSTOMS . 186 XXIV. THE JACKSON INVASION 190 XXV. UNIQUE DISTINCTION OF THE ADAMSES . 195 XXVI. "TlPPECANOE" AND OTHER INAUGURA- TIONS 200 XXVII. LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURATION .... 205 XXVIII. RESULTS OF NATIONAL ELECTIONS ... 215 INDEX . 227 ILLUSTRATIONS Inauguration Day, Washington Frontispiece FACING PAGE Washington's inauguration 10 The crush at the White House after Jackson's inauguration . 18 The Harrison-Tippecanoe inauguration parade 24 The approach to the Capitol during Folk's inauguration ... 32 The wigwam, in which Lincoln was nominated in 1860 ... 40 Buchanan's inauguration 48 The South Carolina Institute in which the Democratic con- vention of 1860 met 52 Phryne before the Chicago tribunal 60 "Love's labor lost" 68 "Me and Jack" 74 ! : 82 Climax of the Republican convention held in Chicago, when Blaine was defeated for the nomination 94 The Republican convention, Chicago, June 18, 1912 .... 104 Senator Root presiding at the Republican convention, Chicago, June 19, 1912 114 The National Progressive convention, Chicago, August 6, 1912 122 Fancied security, or the rats on a bender 134 Jackson clearing the kitchen 134 Loco Foco candidates travelling 140 "A Boston notion of the World's Fair a new cradle of liberty" 140 ix x ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE The great presidential sweepstakes 148 The "mustang" team 148 An heir to the throne 154 "Young America" 154 "The impending crisis" or caught in the act 162 "The nigger" in the woodpile 162 Progressive Democracy prospect of a smash up 168 Running the "machine" 174 The "secession movement" 174 Why don't you take it? 182 The true issue or "That's what's the matter" 182 The elephant and his keepers 188 Red-hot Republicans on the Democratic gridiron 188 The alarm 192 The council . 192 The special train 194 The old complaint 194 The Tammany tiger loose "What are you going to do about it?" 198 The third-term panic 202 Cincinnatus 206 Stranger things have happened 210 "Home-stretched" 210 President Wilson taking the oath of office, 1913 212 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS CHAPTER I ORIGIN OF NOMINATING CONVENTIONS THE nominating convention is a purely American invention and a natural outgrowth of popular gov- ernment. It came into being with the enlargement of the suffrage through the gradual removal of re- striction upon it and with the steadily increasing demand of the people to have a voice in the selection of candidates for office. Before the Revolution, and for many years afterward, political action was con- trolled by unofficial and voluntary associations or coteries of persons who were drawn together by kin- dred opinions and whose prominence in the affairs of the community made them its natural leaders. These gatherings very early in their career took the name of caucus. The origin of this word is obscure and much erudite speculation, some of it amusing, has been brought to bear upon it. One theory was that it was derived from the Algonquin Indian word kaw-kaw-wus to consult, to speak but this had few supporters. Another, which John Pickering, an early American philologist, set forth gravely in his 1 2 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS "Vocabulary of Americanisms/' published in Bos- ton in 1816, made it a corruption of "calkers." In the early politics of Boston, and particularly during the first difficulties between the townsmen and the British troops, the seafaring men and those employed about the shipyards were prominent among the townspeople, and there were numerous gatherings, say advocates of this theory, which may have very easily come to be called by way of reproach a meet- ing of calkers after the least influential class who attended them, or from the calking house or calk house in which they were held. What was at first a derisive description, came to be an appellation, and the gatherings of so-called calkers became a caucus. This theory is upset by the fact that the word was in familiar use at least seven years earlier, for John Adams wrote in his diary, in February, 1763: This day I learned that the caucus club meets at certain times in the garret of Tom Dawes, the adju- tant of the Boston regiment. He has a large house and he has a movable partition in his garret which he takes down, and the whole club meets in one room. There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the room to the other. There they drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose a moder- ator who puts questions to the vote regularly; and selectmen, assessors, collectors, wardens, fire wards, and representatives are regularly chosen before they are chosen in the town. Uncle Fairfield, Story, Rud- dock, Adams, Cooper, and a rudis indigestaque moles of others are members. They send committees to AND ELECTIONS 3 wait on the merchants' club, and to propose in the choice of men and measures. Captain Cunningham says they have often solicited him to go to these caucuses, they have assured him benefit in his busi- ness, etc. Like testimony is given by William Gordon, the English historian of "The Rise, Progress, and Estab- lishment of the Independence of the United States of America," published in 1788. He writes: More than fifty years ago Mr. Samuel Adams's father and twenty others, one or two from the north end of the town where all the ship business is carried on, used to meet, make a caucus and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into places of trust and power. When they had settled it they sepa- rated, and each used his particular influence within his own circle. He and his friends would furnish themselves with ballots, including the names of the parties fixed upon, which they distributed on the days of election. By acting in concert, together with a careful and extensive distribution of ballots, they generally carried their elections to their own mind. In like manner it was that Mr. Samuel Adams first became a representative for Boston. These caucuses led in all the action by the Col- onies which preceded the Revolution. Their mem- bers called meetings, prepared resolutions, and dis- seminated intelligence. After the Revolution they were the natural leaders in the town meetings and controlled their action with an authority that has 4 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS been surpassed by no modern political organization under the autocratic command of a boss. They were able to do this mainly because of the limited suffrage which allowed only persons possessing a certain amount of property to vote. This made the caucus members the recognized representatives of the legal voters of the community. Associated with them were the clergy, who still retained the intellec- tual leadership which had been theirs before the Revolution. They were a class apart, and on pub- lic occasions held themselves aloof from the common people. Goodrich, a Federalist writer, thus describes a town meeting in Connecticut, in the period be- tween 1796 and 1810: Apart in a pew sat half a dozen men, the magnates of the town. In other pews near by sat still others, all stanch respectabilities. These were the leading Federalists, persons of high character, wealth, and influence. They spoke a few words to each other, and then relapsed into a sort of dignified silence. They did not mingle with the mass; they might be suspected of electioneering. Nevertheless, the Fed- eralists had privately determined, a few days before, for whom they would cast their votes, and being a majority, they carried the day. The caucus system was extended naturally to Congress and the State Legislatures after the adop- tion of the Constitution. In the congressional cau- cuses presidential nominations were made, and in legislative caucuses State candidates were selected. AND ELECTIONS 5 This practise dated from 1796. It became general in the following year and continued with slight mod- ifications until 1824. During the closing eight or ten years of its existence there was a steadily increas- ing volume of dissatisfaction with it, based mainly upon its unpopular character. The politicians who had control of it had become so arrogant that a new and younger body was gradually formed against them. The latter, aided by the increase of popu- lation, the steady growth in democratic sentiment, and the enlargement of the suffrage, made constant appeals to the people to insist upon having a voice in the selection of candidates. In 1824, these ap- peals had made such headway in New York that a call for a State nominating convention was issued. A proposal for such a convention had been made in 1813, and again in 1817, but had not been ap- proved by the party in which it had originated and had been dropped. Thurlow Weed, in his " Auto- biography/' gives this account of the first nominat- ing convention ever called together: It had been decided at an accidental meeting of [naming six persons beside himself] that a State con- vention consisting of as many delegates as there were representatives in the assembly, to be chosen by voters opposed to Mr. Crawford for President, and in favor of restoring the choice of presidential electors to the people, should assemble at Utica for the purpose of nominating candidates for governor and lieutenant-governor. Thus, the policy of nom- 6 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS inations, emanating directly from the people, in- stead of by legislative caucus, was inaugurated. The convention, which met at Utica in August, 1824, was the beginning of a new political era. The con- vention was very fully attended. Most of the dele- gates were men of political character and experience. The new system spread rapidly to other States, what Mr. Weed calls the "policy of nominations emanating directly from the people/' being too over- whelmingly popular to be resisted. The change was really a revolt against as arbitrary and as undem- ocratic a system of political .management as the country has ever known. The politicians who took the lead in bringing it about were, like their species in all times, quick to detect the trend of popular sentiment and to get in step with it. While pro- fessedly yielding to the people's desires, they were already planning to get control of the new system for their own purposes. In fact, they had put it into operation because it best suited their needs at the moment. They had no hope of success through the legislative caucus, and in desperation they re- sorted to the delegate convention, feeling quite con- fident of their ability to control such a body. It is a quite general delusion that in the early days of the republic our politics were free from the trickery and manipulation which are so greatly de- plored as characterizing party management in later times. One has only to read the citations which I have made in description of caucus methods, to per- AND ELECTIONS 7 ceive that from the outset the American politician has been much the same sort of person that he is to-day. Those caucuses, as described by Adams and Gordon, were very much such bodies as our later party bosses gathered about them and which con- stituted the " machines." Their methods, both of selecting and of electing candidates, were much like those which still prevail. Even that inducement for entering a caucus " benefit in his business" is liv- ing and active in our day. CHAPTER II FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTIONS WITH the advent of the State nominating con- vention began the gradual building up of the great modern political machine. It was inevitable that the adoption of the convention system by the States should lead to its adoption by the nation, and this change began almost immediately. The Anti- Masonic party, one of those ephemeral political movements whose birth and death occur in a single campaign, first set the example by holding a national convention in Philadelphia, in September, 1830, and calling a second convention to meet in Baltimore a year later. The National Republican party, which closed its career in the same campaign, was the first real party to use the new method, nominating Henry Clay unanimously in a convention at Baltimore in December, 1831, and recommending the convening of a national assembly of young men at Washington in May of the following year. When this body, afterward known as "Clay's Inf ant-School," came together, it also nominated him unanimously. Gen- eral Jackson, who was then a virtually unopposed candidate for a Democratic renomination, with that quick instinct for " getting close to the people " which seldom failed him, saw in the new method great ele- 8 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 9 ments of popularity, and hastened to attract them to himself. He directed that a convention be called to nominate a candidate for the vice-presidency on a ticket with himself. Jackson's choice for the nomination was Van Buren, but the latter was far from being a favorite with the party, and for the purpose of overcoming opposition to him Jackson had decided to resort to the convention system. He had the convention called by instigating the legislature of New Hamp- shire to propose it and the party press to commend the proposal. He then saw to it that most of the delegates chosen should be amenable to advice from himself as to the proper course to pursue, and such as were not in that frame of mind were informed after the convention assembled that it would be well for them to favor Van Buren, "unless they wished to quarrel with the general." As few were anxious to quarrel with that redoubtable personage, he had a very large majority of the convention ready to do his bidding. For some reason which is not clearly apparent, he had the convention adopt the following resolution, which it is worth while to cite in full because of its historic value: Resolved, That each State be entitled, in the nom- ination to be made of a candidate for the vice- presidency, to a number of votes equal to the num- ber to which they will be entitled in the electoral colleges, under the new apportionment, in voting 10 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS for President and Vice-President; and that two- thirds of the whole number of the votes in the con- vention shall be necessary to constitute a choice. In the closing passage of that resolution appears the two-thirds rule which has prevailed in all Demo- cratic national conventions for eighty years since Jackson invented it. Why he thought it desirable to use it on that occasion, I have never seen stated. Perhaps he was desirous of " showing his power," as some modern politicians have been, or perhaps he desired to "rub it in" to the members of the party who had been so imprudent as to oppose his wishes. But whatever his motive, he placed a shackle about the neck of his party in convention assembled from which it has been trying in vain ever since to rid itself. Repeated efforts have been made to set it aside, but always in vain. An account of these efforts, together with the effect of the rule upon the fortunes of candidates, will be set forth in a separate chapter. General Jackson 's success with the convention sys- tem in 1832 encouraged him to use it again at the end of his second term in order to secure the nomina- tion of Van Buren as his successor. He began to prepare the way for this early in 1835, writing to a friend, who published the letter, suggesting the hold- ing of a national convention composed of delegates "fresh from the people," who should nominate can- didates for President and Vice-President. Then he went to work in his usual way to have the people AND ELECTIONS 11 elect as delegates men whom he could depend upon to do his bidding. The convention met in Baltimore in May, 1835, and was a really extraordinary body. There were 626 names on the roll of delegates, repre- senting twenty-two States and two Territories. There were no delegates from Alabama, Illinois, South Carolina, or Tennessee. Maryland had 181, Virginia 108, New Jersey 73, and Pennsylvania 60. Tennessee being the President's own State, it was deemed imperative to have it represented, and in the absence of an elected delegation, a citizen of the State who happened to be in Baltimore, was admitted to the convention and cast the fifteen votes allotted to Tennessee for Van Buren. In fact, so well had Jackson done his work in getting delegates "fresh from the people," that Van Buren was nominated unanimously. Long lists of the office-holders present were published in the opposi- tion press and made an imposing exhibit. The op- position party held no national convention in 1835, but put forward its candidate in the old way. Four years later, however, under the name of the Whig party, it held its first nominating convention, and the methods employed by its political leaders showed that they were as eager and as adept in operating the new system for their own purposes as General Jackson had been. This convention was held in a new Lutheran church in Harrisburg, Pa., in December, 1839, and it is a safe assertion that never before or since has a 12 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS house of God been made the scene of so much and so adroit political manoeuvring as went on there for the purpose of preventing the nomination of Henry Clay for the presidency. The chief manip- ulator was Thurlow Weed, who appeared there as the friend of Governor Seward, and the future member of the powerful firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley. This firm was, indeed, the outcome of the ensuing campaign. Greeley was at the convention "a deeply interested observer," he styles himself little dreaming that the campaign which was to fol- low would give him the opportunity for developing the qualities which were to make him the first editor of his time, and lead to the foundation of a great newspaper to be forever linked indissolubly with his name. Weed went to the convention with the deter- mination of defeating Clay. He says in his "Auto- biography" that he had had the New York dele- gation instructed for Scott to keep it from Clay, his real candidate being Harrison. He entered into an agreement with friends of Webster, on the way to Harrisburg from New York City, to act together for Clay's defeat. Webster was in Europe at the time, and had sent word to his friends declining to be a candidate, primarily because of Weed's refusal to support him. After detailing these facts, Mr. Weed goes on to say that, on reaching Harrisburg, "we found a decided plurality in favor of Mr. Clay/' but that, "in the opinion of the delegates from AND ELECTIONS 13 Pennsylvania and New York, Mr. Clay could not carry either of those States, and without them he could not be elected." Mr. Weed makes no men- tion of the plan which was arranged for preventing Clay's success, but he has always been suspected of having intimate knowledge of it, if he was not its author. It was proposed to the convention by a member of the Massachusetts delegation, in the form of a rule directing each delegation, to take informal ballots as to candidates until a majority should be recorded for some one candidate, upon which a report of the result should be made to the convention, and the vote of the majority of each delegation should be reported as the vote of that State. This was the origin of the "unit rule," which has since been used in Democratic conventions in conjunction with the "two-thirds rule." The effect of this rule was the defeat of Clay and the nomi- nation of Harrison. Weed admits a bargain in favor of Harrison with the friends both of Webster and of Scott, and says the "final vote was intentionally delayed by the friends of the stronger candidate (Harrison) for twenty-four hours" in order to placate the angry friends of Clay, "whose disappointment and vexation found excited expression." Greeley, in his "Recollections of a Busy Life," makes frank admission of the plot, saying: Governor Seward, who was in Albany (there were no telegraphs in those days), and Mr. Weed, who was 14 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS present, and very influential in producing the result, were strongly blamed by the ardent, uncalculating supporters of Mr. Clay, as having cheated him out of the nomination I could never see with what reason. They judged that he could not be chosen, if nominated, while another could be, and acted accordingly. If politics does not meditate the achievement of beneficent ends through the choice and use of the safest and most effective means, I wholly misapprehend it. This somewhat Jesuitical view did not strike Clay and his friends as justifying the methods by which an admitted majority of the convention had been prevented from expressing its will. John Tyler of Virginia, one of Clay's most ardent friends in the convention, was so overcome with grief at Harrison's nomination that he shed tears; and after several unavailing efforts to get some one else to take the nomination for Vice-President, Tyler was named for it, his tears having convinced the convention that the placing of so devoted a friend of Clay on the ticket would go far to heal the wounds that the methods of the convention had caused. But Weed and his associates were not the only intriguers. Some of Scott's supporters were loyal to him and made a strong effort to have him nom- inated when Clay's defeat was assured. The Vir- ginia delegation were for either Harrison or Scott, since both were natives of their State, and were hesitating between the two. Colonel A. K. Mc- Clure, in his book on "Our Presidents and How We AND ELECTIONS 15 Make Them/' gives this account of the manner in which they were turned from Scott: It was at this stage of the contest that Thaddeus Stevens, who was the leading delegate from Pennsyl- vania, controlled the Virginia delegation by a scheme that was more effective than creditable. Scott, who was quite too fond of writing letters, had written a letter to Francis Granger, of New York, in which he evidently sought to conciliate the antislavery sen- timent of that State. It was a private letter, but Granger exhibited it to Stevens and permitted Ste- vens to use it in his own way. As the headquarters of the Virginia delegation were the centre of attrac- tion they were always crowded, and Stevens called there along with many others. Before leaving he dropped the Scott letter on the floor, and it was soon discovered and its contents made known to the Virginians. That letter decided the Virginians to support Harrison and to reject Scott. Either could have been elected if nominated, as the Van Buren defeat of 1840 was one of the most sweeping political hurricanes in the history of the country. My authority for this is Mr. Stevens himself. CHAPTER III THE FIRST "DARK HORSE" THE Democratic convention of 1844 is memorable for several reasons. It was the first convention to develop a "dark horse," the first to bring about a nomination by means of a "stampede," and the first to have its proceedings reported by telegraph. Van Buren, who had been President, and who had been defeated in 1840 by Harrison, was the leading candidate, and had a majority of twenty-six in the convention. Eight ballots were taken without re- sult, and a great deal of bad feeling was springing up between the supporters of Van Buren and his chief competitor, General Cass. On the eighth ballot forty-four votes were cast for James K. Polk, who had been mentioned modestly up to that time as a possible nominee for Vice-President. His name came before the convention at the moment when the war- fare between the rival factions was at its hottest point. A delegate from Pennsylvania was the first to break away from instructions to vote for Van Buren. He was denounced for his action and in defending it he said he had voted for Van Buren on three ballots, but finding that he was not the choice of the convention he had voted for Mr. Buchanan. Finding that Mr. Buchanan could not succeed, he 16 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 17 had cast his vote for James K. Polk, "the bosom friend of General Jackson, and a pure, whole-hogged Democrat." A flood of lurid oratory was then turned upon the convention. A delegate from New York, disturbed by a passion which wrought sad confusion among his metaphors, charged that a firebrand had been thrown into their company by the mongrel admin- istration at Washington. That firebrand was the abominable Texas question; but that question, like a fever, would wear itself out or kill the patient. Nero had fiddled while Rome was burning, and this question had been put in agitation for the especial purpose of advancing the aspiring ambition of a man who, he doubted not, was now probably fiddling while Rome was falling. Challenged to reveal the identity of the fiddling Nero, he refused to do so. Several voices cried, "John Tyler!" and one de- clared: "We have three Neros !" Great uproar fol- lowed, and when the man who had made the original charge left the hall he was accused of "throwing a firebrand, and then meanly skulking from the room." A storm of hisses and groans followed, with earnest demands from time to time for the name of the fid- dling Nero. In the midst of the din a delegate from New Hampshire arose, and begged to appear before the convention as the "apostle of harmony." His State had presented to the convention the name of its " favorite son," but in the interest of harmony she withdrew it and presented that of James K. Polk. 18 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS A delegate from Maryland, in a voice trembling with emotion, said that "one million people are looking with anxiety to this convention, and if their voices could be concentrated they would demand a nom- ination irrespective of party faction." Therefore, Maryland would cast her vote for James K. Polk. The " stampede" now began to move. An editor from Ohio, who was a delegate, said that he was ready to make any sacrifice for union and harmony; that he was a friend of Texas (the annexation of Texas was the "firebrand" alluded to), and that, " should the convention give Ohio a candidate in favor of this object, he would pledge that the Lone Star should be blazoned on the Democratic standard in Ohio, and they would lead on to a certain victory." (Tremendous cheering.) The ninth ballot was begun while the convention was at this pitch of harmony and enthusiasm. State after State gave its solid vote to Polk. The New York delegation retired for consultation. While they were out the ballot proceeded till Virginia was reached. The chairman said that Virginia resigned her first choice, Mr. Van Buren, "with a bleeding heart," but that her chief desire was to "defeat that apostate, Henry Clay, with a tail twenty years long and a pack of hungry expectants of twenty years 7 standing dragging after it; to defeat that man Vir- ginia yields, and places her heart upon the altar of her country and her principles." This remarkable specimen of convention oratory which finds an Reproduced by courtesy of The Century Cc The crush at the White House after Jackson's inauguration. AND ELECTIONS 19 echo in much of the latter-day contribution to that portion of our political literature hit the New York delegation squarely in the face as it returned to the hall with one Benjamin F. Butler in its front. Mr. Butler " responded with all his heart" to the noble words of the gentleman from Virginia, and, acting in accordance with a private letter from Mr. Van Buren, took the "responsibility of with- drawing that honored name in the best interests of the Democratic party." He begged leave to add that it had been his privilege recently to spend "some happy days under the same roof with the venerable patriot, Jackson, at the Hermitage," where he had found him "with one eye intent on his final home, to which he was doubtless rapidly gliding, and with the other fixed on his country and her hopes of prosperity." While occupying this trying position, the venerable Jackson had conveyed to Mr. Butler the fact that Van Buren was his "first choice," and that he viewed the possible failure to nominate him with "despondency"; still, Mr. Butler had re- ceived a letter from him since the convention had been in session, containing a postscript with this pious message to the delegates: "May God bless you, my dear friends, and may he guide all the delibera- tions of the convention, leading them in union and harmony to act for the best interests of my beloved country." That completed the work. The "stam- pede" went on till every vote was recorded for Polk, and the first "dark horse" crossed the line a winner, 20 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS amid "indescribable enthusiasm." That there was a carefully laid plot behind this "spontaneous" movement was quite generally suspected. In com- menting upon the outcome, the New York Evening Post, which supported Folk's candidacy later, said: We believe that if the secret history of the con- vention, from the adoption of the two-thirds rule through its various proceedings, could be written, a large number of the delegates would stand disgraced in the eyes of their constituents. For second place on the ticket the convention, by nearly a unanimous vote, nominated Silas Wright of New York, hoping thereby to placate the disap- pointed supporters of Van Buren. Mr. Wright was at the time a member of the Senate at Washington. As I said at the beginning of this chapter, this con- vention was the first to have its proceedings reported by telegraph. Congress had only a short time be- fore appropriated $30,000 to test Morse's invention. A wire had been run between Washington and Balti- more and communication opened three days before the convention met. Messages of congratulation had been sent, the first being "What hath God wrought !" But the first practical use of the inven- tion was to give Congress the news of this conven- tion's doings. "Every half hour," says Schouler in his "History of the United States," "the strange little machine at the east end of the Capitol reported the progress of meetings held forty miles away, and AND ELECTIONS 21 written bulletins posted up on the wall of the rotunda gave quick intelligence of the news." Senator Wright was thus the first man to re- ceive and decline a nomination to office by electric telegraph. He was also the first man in our history to decline a nomination for Vice-President by a great political party after the nomination had been made. It is extremely probable that had there been no electric telegraph, he would have accepted the nomination and been elected. He was indignant at the moment at what he believed to have been a base betrayal of Van Buren, and telegraphed a positive refusal to accept. CHAPTER IV CLAY'S BITTERNESS IN DEFEAT No one can examine the records of presidential conventions, with their personal successes and fail- ures, and easily escape the conviction that there is far more of tragedy than comedy in our national politics. There are touches of humor here and there, but the dominant note is that of pathos. Be- hind many a great success there is to be seen the sombre shadow of bitter disappointment, of wrecked ambition, of lifelong hopes in ruins. As one pursues through biography, autobiography, and memoir, the personal history of the chief figures in the conven- tions that have been held during the eighty years which have passed since that method of nominating presidential candidates came into use, he finds it almost invariably ending in sadness and gloom. Scarcely one of those seeking the presidency with most persistence has succeeded in getting possession of that great office, and few of them, when final fail- ure has come, have shown themselves able to bear the blow with fortitude. Clay's rage at the outcome of the Harrisburg con- vention in 1839 was unbounded. He had been assuming in the Senate a lofty indifference to the presidency, his famous saying, "I would rather be 22 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 23 right than be President/' having been made public only a short time before the convention met. There was nobody in the Senate at that time of sufficiently nimble wit to think of the biting retort which Speaker Reed, many years later, made to a congressman, who, for the thousandth time, was strutting about in Clay's cast-off garments : " Don't give yourself the slightest uneasiness; you'll never be either." But Clay had given himself great uneasiness, for he was most desirous of the nomination. He had been a candidate eight years earlier, when he had no chance of election, and he believed firmly now that if nom- inated he could be elected. He had protested at the last moment against the arrangements of the con- vention, saying they had been made with the object of excluding him. When the news of Harrison's nomination reached him in Washington, he lost all control of himself. Henry A. Wise, who was with him at the time, thus describes the scene: He had been drinking heavily in the excitement of expectation. He rose from his chair and, walking backward and forward rapidly, lifting his feet like a horse string-halted in both legs, stamped his steps upon the floor, exclaiming: "My friends are not worth the powder and shot it would take to kill them. It is a diabolical intrigue, I know now, which has betrayed me. I am the most unfortunate man in the history of parties always run by my friends when sure to be defeated, and now betrayed for a nomination when I, or any one, would be sure of an election." 24 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS He had promised, in a letter to the Kentucky delegation which was read to the convention after Harrison's nomination, that, in case it were thought wise to nominate some other person than himself, to give the nominee his best wishes and cordial sup- port. This pledge he kept, taking the stump for Harrison, but carefully freeing himself from all re- sponsibility for the latter 's course in office. "I do not pretend/ ' he said in his first speech, "to an- nounce the purposes of the new President, of which I have no knowledge other than that accessible to every citizen. I speak only for myself." After elec- tion, Harrison offered Clay a place in his Cabinet, but the latter declined on the ground that he desired to be independent in his political course and pre- ferred to remain in the Senate. His angry complaint in 1839 that he was the most unfortunate of men in that he was always run for the presidency when he was sure to be defeated and betrayed by his friends when if nominated he was sure to be elected, was strangely confirmed by events. He was nominated unanimously by the Whig party in 1844, amid scenes of unbounded enthusiasm and with most confident anticipations of victory. When defeat came, he and his party with him were fairly stunned by it. Carl Schurz says in his "Life of Clay": The Whigs broke out in a wail of agony all over the land. The descriptions we have of the grief manifested are almost incredible. Tears flowed in Reproduced by courtesy of The Century Co. The Harrison-Tippecanoe inauguration parade. AND ELECTIONS 25 abundance from the eyes of men and women. In the cities and villages the business places were almost deserted for a day or two, people gathering together in groups to discuss in low tones what had happened. Neither did the victorious Democrats indulge in the usual demonstrations of triumph. There was a feel- ing as if a great wrong had been done. Many de- spaired of the republic, sincerely believing that the experiment of popular government had failed for- ever. It was inevitable that Clay himself should share these gloomy views. He took his defeat very much to heart, saying in a letter to a friend: The late blow that has fallen upon our country is very heavy. I hope that she may recover from it, but I confess that the prospect ahead is dark and dis- couraging. I am afraid that it will be yet a long time, if ever, that the people recover from the cor- rupting influences and effects of Jacksonism. I pray God to give them a happy deliverance. Clay was nearly seventy-one years of age when he made his final effort to obtain the presidency. His defeat in 1844 had been followed by extraordinary manifestations of popular affection. He had been f or'several years burdened with a steadily accumulat- ing mass of debt, including a heavy mortgage upon his home, Ashland. He was considering whether he must not part with this cherished abode when he was surprised with the information that all his debts had been paid. When he asked who had done this, 26 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS he could learn only that the benefactors were un- known, but they were presumably not his enemies. He hesitated for some time as to the propriety of accepting the gift, but when his friends assured him that since he could not discover the donors he could not return their money, and since their money had discharged obligations, he could not force the renewal of his debts, he decided to accept. During the in- tervening years between his defeat and the assem- bling of the Whig convention of 1848, he lived in retirement at Ashland, receiving so constantly marked evidences of the popular esteem in which he was held as to leave no cause for doubting that he was as strong with his party as he had ever been. The first shock to his sense of security came with the popular demonstrations which followed the vic- tories achieved by General Taylor in the Mexican War. When talk of Taylor for the presidency began to come out of these demonstrations, Clay was ex- tremely annoyed, and when a Taylor movement started in Kentucky itself, he became anxious and even fretful. "Why is it," he wrote to a friend, "after the long period of time during which I have had the happiness to enjoy the friendship and confi- dence of that State, what have I done, it is inquired, to lose it?" When the convention assembled and a majority of the Kentucky delegation voted for Tay- lor's nomination and thus led the way to his selection on the fourth ballot, Clay's mortification was more acute than it had been eight years earlier when AND ELECTIONS 27 another "war hero" had been preferred to him, for on this second occasion his own State had joined in his humiliation, or as he considered it, his betrayal by his friends. Curiously enough, the political leader who had done most on both occasions to defeat Clay was Thurlow Weed of New York, who was acting in each instance on his pet doctrine of availability. The limit of Clay's patience and magnanimity had been reached. He refused to support Taylor, saying he would do nothing against him or anything to help him, and adding: Ought I, to come out as a warm and partisan supporter of a candidate who, in a reversal of our conditions, announced his purpose to remain a can- didate, and consequently to oppose me, so far as it depended upon himself? Tell me, what reciprocity is this? Magnanimity is a noble virtue, and I have always endeavored to practise it ; but it has its limits, and the line of demarcation between it and mean- ness is not always discernible. I think my friends ought to leave me quiet and undisturbed in my re- tirement. My race is run. During the short time that remains to me in this world I desire to preserve untarnished that character which so many have done me the honor to respect and esteem. CHAPTER V WEBSTER'S LONG AND HOPELESS QUEST MR. WEBSTER was an eager candidate for a presi- dential nomination for twenty years. The "bee" began to buzz in his bonnet immediately after his famous speech in reply to Hayne, in January, 1830. "Before the delivery of that speech," says Henry Cabot Lodge, in his "Life of Webster," "he was a distinguished statesman, but the day after he awoke to a national fame which made all his other triumphs pale. The reply made him a presidential candidate, and from that moment he was never free from the gnawing, haunting ambition to win the grand prize of American public life." He sought it earnestly in 1832, but his best friends in his own party told him that he had no chance of winning it as against Clay, and he acquiesced in their decision. The defeat of Clay in the campaign of that year convinced Web- ster that he was the inevitable candidate for 1836, since his most formidable rival had been removed from the field. The legislature of Massachusetts nominated him for the office, but the movement began and ended there. No other State took it up, and General Harrison was made the Whig candi- date. Webster's failure did not in the slightest degree 28 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 29 diminish his zeal or chill his hope of ultimate suc- cess. He was as eager and sanguine a candidate as ever in 1839. Thurlow Weed called upon him in Washington in the spring of that year, and Webster said to him: "I think I shall be the Whig candidate/' Weed expressed doubt, and when Webster asked who would be the candidate, replied: "It looks to me like Harrison." Whereupon Webster exclaimed: "You are misinformed. The party will choose a man with larger civic experience, who is better adapted to the place." To this Weed replied that the real question was: "Who will poll the most votes?" He then asked Webster if he would con- sent to be the nominee for Vice-President on the ticket with Harrison, but "Webster would not listen to this." The legislature of Massachusetts again brought Webster forward, but no response came from any other State, even in New England. Harrison was nominated. Webster supported him heartily, speaking to enthusiastic audiences in all parts of the country, for he was incomparably the favorite orator of his party and of his time, and accept- ing Harrison's offer of the position of secretary of state after election. He composed for Harrison an inaugural address which the latter declined to use, saying that the people would know it was not his, but Webster's, and he thought it best to give them the one which he had prepared himself. He sub- mitted this to Webster for revision. It had a great 30 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS deal in it about the Roman republic and proconsuls, and Webster spent nearly an entire day over it. His friend, Peter Harvey, says in his " Reminiscences," that when Webster returned to his home, late for dinner, his wife, struck with his worried and tired look, said she hoped nothing had happened, and that Webster replied: "You would think something had happened if you knew what I have done. I have killed seventeen proconsuls as dead as smelts, every one of them." Webster remained in Tyler's Cabinet as secretary of state, after Harrison's death, till May, 1843, when he resigned and retired to his farm at Marsh- field. He declared that he was not a candidate for the presidential nomination of 1844 and refused to permit New Hampshire to bring his name forward. The Whigs were again united and enthusiastic for Clay. Tyler's treachery to the party, as it was called, had revived all its former enthusiasm for Clay and had silenced all internal opposition to him. Greeley says in his "Recollections": John Tyler succeeded General Harrison in the presidency. He was called a Whig when elected Vice-President; I think he never called himself, nor wished others to call him so, from the day on which he stepped into our dead President's shoes. At all events, he contrived soon to quarrel with the great body of those whose efforts and votes had borne him into power. If he cried at Harrisburg over Mr. Clay's defeat, Mr. Clay's friends had abundant reason to cry ever afterward over Tyler's success there. AND ELECTIONS 31 Webster supported Clay as heartily as he had supported Harrison four years earlier, and in the following winter Massachusetts re-elected him to the Senate. He still had his eye fixed unswervingly and confidently upon the presidency and was con- vinced a second time that Clay's defeat had cleared the way for his own nomination. Thurlow Weed visited him again, as he had done eight years earlier, this time at Marshfield. Webster greeted him with the inquiry : " Well, how do things look now ? I sup- pose the question still is: 'Who will poll the most votes?'" "Yes," replied Weed, "and that man is General Taylor, who will be the next President." Webster broke out in contemptuous surprise: "Why, Taylor is an illiterate frontier colonel, who hasn't voted for forty years !" Weed insisted that Taylor was the man, and again asked Webster to take second place; but Webster again refused, saying: "I shall remain in the field as a candidate for President. I am not a candidate for any other place." The task of supporting General Taylor was even more difficult for Webster than that of supporting General Harrison had been. Indeed, it was too diffi- cult for him to master it entirely, for while coming finally to the advocacy of his election, on the ground that Taylor's opponents were less worthy than he was, he made no concealment of his contempt for him. In a speech at Marshfield, some time after the nomination, he used several phrases which not only echoed and re-echoed throughout the cam- 32 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS paign, but have survived to the present day. "That sagacious, wise, far-seeing doctrine of availability," he said, with Thurlow Weed's repeated objection to his own candidacy obviously in his mind, "lies at the bottom of the whole matter. General Taylor has been nominated fairly, as far as I know, and I cannot, therefore, and shall not, oppose his election. At the same time there is no man who is more firmly of the opinion that such a nomination was not fit to be made." Naturally, the opposing parties, for there were three candidates in that campaign Tay- lor, Van Buren, and Cass made the most of the phrase "a nomination not fit to be made," and it played a very p/ominent part in the canvass. Webster wrote to a friend who commended the speech that there were many of their party associates who would not like it, adding: "They think General Taylor is a miracle of a man, knowing everything without having had the opportunity of learning it, and the fittest man in the world, by a sort of inspira- tion, to administer a constitutional government and discharge the highest civil trusts." Yet Taylor was elected, as Harrison had been; and as Mr. Weed points out in his "Autobiography," if Webster had humbled his pride and had accepted second place with either of these two men, he would have realized his cherished desire of being President, for each died before the expiration of his term. Webster's final appearance as a candidate was in 1852. So great was his infatuation that he did not Reproduced by courtesy of The Century C The approach to the Capitol during Folk's inauguration. AND ELECTIONS 33 perceive that he had far less chance of success than ever. He had alienated completely and hopelessly a great body of his Northern supporters by his famous 7th of March speech on the Wilmot Proviso. In their opinion, he had abandoned his advocacy of human freedom, and had become not merely the apologist for but the defender of slavery. As Mr. Lodge says: He was wholly out of the race and his last hour was near, but he himself regarded the great prize as at last surely within his grasp. There was absolutely no one who in fame, ability, public services, and experience could be compared for one moment with Mr. Webster. The opportunity was obvious enough; it awakened all Mr. Webster's hopes, and excited the ardor of his friends. A formal and recognized movement, such as had never before been made, was set on foot to promote his candi- dacy. Before the time for the convention to meet had arrived, his friends became convinced that he had no chance. Rufus Choate, who was to be his spokesman and the leader of the Webster delegates in the convention, went to Washington the day before it was to assemble to tell him the sad truth in the matter, but he found him so strong in the belief that he would be nominated that it seemed cruel to undeceive him, and he made no attempt to do so. On the day the convention met Webster wrote to a friend: "What may take place to-day, 34 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS in Baltimore, I know not; but of one thing, my dear sir, you may be assured, that is, that I shall meet the result, whatever it may be, with a com- posed mind." Choate made a speech of great eloquence in his behalf and everything that loyal friends could do for him was done, but his nomination was hopeless from the start. His highest vote was 32 in a total of 293, and after forty-five ballots had been taken General Scott began to gain and was nominated on the fifty-third. Webster's "composed mind" failed him when the news of the result reached him. The faithful Peter Harvey, who was at the convention, which sat in Baltimore, went directly to Webster's house in Washington after Scott had been nomi- nated. Webster met him at the door "with an ex- pression of grief," but said not a word as to the result, merely asking for Mr. Choate. The latter arrived later, and the family sat down to tea. Still not a word was uttered by any one about the con- vention. Webster and Choate were closeted for an hour later, and then Choate departed for Boston. Harvey met him there a few days later, when Choate spoke of the interview as one of the most affecting he had ever had, saying that the appear- ance of the family and everything about the house seemed to remind him of scenes he had wit- nessed in families which had lost a beloved member, "and that sad meal which we partook with Mr. and AND ELECTIONS 35 Mrs. Webster reminded me -of the first meal after the return from the grave, when the full force of the bereavement seems to be realized." Upon this funereal household, in the depths of gloom, there came strains of jubilant music, and the shouting of an enthusiastic crowd of Washington Whigs, who, in celebrating Scott's nomination, con- ceived the notion of including Mr. Webster in their round of visits. They gathered under his windows, and demanded a speech, and would take no refusal, though told repeatedly that he was not well and had retired for the night. He appeared finally with great reluctance, and in a brief speech, which con- tained no mention of Scott, said: Of one thing, gentlemen, I can assure you: that no one amongst you will enjoy a sounder night's sleep than I shall. I shall rise in the morning, God will- ing, to the performance of my duty with the lark, and though I cannot equal him in sweetness of song, he will not greet the purpling east more joyous and jocund than I. He left Washington soon afterward for Marshfield, where a few weeks later he died. Harvey records that Webster was unable to reconcile himself to Scott's nomination, saying only a few days before his death that Scott, if elected, "would be a mere tool in the hands of the New York Whig regency, headed by William H. Seward"; and adding, "if I had a vote, I should cast it for General Pierce.' 7 He wrote in 36 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS response to an urgent request that he recommend his party associates to vote for Scott: This is a matter of principle and character and reputation with me, and I will die before I will do anything, directly or indirectly, from which it is to be inferred that I acquiesce in the nomination made at Baltimore. I ask nobody to vote for me, I ex- pect it of nobody; I find fault with nobody for sup- porting the nomination. But I cannot and will not say that I acquiesce in it. Three days before his death, when a letter was read to him from a friend in Boston, expressing the hope that he would not be swerved from his deter- mination not to support Scott, he said: "Write to him and tell him to look over toward Charles- town and see if the Bunker Hill monument is still standing." Goldwin Smith, in his "Political History of the United States," says of this tragic close of a great life: His character, to which the friends of freedom in the North had long looked up, fell with a crash like that of a mighty tree, of a lofty pillar, of a rock that for ages had breasted the waves. Some minds, will- ing to be misled, he still drew after him, but the best of his friends turned from him, and his life ended in gloom. CHAPTER VI LINCOLN'S TWO NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS WAS Lincoln an active or a passive candidate for the presidency ? I have read what his various biog- raphers have said upon this point with much care, and it seems to me to leave no doubt that he sought the nomination by all means at his command after he returned from his Eastern tour in the early spring of 1860. The success of his Cooper Institute speech, together with the enthusiastic reception accorded him in New England, clearly convinced him that he was a presidential possibility. A year earlier he had no such aspirations. In April, 1859, an Illi- nois editor wrote to him, saying he was preparing for a simultaneous announcement of Lincoln's name for the presidency by the entire Republican press of the State. To this Lincoln replied: "I must in can- dor say that I do not think myself fit for the presi- dency. I certainly am flattered and gratified that some partial friends think of me in that connection; but I really think it best for our cause that no con- certed effort, such as you suggest, shall be made." Eleven months later, he took a quite different view, for in March, 1860, he wrote to a friend in Kansas: As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I cannot enter the ring on the money basis, first, 37 38 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS because in the main it is wrong; and, secondly, I have not and cannot get the money. I say in the main the use of money is wrong; but for certain ob- jects in a political contest the use of some is both right and indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long struggle has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this: If you shall be ap- pointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred dollars to bear the expenses of the trip. About a month later he wrote again to the same friend: "I see by the despatches that since you wrote Kansas has appointed delegates and instructed for Seward. Don't stir them up to anger, but come along to the convention, and I will do as I said about expenses." There is no doubt about the authenticity of these two letters, for both are given in facsimile in Hern- don's "Life of Lincoln." They show, as Goldwin Smith says, that "as a politician he played the game." Commenting upon Lincoln's attitude at the time, Herndon, who was his law partner, says: I know the idea prevails that Lincoln sat still in his chair in Springfield, and that one of those unlooked- for tides in human affairs came along and cast the nomination into his lap; but any man who has had experience in such things knows that great politi- cal prizes are not obtained in that way. The truth is, Lincoln was as vigilant as he was ambitious, and there is no denying the fact that he understood the situation perfectly from the start. It was apparent to Lincoln that the presidential nomination was within his reach. He began gradually to lose his AND ELECTIONS 39 interest in the law and to trim his political sails at the same time. His recent success had stimulated his self-confidence to unwonted proportions. He wrote to influential party workers everywhere. Herndon is not, I am aware, an entirely safe au- thority, but there is corroborative evidence in sup- port of what he says on this point. When the time for the convention to meet was approaching, Lincoln wrote to a friend who urged him to go to Chicago: "I am a little too much of a candidate to go, and not quite enough of a candidate to stay away, but upon the whole I believe I will not go." But if Lincoln did not attend in person, he had an able and tireless body of friends who did go and to whose masterly leadership his nomination was due. Yet after full credit is given to their efforts, it still remains true, as Hay and Nicolay say in their " Life," that "Lincoln was chosen, not by personal intrigue but through political necessity." The convention marked an epoch in the history of such bodies. It was the first of the great modern convention assem- blages, which are at once the most impressive and the most tumultuous in the world. It was the first to have a special building erected for its use, and the first to bring telegraph wires and instruments into the building itself. It was the first, also, to admit the general public in large numbers, for The Wigwam, as the convention building was christened, had a capacity of between 5,000 and 10,000, and it was crammed at every session. 40 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS The spectators, outnumbering the convention itself five or six to one, played the part that their succes- sors have played in similar bodies ever since. They consisted almost entirely of ardent supporters of the leading candidates who were there to cheer on sig- nal and to keep on cheering as long as throat and lungs permitted when required to do so. In fact, the modern practise of cheering and counter-cheer- ing, in tests of noise and endurance, began at this convention. In this first contest the East was pitted against the West from the outset. In the prelimi- nary skirmish for position, the West came off victor. The Seward contingent from New York, several thousand strong, had gone to the convention full of the confidence of coming victory. They had a gorgeously uniformed brass band, and they marched about the streets with military precision to the ad- miration of the populace. They announced a grand parade on the morning of the day upon which the convention was to meet. When the Lincoln man- agers heard of this they took counsel as to what should be done to offset the display. After much debate it was decided to fill The Wigwam with Lin- coln shouters, while the Seward men were marching, and to fill all available space so completely that the latter could not get in. This scheme was carried out successfully, the Seward men aiding it greatly by marching and countermarching, under the stimu- lating influence of popular applause, till so late a moment that when they reached The Wigwam they AND ELECTIONS 41 found that very few except members of the New York delegation could get in. From the outset, as Herndon says, "the contest narrowed down to a neck-and-neck race between the brilliant statesman of Auburn and the less preten- tious, but manly rail-splitter from the Sangamon bottoms." The platform was reported before the nominations were made, and after its reading, which called forth unbounded enthusiasm, an historic inci- dent occurred which should be recorded here. A veteran abolitionist, Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, moved that the first resolution be amended by inserting the words of the Declaration of Independence, an- nouncing the right of all men to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Several delegates ob- jected to any change, and one remarked that there were many truths in the Declaration of Indepen- dence, adding: "Mr. President, I believe in the Ten Commandments, but I do not want them in a politi- cal platform." The convention voted down the amendment, whereupon Mr. Giddings left the con- vention. Later, George William Curtis, of New York, renewed the motion, and when fresh objections were made he swept them aside with this really impas- sioned burst of oratory: I have to ask this convention whether they are prepared to go upon record before the country as voting down the words of the Declaration of Inde- pendence ? I rise simply to ask gentlemen to think well before, upon the free prairies of the West, in 42 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS the summer of 1860, they dare to wince and quail before the assertions of the men in Philadelphia, in 1776 before they dare to shrink from repeating the words that those great men enunciated. This carried the convention by storm, the amend- ment was adopted, and Mr. Giddings returned over- joyed to his seat in the convention. With the naming of candidates the prolonged cheering contests began. The custom of set speeches in placing candidates before a convention had not been instituted at this time. Each spokesman con- fined himself to a simple statement that in behalf of his State he begged leave to present the name of its candidate. There was only ordinary cheering at the presentation of Seward's and Lincoln's names, but when the Seward nomination was seconded, pandemonium of the modern type broke loose. Murat Halstead, who was present, thus describes what followed: The effect was startling. Hundreds of persons stopped their ears in pain. The shouting was abso- lutely frantic, shrill and wild. No Comanches, no panthers, ever struck a higher note, or gave screams with more infernal intensity. Looking from the stage over the vast amphitheatre, nothing was to be seen below but thousands of hats a black mighty swarm of hats flying with the velocity of hornets, over a mass of human heads, most of the mouths of which were open. Above, all around the galleries, hats and handkerchiefs were flying in the tempest together. AND ELECTIONS 43 When Lincoln's nomination was seconded, the counter-demonstration began. "The uproar," says Mr. Halstead, "was beyond description. I thought the Seward yell could not be surpassed, but the Lincoln boys were clearly ahead, and, feeling their victory, as there was a lull in the storm, took deep breaths all round, and gave a concentrated shriek that was positively awful, and accompanied it with stamping that made every plank and pillar in the building quiver." That careful preparation had been made for this is shown by the established fact that the Seward men had engaged Tom Hyer, a prize-fighter, with a gang of roughs, to marshal their forces and to lead in the cheering and yelling, while the Lincoln managers had hired a couple of men with stentorian voices, had instructed them carefully as to the methods they were to use, and had placed them in the galleries which they had packed with their followers. The night before the balloting began the Seward men were so confident of his nomination that they gave a champagne supper of unlimited dimensions, and marched about serenading the delegations from other States. But while they were drinking and marching and cheering, the Lincoln managers were undermining Seward's strength by persistent work among the delegates, using chiefly the argument that he could not be elected if nominated. In this work Pennsylvania and Indiana played the most promi- nent part, and one of the most powerful personal 44 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS influences against Seward was his old political part- ner, Horace Greeley, who sat in the convention as a delegate from the newly made State of Oregon. Thurlow Weed, another old political partner of Greeley in the once powerful firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley, found himself at last a victim of his own doctrine of "availability," which he had used with such deadly force for so many years against Clay and Webster. It is said that the Seward men promised the In- diana delegates all the money they needed to carry the State; that they said openly to opposing dele- gates from other States they "would spend oceans of money" if Seward were nominated, but they could not stay the tide that was running against him. Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot amid a scene of indescribable enthusiasm, accompanied by an uproar so deafening that the reports of a cannon that was being discharged upon the roof of the building were inaudible within it. The Seward men were dazed by the unexpected defeat and fairly prostrated with grief. Thurlow Weed, whose success in defeating Clay just twenty years earlier at Harrisburg, on the ground of "avail- ability," had caused Tyler to shed tears, confesses in his "Autobiography" that when Seward 's defeat came he was "completely unnerved and even shed tears." George William Curtis, whose eloquent plea against striking from the platform the opening words of the Declaration of Independence had taken the AND ELECTIONS 45 convention by storm, carrying away all opposition like chaff, was scarcely less dejected than Weed, his sad appearance prompting his distinguished col- league and fellow worker, William M. Evarts, to say, as he slipped his hand through his arm while leaving the convention hall: "Well, Curtis, at least we saved the Declaration of Independence." Seward was more philosophical than his friends. He sat calmly in his library in Auburn, awaiting the news from the convention. His neighbors were assembled in the village telegraph office, confidently expecting his nomination. When the news of Lin- coln's came instead, not one of them had the heart to take it to him. His son, in his "Memoir" of his father, says he knew by their failure to bring good news, that "there was no news that friends would love to bring." Later, when some one mustered courage to visit him, he was told that no Republican could be found in Auburn who felt like writing the customary paragraph in the evening paper announc- ing and approving the nomination. He smiled, and, taking up a pen, wrote a few lines commending the platform, and saying that "no truer or firmer de- fenders of the Republican faith could have been found in the Union than the distinguished and es- teemed citizens upon whom the honors of the^nom- ination have fallen." In a letter to Weed, written on the same day, he said: "I wish that I was sure that your sense of the disappointment is as light as my own." 46 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Lincoln was in Springfield when the news of his nomination reached him. Herndon says that nat- urally enough he was nervous, restless, and laboring under more or less suppressed excitement. He had been tossing ball a pastime frequently indulged in by lawyers of the day and had played a few games of billiards to keep down, as another has expressed it, the unnatural excitement that threatened to pos- sess him. When the telegram containing the result of the last ballot came in, although apparently calm and undisturbed, a close observer could have de- tected in the compressed lip and serious countenance evidences of deep and unusual emotion. As the balloting progressed he had gone to the office of the Journal, and was sitting in a large armchair there when the news of the nomination came. He read the despatch, first in silence, and then aloud to the others present, and then arose, remarking that he "would go down the street to tell a little woman the news." Lincoln received the news of his first election at Springfield, 111. The first returns were from near-by sections of the State and were very favorable. When later news began to come in from Missouri, Lincoln, who was entirely calm, said: "Now they should get a few licks back at us," but this proved not to be the case, for the returns were favorable. The only anxiety he had shown had been about his own State and city, saying he did not "feel quite easy about Springfield." "Toward morning, however," records AND ELECTIONS 47 Ida Tarbell, in her "Life of Lincoln/' "the an- nouncement came that he had a majority in his own precinct. Then it was that he showed the first emotion, a jubilant chuckle, and soon after he re- marked cheerfully to his friends, that he 'guessed he'd go home now/ which he did." Lincoln's renomination four years later was a foregone conclusion long before the convention met. "He took no measures whatever to promote his can- didacy/' record Nicolay and Hay in the biography. He wrote to a Congressman: "I do not desire a re- nomination, except for the reason that such action on the part of the Republican party would be the most emphatic indorsement which could be given to the policy of my administration." When told that a member of his Cabinet (Chase) was scheming for the nomination, he said: "It is in very bad taste. ... If he becomes President, all right ! I hope we may never have a worse man. . . . I am entirely indifferent to his success or failure in these schemes so long as he does his duty as head of the Treasury Department." When apprehensive friends told him he would do well to beware of Grant, his reply was: " If he takes Richmond, let him have it ! " When he had been renominated unanimously, he said: "I view this call to a second term as in nowise more flattering to myself than as an expression of the public judgment that I may better finish a difficult work than could one less severely schooled to the task." To a visiting delegation he said: "I have 48 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS not permitted myself to conclude that I am the best man in the country, but I am reminded of the old Dutch farmer who remarked to a companion that it was not best to swap horses while crossing a stream." A period of discouragement followed the nomina- tion and "toward the end of August/ 7 record Nicolay and Hay, "the general gloom and depression envel- oped the President himself." Thurlow Weed told him early in August that his "re-election was an impossibility." McClellan had not been nominated at that time, but his nomina- tion by the Democrats, which came about a week later, was generally anticipated. On August 23 Lin- coln wrote and sealed the following memorandum. (I quote from the Nicolay-Hay biography, vol. IX, pp. 252-3) : This morning, as for some days past, it seems ex- ceedingly probable that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co- operate with the President-elect as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterward. He folded and pasted the sheet of paper on which this was written in such manner that its contents could not be read, and as his Cabinet came together he asked each member to write his name across the back of it, which was done. He gave no intimation of its contents. After his triumphant re-election, he Reproduced by courtesy of The Century Co. Buchanan's inauguration. AND ELECTIONS 49 had the paper opened by one of his secretaries, and, having read its contents, he said: You will remember that this was written at the time, six days before the Chicago nominating con- vention, when as yet we had no adversary and seemed to have no friends. I then solemnly resolved on the course of action indicated in this paper. I resolved, in case of the election of General McClellan, being certain that he would be the candidate, that I would see him and talk matters over with him. I v would say: "General, the election has demonstrated that you are stronger, have more influence with the American people than I. Now let us together, you with your influence and I with all the executive power of the government, try to save the country. You raise as many troops as you possibly can, and I will devote all my energies to assist and finish the war." Secretary Seward said: And the general would have answered you, "Yes, yes," and the next day when you saw him again and pressed these views upon him he would have said, "Yes, yes/' and so on forever, and would have done nothing at all. To which Lincoln replied: "At least I should have done my duty and have stood clear before my con- science." He did not feel certain of his re-election in 1864, saying on election day: "I am just enough of a politician to know that there was not much doubt 50 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS about the result of the Baltimore convention; but about this thing I am very far from being certain. I wish I were certain." When late at night positive assurance was received that he had been re-elected, he took the news calmly, showing no elation or ex- citement, saying that he was glad to be relieved of suspense, and grateful that the verdict of the people was likely to be so full, clear, and unmistakable that there could be no dispute. "About two o'clock in the morning," says Noah Brooks, one of the private secretaries, in his "Washington in Lincoln's Time," " a messenger came over from the White House (to the War Department where Lincoln was receiving the returns) with the news that a crowd of Pennsylva- nians were serenading his empty chamber, where- upon he went home; and, in answer to repeated calls, he made a happy little speech full of good feeling and cheerfulness. He wound up his remarks by saying: 'If I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one, but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity.'" CHAPTER VII LAST DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIONS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR THE convention of 1860 brought keen disappoint- ment to another persistent and eager candidate for a presidential nomination, who had behind him as large and as devoted a body of friends as had sup- ported Seward. Stephen A. Douglas, whose mem- orable debates with Lincoln had given him a fame commensurate with that of Lincoln, reached the climax of his political career at the moment when his party had entered upon the throes of dissolution. He succeeded in getting a nomination from only one section of his dismembered party and under condi- tions that made it worthless. He had been an un- successful candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1852 and again in 1856. When his party came together in convention at Charleston in April, 1860, it had fallen a helpless prey to the same "irrepressi- ble conflict" that was leading the country into civil war. The Southern members had exerted themselves to have the convention called for the first time to meet in the far South, in the stronghold of extreme slavery sentiment and the cradle of nullification and secession. They had surrounded the convention with the most powerful slavery influences, and from 51 52 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS the outset there was no hope of agreement between them and the Northern wing of the party. They were irreconcilably divided on the question of the Territories and slavery, and every effort to bring them together resulted only in increased bitterness and more fierce antagonism. The convention was in session for ten days, wrangling incessantly over nearly every subject that arose. Threats of bolting began to be made by the Southern delegations on the third day, and before the balloting began a large proportion of them had withdrawn. The delegates who remained adopted the two-thirds rule, and the consequence was that Douglas could not be nomi- nated even by the depleted convention. After fifty- seven fruitless ballots the convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore on June 18. The seceding Southern delegates organized a con- vention of their own, adopted a platform, and ad- journed to meet at Richmond on June 11. When the regular convention reassembled at Baltimore and it became apparent that Douglas would be nomi- nated, the few remaining Southern delegates started a second session and organized a second bolters' con- vention, nominating Breckinridge and Lane. The other bolting convention made the same nominations after reassembling at Richmond. The regular con- vention, adhering still to the two-thirds rule, finally nominated Douglas. It could not be said, however, that either he or Breckinridge had received a two- thirds vote of a full party convention, and conse- AND ELECTIONS 53 quently neither of them could establish a claim to regularity. There were several manifestations of grim humor about the convention which had so much difficulty in getting Douglas into the field. When it first met in Charleston, S. C., the Northern delegates received a disagreeable intimation of the way in which their party had come under the domination of the slave power. When they tried to march through the streets at night with a military band at their head, which they had brought from New York, they were told that they came under the municipal law of slavery, which forbade band-playing after ten o'clock at night in the streets, since the drums might be mis- taken for the dread alarm signal of a slave uprising. Later, when the adjourned convention reassembled in Baltimore, the temporary flooring above the parquet of the theatre in which the sessions were held gave way in the centre, and the delegates found them- selves sliding down the shelving sides of a pit into a human maelstrom, from which they were extricated with much difficulty. This the opposition press of the time commented upon as an ominous sign of the forthcoming dropping out of the bottom of the party. In the same sessions at Baltimore, Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts charged that forged tick- ets of admission had been issued, two of which he exhibited, and declared: "We are overwhelmed with outsiders. I do not propose to sit here under this fraud." The redoubtable Isaiah Rynders asked Mr. 54 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Butler, with much eagerness, where he got the tickets, saying he was anxious to get some of his friends into the convention. Before this question was disposed of it caused a violent altercation between a Mr. Ran- dall and another Pennsylvania delegate, in which the "lie was exchanged" with great force and freedom, and after adjournment Randall's son struck his father's opponent a "staggering blow between the eyes/' and the latter responded by "getting one in on young Randall's ear, levelling him to the ground." CHAPTER VIII BLAINE'S FATE LIKE CLAY'S WITH the exception of Clay, James G. Elaine was a presidential candidate for a longer period than any other man in our history. His name was before the conventions of 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, and 1892, a period of nearly twenty years. He failed of a nom- ination in four conventions, and was nominated in one, only to be defeated at the polls. Until the last trial he maintained his courage, and if he felt bitter- ness toward his successful rivals he kept it from the public observation. He entered upon the contest in 1876 under extremely unfortunate conditions. He had been charged with using his position as speaker for personal advantage and his conduct had been made the subject of an investigation by Congress. A witness named Mulligan had been summoned and had arrived in Washington to testify, who was said to have in his possession a batch of incriminating letters. Elaine called upon him, got possession of the letters, and, in a personal explanation, read them with dra- matic effect in the House. His friends declared this explanation to be a complete vindication, but his critics pronounced the letters to be proof of his guilt. The episode came on the eve of the assembling of the convention at Cincinnati. On the Sunday be- 55 56 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS fore its sessions began, Mr. Elaine, while apparently in the best of health, was smitten with what was said at the time to have been a sunstroke. He was entering a church in Washington, when without warning he sank upon the stone steps, being saved from falling by his wife, who caught him in her arms. He was taken to his home unconscious and remained till Tuesday "locked," writes his biographer and cousin, Mary A. Dodge (Gail Hamilton), "in impen- etrable sleep." All efforts to arouse him were in vain till the following Tuesday, when he regained full consciousness, and, calling for writing materials, inscribed with his own hand the following telegram to Senator Hale at Cincinnati: I am entirely convalescent, suffering from physical weakness. Impress upon my friends the great depth of gratitude I feel for the unparalleled steadfastness with which they have adhered to me in my hour of trial. The convention began to ballot on the second day, and, according to Miss Dodge, "Calmest, coolest, most discerning of all, Mr. Elaine sat in his library and from morning forecasted the result." Before the decisive vote was fully counted, his message of congratulation was on the way to Mr. Hayes: I offer you my sincerest congratulations on your nomination. It will be alike my highest pleasure as well as my first political duty to do the utmost in my power to promote your election. The earliest mo- AND ELECTIONS 57 ments of my returning and confirmed health will be devoted to securing as large a vote in Maine as she would have given for myself. That he was disappointed and depressed by the result, even to the point of abandoning hope of suc- cess in the future, seems to be sufficiently well estab- lished. Colonel A. K. McClure says in his recollec- tions: I saw Elaine soon after the Cincinnati convention of 1876, and talked with him for an hour alone at the Continental Hotel, and I well remember the sad expression of his strong face when he said: "I am the Henry Clay of the Republican party; I can never be President. 7 ' He was standing by a window looking out upon the street, with his arm over my shoulder, and he spoke of his hopes and fears with a subdued eloquence that was painfully impressive. He was again defeated for nomination in 1880, thus suffering two defeats when the candidates chosen by the con- vention were elected. He was nominated in 1884 and defeated, thus completing the circle of the sad history of Clay and the Whig party. Miss Dodge bears similar testimony: Never afterward did he make one movement toward a candidacy; never did any solicitation thereto receive the consent of his own mind, and never the consent of his lips except as it seemed to him cowardice, the abandonment of comrades, and the betrayal of causes, to refuse it. Whatever assis- tance he subsequently lent to the support of his own 58 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS candidacy was rendered with an insurmountable per- sonal reluctance, from a conviction that it would be ignoble not to do it. In 1880 the Elaine and Grant forces were not only very evenly balanced, but were so implacably hos- tile to each other that neither candidate had a chance of success after the balloting had begun. The full story of this convention will be told in a subsequent chapter. Elaine's supporters secured the nomination of Garfield, and Elaine threw himself into the subse- quent campaign with great enthusiasm. When his nomination came on the fourth ballot in 1884, he is said by his intimate friends to have received it calmly, but that at no time during the campaign was he sanguine of election. One of them, who visited him at his home in Augusta, says of him that he was nervous and depressed most of the time, that he walked up and down a great deal, and that he would fling his hands above his head and exclaim: "Will this rain of calumny never cease!" On the eve of election day he said in a speech at Boston: I go to my home to-morrow, not without a strong confidence in the result of the ballot, but with a heart that shall not in the least degree be troubled by any verdict that may be returned by the Ameri- can people. When the suspense which followed the election, due to uncertainty about the result in New York AND ELECTIONS 59 State, had ended in assurance of his defeat, Mr. Elaine wrote to a friend: I was not sustained in the canvass by many who had personally a far greater stake than I. They are likely to have leisure for reflection and for cool cal- culation of the small sums they were asked in vain to contribute. If the country is lost, it will be some satisfaction to realize that the class which permitted it to be sacrificed will feel the result most keenly. But I fear you may think me ill-natured if I keep on. I really am not, and feel as placid as a summer's day. Personally, I care less than my nearest friends would believe, but for the cause and for my friends I pro- foundly deplore the result. Mr. Elaine was travelling in Scotland when the convention of 1888 assembled, and he refused to allow his friends to make him a candidate, but votes were cast for him on every one of the eight ballots taken. On receipt of the news of Harrison's nomina- tion, he telegraphed his "hearty congratulations/' predicting for his campaign the " triumphant en- thusiasm" and "victorious conclusion" that followed his grandfather's nomination in 1840. When Har- rison became President, Elaine accepted the portfolio of State in his Cabinet, resigning it and returning to his home in Maine three days before the meeting of the national convention in 1892. It was said by his critics that he resigned because he could not with propriety remain in the Cabinet and be a candidate against his chief before that convention. He had in 60 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS the preceding February written a letter announcing that he was not a candidate. His action in resign- ing was construed by his friends as permission to use his name and they did so, mustering for him on the only ballot taken 182 votes against the 535 which re- nominated Harrison. Mr. Elaine was in Boston at the time and was watching the proceedings closely. "When the vote on a preliminary point had been taken/' says one who was present, "forecasting the vote on the nomination, Mr. Elaine saw that his supporters were overpowered, and requesting a mem- ber of his family to receive further telegrams, he retired early and was asleep at once and soundly." The same authority says of the final outcome: The result of the balloting in the convention, under the circumstances, was not a surprise to Mr. Elaine. His only regret was that his name had been used at all; having been used, a larger vote would have been flattering, but he received the announcement with no apparent emotion and no outward sign beyond the sad smile which spoke of his consciousness of mis- apprehension and misrepresentation. He was in real- ity profoundly indifferent. Whatever his real emotions, they did not prompt him to send a word of congratulation to Harrison, as he had done four years earlier, although he did send a message of that kind to the nominee for Vice- President. Like Clay, who refused to support Tay- lor at the close of his long quest, and like Webster, AND ELECTIONS 61 who refused to say a word in favor of Scott when his life pursuit, too, was ended, Elaine found himself at last unable to utter a word of cheer for his successful rival. All three men were in broken health when the final test came, and all soon afterward found rest in the grave. CHAPTER IX CLEVELAND'S FIRST NOMINATION AND CAMPAIGN GROVER CLEVELAND'S rapid rise to a presidential can- didacy in 1884 was due largely to the machinations of James G. Elaine and his political associates two years earlier. He was elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881, and his able and fearless administration of that office had brought him so favorably to the attention of the entire State that in 1882 the Democrats nom- inated him as their candidate for governor. In the same year the Republicans nominated as their can- didate Charles J. Folger, who at the time was secre- tary of the treasury under President Arthur. He was a judge of the court of appeals of New York when in 1881 Arthur invited him into his Cabinet, and his nomination for the governorship was made in obedience to the personal wishes of the President and through the unrestrained and thinly disguised influence of the national administration. It was the subject of much criticism and caused serious dissat- isfaction within the Republican party, especially among the followers of Elaine, who interpreted the nomination to mean a design on the part of President Arthur to get control of the party organization in New York in the interest of his own or Folger's nomination for the presidency in 1884. 62 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 63 While ostensibly acquiescing in Folger's candidacy, the Elaine followers conspired from the opening of the campaign to accomplish his defeat. Only half- hearted and perfunctory support was given to him in the Elaine portion of the Republican press of the State, and every effort was made to aggravate the dissatisfaction which the nomination had caused. Instead of working heartily and zealously to "get out the vote" on election day, when the campaign reached its end, systematic effort was made to keep Republicans from going to the polls, the "word being passed" that the best and most effective way in which to rebuke the national administration for in- terfering in State politics was not to vote for Cleve- land but to abstain from voting at all. In their zeal the Elaine leaders overdid the business, for their power in the party was very great, with the result that Cleveland was elected by a plurality of 192,000 votes, an unprecedented plurality for the candidate of any party in New York previous to that time. The immediate consequence was to lift Grover Cleve- land into national prominence and make him a presidential possibility of the first magnitude. He was hailed at once by the Democrats of the country as the Moses for whom they had been searching so long to lead them out of the wilderness of perpetual defeat. No one was more surprised by the result than Cleveland himself. He had neither sought nor de- sired the nomination for governor, saying frankly 64 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS that his ambition was not for political office but for a judgeship on the supreme-court bench of the State. A quarter of a centuiy later another aspirant for judicial honors, William H. Taft, was compelled by various influences to forego the ambition of his life and to accept a nomination for the presidency rather than an appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. When he saw the majority by which he had been elected, Mr. Cleveland said: It is an astonishing vote of confidence. The re- sponsibility is great. I shrink from it. I doubt my capacity. I doubt my knowledge. But I mean to go down to Albany and do, with God's help, the best there is in me for the people of the State. His conduct as governor was followed with close attention by the whole country, much to his own mystification, for he said one day to one of his inti- mates: "It is astonishing what close watch the rest of the country keeps on New York and the way its State government is administered." When told that it was because the Democrats of the country regarded him as a possible presidential candidate, he "frowned and turned the conversation." Just before the news of Elaine's nomination reached him he said: "Oh, neither Elaine nor Arthur will be nominated. I have observed that in the time of a crisis the moral sense of the Republican party comes uppermost. The crisis is here. The Republican situation demands the nomination of Edmunds. Edmunds will be nom- AND ELECTIONS 65 mated." He had scarcely made this prediction when the nomination of Elaine was announced. When his associates in the governor's office gathered around him, saying, "Now we will have you for the Demo- cratic nominee," he said: "Go away, boys, and let me do my work as governor. You're always trying to get me into a scrape." The quotations which I have made above of Mr. Cleveland's words are from William C. Hud- son's "Random Recollections of an Old Political Reporter," a very interesting and valuable record of close personal knowledge, for its author was inti- mately associated with Mr. Cleveland from the time he became governor till his election to the presidency. His narrative bears the marks of authenticity and truthfulness throughout, and I shall quote freely from it in the remaining portions of this chapter, in full confidence that it is veracious history. Very early in the campaign which followed the nominations of Elaine and Cleveland, the Republi- can managers exploded the Maria Halpin scandal, which for a time fairly paralyzed the Democratic canvass and seemed to make the election of Elaine a certainty. The world is familiar with Cleveland's response when his campaign managers asked him what they should do about it : "Tell the truth ! " It is not so familiar with his treatment of a counter- scandal, which he was asked to allow to go forth against his competitor. Mr. Hudson was an eye- witness in this case, and I shall give, somewhat con- densed, his account of it. 66 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Soon after the Halpin explosion Daniel Lamont, Cleveland's private secretary, received from a cor- respondent in Kentucky a letter addressed to Cleve- land, in which he alleged certain incidents in the private life of Mr. Elaine, which he said he could sustain with documentary proofs, copies of some of which he enclosed. The writer offered to proceed to Albany and submit his proofs in person. Lamont held the letter and papers for a time under consider- ation, hesitating about showing them to Mr. Cleve- land, saying that the governor was " capable of toss- ing them into the waste-basket." Finally he sub- mitted them to him. Mr. Cleveland read them, folded them together and said: "I'll take these. Say nothing about them to any one. Send f orchis man to bring his proof as soon as he can. Promise to pay his expenses. When he comes bring him directly to me. I will deal with him." When the man ar- rived, had been taken to Mr. Cleveland, and had delivered to him his documents, the following collo- quy took place, Mr. Cleveland speaking first: "Are your proofs all here?" "Yes, sir, all of them," replied the man. "Do you substantiate by these papers or proofs all of the promises of your letter?" "I am sure that you will say so if you will look the papers over," returned the man. "They are mostly certified copies of public records which, taken in their place, with one affidavit and three private letters, complete the whole story." AND ELECTIONS 67 "Everything is here, then, and you are holding nothing in reserve?" persisted Cleveland. " Nothing," replied the man, " and you will see that by running over the indorsements of the papers." Cleveland did so, and then he turned to Lament and said: "Arrange with this man a proper sum for his expenses, the time he has lost and his good-will in the matter, and pay him." When the man had gone from the room, Cleveland laid the papers on the desk before him and, taking from the private drawer of his desk some others, handed them to Lament, saying: "These are the ones you gave me the other day, are they not?" Lament said they were, giving them back to Cleveland, who held out his hand for them. Then, drawing a waste-paper basket to him, the governor began to tear them into small bits, to the unbounded astonishment of Lamont and Hudson. When he had finished that lot he took up the proofs brought that morning and destroyed them in the same manner. No words were spoken by any one until the governor called a porter and directed him to burn in the fire- place the scraps of paper, standing over him to watch the process. WTien all were consumed he came back to where Lamont and Hudson were stand- ing, and said to Lamont: "The other side can have a monopoly of all the dirt in this campaign." Then he talked about something else and did not 68 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS refer to the matter again. Years after the event Colonel Lamont said that Cleveland never afterward alluded to the subject. Some weeks later the man who had submitted the documents, perceiving that no use had been made of them, sought Senator A. P. Gorman, chairman of the executive committee of the National Democratic Committee, and informed him of what had taken place. Senator Gorman inquired into the matter, and when he had learned what Mr. Cleveland had done, he said: The destruction of that proof was very noble and highminded in Mr. Cleveland. I don't know whether, in a similar position, attacked with slander as he has been, I could have reached the same elevated plane. Oh, but what a missed opportunity it was ! In my hands, without publication or public exploita- tion of them, I could have used those papers diplo- matically, to have made the other side eager to sup- press the Halpin scandal, which has vexed us so, and which will vex us to the end of the campaign. In the exciting days which followed the election, with the result hanging in doubt because of the close vote in the State of New York, Mr. Cleveland set himself to work industriously upon the business of his office, apparently taking no interest in the fierce controversy that was raging. He made no inquiries as to the changing situation from day to day. If any one spoke to him on the subject, he listened attentively, but made no comment, maintaining a Reproduced by courtesj " Love's labor lost." From "Puck." AND ELECTIONS 69 very sober demeanor all the time. On the tenth day after election, when news was brought to him that the Republicans had given up the contest and had conceded his election, he said: I am very glad to hear it. I am more than glad that they yield peaceably. For in any event I should have felt it my duty to take the office of the Presi- dent of the United States on the fourth of next March. CHAPTER X REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS BETWEEN 1868 AND 1908 GENERAL GRANT was a virtually unopposed candi- date in two Republican conventions, those of 1868 and 1872. On each occasion only one ballot was taken and he received every vote. His fate, when his friends made him a candidate for a third nomina- tion in 1880, is set forth fully in a separate chapter. The convention of 1876, in which Mr. Elaine was the leading candidate, was notable for the large number of candidates, "favorite sons," each of whom had a considerable following. Besides Mr. Blaine, there were Senator Morton, of Indiana; Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky; Senator Conkling, of New York; Governor Hayes, of Ohio, and Governor Hart- ranft, of Pennsylvania. It was apparent on the first ballot that if the five candidates named after Mr. Blaine were to hold their united strength away from him he could not be nominated, for while he had 285 votes on that ballot, their combined vote was 456, and 379 constituted a majority. His vote rose steadily to 351 on the seventh ballot, but on that ballot, Hayes, who had started with only 61 votes, received the support of the followers of Mor- ton, Conkling, and Hartranft, giving him 384 votes and the nomination. Four years later, the nomina- 70 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 71 tion went to James A. Garfield on the thirty-sixth ballot, after a struggle that is described in a later chapter. In the convention of 1884, when the nomination that Mr. Elaine had been seeking with great assid- uity for many years came to him, he received it on the fourth ballot, having gained support steadily from the first. The convention of 1888 was one of the longest on record, lasting from June 19 to June 25, both inclusive. There were nineteen candidates on the first ballot, and eight ballots were taken. John Sherman led till the seventh ballot, when Harrison passed him. Harrison had 80 votes on the first and increased his lead steadily till the eighth, when he received 544 and the nomination. Four years later he was renominated on the first ballot. In the convention of 1896 the nomination of William McKinley was a foregone conclusion when the dele- gates came together, and it went to him on the first ballot. Four years later he was renominated unani- mously, with Theodore Roosevelt for Vice-Presi- dent. In 1904, Roosevelt, who had held the office of President for three years, was nominated unani- mously, being the only man in history who had reached the office through the death of a President to be so honored. In 1908, the leading candidate for the nomination was William H. Taft, secretary of war in Roosevelt's Cabinet, and put forward by Roosevelt as his per- sonal choice for the nomination. I was present in 72 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Washington during the day on which the nomination was made, and had peculiar facilities for observing the bearing of the President and the secretary of war at the time. Immediately after leaving Wash- ington I wrote an account of the scenes I had wit- nessed and it is herewith appended: The Republican national convention of 1908 met in Chicago on Tuesday, June 16. That day and the following were spent in the usual organization pro- ceedings. On Thursday, June 18, the nominating speeches were made, and in the afternoon the first and only ballot of the convention was taken. I arrived in Washington from the Isthmus of Panama via New York, on the evening of July 17. About eleven o'clock on the following morning I called on the President and was admitted at once to his private office, where I remained till 1.30 p. M., when I went to luncheon with him. He was then in constant telegraphic touch with the party man- agers at Chicago, and was kept thoroughly informed as to what was going on in and out of the convention. His chief anxiety was lest the convention should be stampeded for himself. During the early afternoon several private telegrams came to him from personal friends in Chicago, saying that unless he made a fresh and most emphatic declaration that he would not accept a nomination, the convention would name him in spite of all efforts to the contrary. He was much disturbed by these messages and asked me if I thought he should make a further declaration, get- AND ELECTIONS 73 ting from his secretary, Mr, Loeb, copies of letters and telegrams that he had already sent to Senator Lodge and others defining his position. I read these carefully and found them so emphatic and unequiv- ocal that I advised him to say nothing further, ex- pressing the opinion that if he were repeatedly to follow one denial with another he would make him- self ridiculous, for no fresh denial could be couched in more emphatic and conclusive language than he had already used. He accepted this view. We went to the White House for luncheon at 1.30 P. M. There was only one other guest present. The table was set in the open air on the south porch, looking out past the Washington Monument over the Potomac. Mrs. Roosevelt and the children were present and the meal was a delightful and informal family affair. From time to time telegrams contin- ued to be handed to the President, some of them still begging for an additional renunciation, but he adhered to his determination not to make reply. He had strong faith that Taft would be nominated but could not quite rid himself of uneasiness about it. I remained with the President till about 4 p. M., when I went to the War Department, on personal invitation of Secretary Taft, and was admitted at once to his private office, in which he was sitting with his wife, daughter, younger son Charlie and a half dozen or more personal friends. Mrs. Taft sat in her husband's chair at his desk in the centre of the room, while he sat at one side in 74 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS a group of friends. Bulletins were being received constantly from the convention by telegraph and telephone. These were brought from the outer office by Charlie Taft and handed to his mother, who read them aloud. The first ones read described the nom- inating speeches made in behalf of the various can- didates and the scenes in the convention. When Taft was placed in nomination, successive bulletins were received describing the cheering, the length of time it was enduring, its volume and accompanying demonstrations. The secretary sat calm and com- posed during this time, but Mrs. Taft was obviously in great agitation. "I only want it to last more than forty-nine minutes," she exclaimed. "I want to get even for the scare that Roosevelt cheer of forty-nine minutes gave me yesterday." The con- vention had cheered for that length of time for Roosevelt on the previous day. Mr. Taft merely smiled and said: "Oh, my dear, my dear!" Word soon came that the nominating speeches had all been made, and the convention would proceed to a ballot. There was a sigh of relief from the little company, and a brief period of breathless eagerness followed. Then Charlie came in with a bulletin which he handed to his mother. Her face went deathly white, and with visible effort she read (I quote from memory) : " A large portrait of Roosevelt has been displayed on the platform and the conven- tion has exploded." A silence as of death fell upon the room. Mrs. AND ELECTIONS 75 Taft sat white as marble and as motionless, Mr. Taft tapped with his fingers on the arm of his chair and whistled softly. No one said a word or looked at his neighbor. A minute or two later Charlie entered with another bulletin, which he handed to his mother, and which she read with impassive voice and face. (Again I quote from memory, but the substance is of unquestionable accuracy): "A huge American flag with a Roosevelt portrait upon it is being carried about the hall, and the uproar con- tinues with increased fury." That awful silence continued for several minutes, which seemed endless, when again Charlie entered with a bulletin and which his mother, almost leaping from her chair in excitement, read: " Massachusetts gives 26 votes for Taft." Everybody was on his feet in a minute, asking, "Why, how did they get to Massachusetts? Is it possible they began the roll of States in the middle ? " Nobody could solve the mystery, and it was not solved till the next day, when the reports of the con- vention proceedings showed that Senator Lodge, who was chairman, ordered the roll-call to begin in the midst of the uproar as the surest means of stopping the final effort for a Roosevelt stampede. Quickly following the Massachusetts bulletin came others, and within a few minutes the nomination was announced, and Mr. and Mrs. Taft were in the centre of a swarm of congratulations from their friends and from a great crowd that came surging 76 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS in through the opened doorways. It is needless to add that Mrs. Taft's face had more than regained its normal color. She was the personification of a proud and happy wife. CHAPTER XI THE THIRD-TERM CONVENTION THE Republican convention of 1880 had the exciting aspects of a great battle. More than three-fourths of its delegates were divided into two nearly equal opposing forces, each compactly organized, each ably led, each thoroughly determined upon victory, and each uncompromisingly hostile to the other. Be- tween them stood a tradition which dated back to the very beginning of the Republic and which one of them was seeking to overthrow while the other was ostensibly upholding it. The attention of the whole country had been aroused by a discussion of the issue thus raised, which had been in progress for sev- eral months, and the convention came together amid a more intense and acute public interest than had been aroused by any similar gathering for many years. Soon after the close of his second term as President, General Grant went abroad on a tour of the world, receiving the highest honors from the chief rulers of the earth in every country that he visited. He returned to the United States in September, 1879, landing at San Francisco. He was received there with a great demonstration of popular admiration, 77 78 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS and started thence across the country on what proved to be a veritable triumphal march. E very- city in which he stopped greeted him with tumul- tuous enthusiasm, with great crowds, banquets, and receptions. Nothing surpassing this demonstration of popular enthusiasm has ever been witnessed in this country. Even after he had reached his home in Galena it continued unabated. When he went a few weeks later to attend a reunion of the Army of the Cumberland in Chicago, more than 100,000 people poured into that city from the surrounding country to greet him. Again, when late in the year he started on a tour from Chicago across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, to complete the circuit of the world at Philadelphia, his biographers record that "it was the same old story in every city in Logansport, in Indianapolis, in Columbus, in Cin- cinnati one continuous blaze of boundless enthu- siasm." It was then generally recognized that he was a candidate for a third term. The press of the coun- try was absorbed in the discussion of the ques- tion, and constant efforts were made in the early part of 1880 to get an expression from him of his attitude in the matter. The most that he would say was this: "I will neither accept nor decline an imaginary thing. I shall not gratify my enemies by declining what has not been offered me. I am not a candidate for anything, and if the Chicago conven- tion nominates a candidate who can be elected I shall AND ELECTIONS 79 be glad. All my life I have made my decision when the time for the decision has arrived. I shall not depart from my usual course of action." He went on a visit to Cuba and Mexico in March, and from the Mexican border wrote to his friend Elihu B. Washburne : In regard to your suggestion that I should author- ize some one to say that in no event would I consent to ever becoming a candidate after 1880, 1 think any statement from me would be misconstrued and would only serve as a handle for my enemies. Such a statement might well be made after the nomination, if I am nominated in such a way as to accept. It is a matter of supreme indifference to me whether I am or not. There are many persons I should prefer to have the office than myself. I owe so much to the Union men of the country that if they think my chances are better for election than for other prob- able candidates in case I should decline, I cannot decline if the nomination is tendered without seeking on my part. He came back to the United States in April, land- ing at New Orleans and journeying north through Southern cities amid scenes identical with those that had marked his journey across the continent from San Francisco a few months earlier. When he reached Chicago he was greeted with an immense meeting, at which he was openly proclaimed as a candidate for a third term, the announcement being formally made that he would accept the nomination 80 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS if it came in the right way. He then went to his home in Galena and did not leave there again till the Chicago convention had completed its work. The convention met in Chicago on June 2. Sen- ator Conkling was the leader of the Grant forces and Senator Hale was the leader of those of Elaine. Both bodies of delegates were the outcome of as thorough and as systematic work as had ever been done in behalf of a presidential aspirant. During General Grant's absence, his friends had been laboring in- cessantly for him, and the supporters of Mr. Elaine, thinking they had in the third-term issue a battle- cry that would prove irresistible, had worked for him with that ceaseless vigor and enthusiasm which only men feel for a political idol, and Mr. Blame was the idol of a larger number of members of his party than any man in this country had been since Henry Clay. In the opening proceedings of the convention it was shown that it was war to the finish between the two forces, with no quarter either given or asked. At every session there was an immense throng of spectators, more than ten thousand in number, composed mainly of partisans of the two factions, and carefully selected and organized. From his first utterance in the convention to the last, Mr. Conkling's manner was one studied taunt to his opponents. Nothing approaching it in arrogance and insolence has been witnessed in a political con- vention, either before or since. If there had been any chance of a compromise of one faction in favor AND ELECTIONS 81 of the other, he destroyed it utterly in the first half hour. His first act was to move a resolution binding the members of the convention to support the nominee, whoever he might be. In doing this he took pains to intimate with unmistakable plain- ness his belief that the Elaine men would bolt in case Grant was nominated, unless they were pledged in advance not to do so. This resolution was adopted, but the debate upon it made him the most unpopu- lar man in the convention with the supporters of all other candidates than Grant, and thus debarred the latter from hope of recruits. His next important effort was to have the unit rule enforced upon all delegations in order that a majority in each should be able to cast the solid vote of the State for the candidate of their choice. Under this rule Mr. Conkling would have been able to cast the 70 votes of New York for Grant, although there were only 51 delegates in Grant's favor, 17 being for Elaine and two for John Sherman. He would have made similar gains for Grant in several other States. In this effort he was as offensive as he had been in his previous one, and he was defeated in it chiefly through the agency of General Garfield, who, as chairman of the committee on rules, reported ad- versely on the proposition and led the debate in support of his report upon the floor of the conven- tion, closing it with a brief speech, so full of fire and genuine eloquence that it not only routed Conkling, 82 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS but so stirred the convention, literally as with the sound of a trumpet, that when the time came to look for a compromise candidate, the delegates, with the speech still ringing in their ears, turned to the man who had made it and hailed him as their choice. "Adopt the unit rule if you will," General Garfield had said in closing, "and I will be bound by it; adopt the individual rule, and I will be bound by that, for two great reasons: First, because you make it the rule; second, because I believe it to be everlastingly right." That phrase, " everlastingly right," sounded the doom of the Grant movement and proclaimed the coming of the candidate to be, for the conven- tion could not forget it or the man who had uttered it. A long chapter might be filled with Mr. Conkling's astounding arrogance. In the first important dis- cussion, when he was seeking to have his resolution binding the delegates adopted, the chairman of a Southern delegation began to say something in pro- test. Mr. Conkling leaped from his seat, strode down the aisle to where the man was standing, placed both hands on his shoulders and saying: "Sit down, sir, sit down!" fairly forced him into his seat amid hisses and jeers from all parts of the hall. In his speech nominating Grant he went out of his way to give mortal offense to the Elaine forces and to all other elements of the convention that were opposing Grant. That speech was said at the time to have been a really remarkable effort of convention oratory. It was undoubtedly delivered with great AND ELECTIONS 83 dramatic effect, and it had many striking phrases, as all Mr. Conkling's speeches had, for he was an ac- complished phrase-maker; but read at the present day, after thirty-six years of repose, it seems arti- ficial, labored, and, in many parts, bombastic. Its famous opening passage, set down in cold type, surely comes very near doggerel: "When asked whence comes our candidate, our sole response shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple- tree." In his written copy of the speech, which was given out in advance to the press, he had this simple sentence at the beginning: "When asked whence comes our candidate, we say from Appomattox." There is dignity, simplicity, and dramatic force in that sentence, which is certainly not to be found in the "improved" version which seems to have been an inspiration of the moment. Aimed straight at Mr. Elaine and so accepted by his supporters, were the following passages, which came soon after the opening of the speech: "With him (Grant) as our leader, we shall have no defensive campaign, no apologies or explanations to make." "Without patronage or power, without telegraph wires running from his home to the convention, with- out election contrivance, without effort on his part, his name is on his country's lips." Turning toward those members of the New York delegation who had refused to vote for Grant, he said, in speaking of the supporters of Grant: "They hold the rightful rule of the majority as the very essence of their faith, and 84 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS they mean to uphold that faith against not only the common enemy, but against the charlatans and jay- hawkers and guerillas the men who deploy be- tween the lines and forage now on the one side and then on the other." One of his phrases which had quite along-lived vogue was: "His (Grant's) fame was born not alone of things written and said, but of the arduous greatness of things done." When the balloting began and it was his duty as chairman of the New York delegation to announce its vote, he did so with studied insolence toward the anti-Grant members. His favorite formula was: "Two of the New York delegates, Mr. Chairman, are said to be for Mr. Sherman, 17 for Mr. Elaine. Fifty-one are for Grant." He repeated this with slight variations till the chairman of the West Vir- ginia delegation mimicked his manner and method so perfectly that the whole convention roared. After that he did not venture on further repetition, but resorted to such sayings as that a member who was absent was possibly "meditating some new form of treachery." This convention was, perhaps, the most tumul- tuous ever held. The 15,000 persons in attendance upon its regular sessions united in "demonstrations" that were of frequent occurrence, sometimes as often as twice or three times in a single session. At one of the early evening sessions the mention of General Grant's name started a wild uproar, which lasted for thirty minutes. The whole vast assemblage ap- AND ELECTIONS 85 peared to take part in it. In the centre of the hall, where the New York delegation sat, appeared the majestic figure of Senator Conkling, standing upon a chair, and slowly waving to and fro the delegation's banner, which was floating from a tall staff, while from all parts of the hall there came a roar as steady and solid and deep as that of Niagara. In one part of the hall a great body of people could now and then be heard singing "Glory, glory, hallelujah/ 7 and in another part others singing "Marching through Georgia." Thirty minutes by the watch this pan- demonium reigned, and then it died out from sheer exhaustion. The mention of Elaine's name started a fresh outbreak, a great raar rising from all parts of the house at once. Flags, parasols, umbrellas, shawls, and handkerchiefs were waving frantically in all di- rections, and in the height of the din a well-dressed woman, who was standing on the platform, leaped upon the pedestal of a small statue of Liberty in front of her, and, leaning forward over its head, waved a parasol wildly to and fro, at every swing of which the huge crowd cheered. Then she caught up a flag, and, winding it about her figure, called anew for cheers for Blaine, arousing an indescribable tu- mult. In the Maine delegation was to be seen Senator Hale, standing on the shoulders of his colleagues, and holding high in air upon its staff the shield of the State of Maine. All the time the steady roar of 86 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS thousands of throats continued without a percepti- ble break, till, having been kept up for thirty-five minutes, five minutes longer than the Grant roar, it died out as suddenly as it had begun. Thus for more than an hour the convention had transformed itself into a howling mob, for no other purpose than to show that one candidate had as many friends present as the other. Previous to these outbreaks there had been a similar one, a day earlier, when Elaine's name was mentioned, and there were still others when the nominating speeches were made. These contests in sheer noise had no appreciable effect upon the balloting for the two chief candi- dates; they did not change a vote from one to the other apparently. General Grant led on the first ballot with 304 votes; Elaine came next with 284, Sherman had 93, Washburne 31, and Edmunds 33. The number necessary for a choice was 378. For thirty-six ballots the struggle was continued, Grant's highest number being 313 on the thirty-fifth and Elaine's being the highest on the first, falling to 257 on the thirty-fifth and to 42 on the final ballot. Grant's vote stood at 306 on the final ballot when Garfield was nominated. A graphic picture of General Grant's demeanor while receiving news of the balloting is given in Hamlin Garland's "Life of Grant." He made his headquarters at the office of his old staff officer, Rowley, in Galena, where the bulletins were received. When a bulletin came announcing the presentation AND ELECTIONS 87 of his name by Conkling, and saying that after the Appomattox passage the applause had lasted for several minutes, the "general betrayed no excite- ment, scarcely interest. A thoughtful look was on his face." When a second bulletin was read saying the "applause continues," a third saying "all order is lost; the hall is one surging mass of humanity," the general's friends assured him that it was settled and that he would be nominated on the first ballot. He "moved uneasily in his chair and his face dark- ened a little." Then he rose abruptly, saying to his son: "Come, Buck, let's go home." When he got into the street he walked some distance in silence, then drew a deep sigh and said: "I am afraid I am going to be nominated." When several days later the news of Garfield's nomination came, General Grant said: "Garfield is a good man. I am glad of it. Good night, gentlemen." To his intimate friends later he made this complaint: "My friends have not been honest with me. I can't afford to be defeated. They should not have placed me in nomination un- less they felt perfectly sure of my success." Colonel McClure says in his recollections: On the morning after the. convention adjourned he came to Chicago, and I met him at the Palmer House, where he had come to confer with his discomfited friends. His face gave no sign of the disappoint- ment he had suffered. He met his friends in even a more genial way than was his custom. He ex- pressed himself as entirely content with the decision 88 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS of the convention, and greatly appreciated the sup- port that had been given him. He never looked better in his life, and while I could not congratulate him, I could truthfully express my gratification at seeing him the picture of health and comfort. CHAPTER XII THE TWO-THIRDS RULE AND ITS EFFECTS As pointed out in a previous chapter, the two-thirds rule was adopted, under President Jackson's direc- tion, in the first national Democratic convention ever held, that of 1832. He found it useful in ac- complishing his object in that convention, which was the nomination of Martin Van Buren for Vice- President on a ticket with himself for re-election. Four years later the rule was vigorously attacked in convention, and a motion to reject it was carried by a vote of 231 to 210. On the following day this vote was reconsidered and the rule again adopted. Van Buren was nominated unanimously for the presidency and elected. In 1840 another effort was made in the Democratic convention to reject the rule, and again defeated. Van Buren was renomi- nated unanimously, but was defeated in the election by William Henry Harrison. In 1848 Van Buren was again a candidate, but on this occasion the rule proved an insurmountable obstacle to his hopes. His supporters endeavored to have the rule rejected, but were defeated by a vote of 148 in favor of its adoption to 118 against it. He had a majority of 26 on the first ballot, but could not get two-thirds. In 1852 another effort was made to get rid of the 89 90 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS rule, but after a long debate it was adopted by a vote of 175 to 78. In 1856 Stephen A. Douglas was a candidate, as he had been in 1852, with enough supporters to pre- vent any other candidate from getting two-thirds, but as soon as his chief competitor, Mr. Buchanan, received a majority vote of the convention, Douglas, who was second in the poll, withdrew in his favor, because he had been a persistent opponent of the rule and felt bound to bow to the will of the major- ity. Finally, in 1860, when the Democratic conven- tion at Charleston split into two factions, and held separate conventions, the two-thirds rule was adopted by both, and Douglas received a worthless nomina- tion from one, but though the rule prevailed in both conventions, neither of the candidates nominated could be said to have received a two-thirds vote from a full party convention. In fact, the rule may be said to have hastened, if it did not cause, the wreck of the party, for it led to its certain defeat by forcing it to put two tickets in the field. Yet this experience in 1860 did not avail to shake the party's faith in the rule, for it has been adopted, usually without debate, in all subsequent conven- tions down to the present time. In each presidential-election year there has been much talk in advance of the assembling of the con- vention about the two-thirds rule, but in none of the conventions has there been a serious discussion of the matter. It is usually adopted with the regu- AND ELECTIONS 91 lar rules of procedure in the preceding convention. In writing of the vote to sustain the rule in 1844, Stanwood, in his " History of the Presidency," says: The Northern delegates had it in their power to defeat the rule, and yet, being perfectly well aware that the adoption of the two-thirds requirement handicapped the candidate they professed to sup- port, they lent themselves to the scheme of his opponents. The conclusion is inevitable that they were willing that he should be sacrificed, but that they did not quite venture to appear with daggers in their own hands. This theory is not necessary to explain the atti- tude of the various factions in the party of to-day. One can easily see why the supporters of one candi- date should uphold the two-thirds rule, for it enables them, by simply controlling a third of the conven- tion, to prevent the nomination of any one whom they dislike. Each faction, in short, believes that the rule is the most effective club of all to swing over the heads of a rival faction. That it is thor- oughly undemocratic seems not to disturb them. It is no more so than the unit rule, yet both became established methods of procedure in Democratic con- ventions, though they have been rejected by Repub- lican conventions as contrary to the fundamental principle of American institutions that is, rule by the majority. In the various Democratic conventions between 1864 and 1884 few efforts were made to prevent the 92 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS adoption of either of the rules. General McClellan was nominated in 1864 and Horatio Seymour in 1868, with both rules in force. In 1872 Horace Greeley had more than two-thirds vote on the first ballot of the Democratic convention, in spite of the fact that for a quarter of a century or more he had been a vigorous and persistent assailant of the party. Samuel J. Tilden was without formidable rival in 1876, and secured more than the required two-thirds vote on the second ballot. Four years later General Hancock, who had been balloted for in the conven- tions of 1868 and 1872, received nearly the entire vote of the convention on the third ballot, having had only 171 votes on the first, his chief competitor, Senator Samuel F. Bayard, having 153}^. Han- cock's nomination was a surprise to the convention as well as to the country. It was due partially to the doubt which existed down to the very beginning of the balloting, as to whether or not Mr. Tilden was a candidate for renomination. When Grover Cleveland came before the conven- tion for his first nomination in 1884, the two-thirds rule was adopted without opposition, but a deter- mined effort, led by the Tammany delegation from New York, which was opposed to Cleveland, was made to reject the unit rule. It was defeated, and the rule was adopted by about 100 majority. Cleve- land was nominated on the second ballot, his nearest competitor being Senator Bayard, who received only 170 votes and these only on the first ballot. In AND ELECTIONS 93 1888 Cleveland was renominated unanimously with- out a formal vote being taken, he being the first can- didate since Van Buren in 1840 to be so honored. He was defeated by Harrison in the election, but in 1892 he was again renominated, on the first ballot, receiving 617> votes, or 10}^ more than the neces- sary two-thirds. In the election he defeated Harri- son, thus squaring accounts with him. In 1896 came the convention at Chicago, in which William Jennings Bryan carried the convention by storm in his famous "crown of thorns and cross of gold" speech. There was no opposition made to either the two-thirds or the unit rule. The free-sil- ver contingent seized control of the convention at the outset, electing as temporary chairman their own candidate over the candidate proposed by the National Committee, by a vote of 556 to 349. There were five ballots taken. Bryan started with 119 votes and rose steadily to 500 on the final ballot, receiving the nomination. His speech in defense of free-silver coinage holds undisputed rank as the " greatest effort of his life." Its closing passage, which gave it its title and fairly carried the conven- tion off its head, was: We shall answer their demand for the gold stand- ard by saying to them: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold !" Immortal bit of fustian, it should be placed on the record as a sample of the awful possibilities which 94 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS lie in convention oratory. In 1900 ; Bryan had more than two-thirds of the convention on the first ballot and was then nominated by acclamation. Between 1900 and 1904 the free-silver craze sub- sided, and this fact, together with the recognized popular strength of President Roosevelt, whose nomination was a certainty, convinced Mr. Bryan, who had been defeated twice at the polls, that it was not a favorable year for him to make a third attempt. When the Democratic convention assembled the Bryan men were strong enough in the committee on platform to have a plank upholding the gold stand- ard that had been prepared struck out of the plat- form. This action had been acquiesced in by ex- Senator David B. Hill, of New York, the personal representative of Alton B. Parker, of that State, who was the leading candidate for the presidential nomination by the convention. The Bryan mem- bers of the committee were also strong enough to get a resolution inserted in the platform denouncing "Protection as a robbery of the many for the benefit of the few." There Mr. Bryan's control of the con- vention ended. Parker was nominated on the first ballot, with more than a two-thirds vote. As soon as news of the convention's action reached him he sent the following telegram over the head of Senator Hill to William F. Sheehan, of the New York dele- gation: I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevo- cably established, and shall act accordingly if the AND ELECTIONS 95 action of the convention to-day shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the subject, my views should be made known to the convention, and if they prove to be unsatisfactory to the majority, I request you to decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be nominated before ad- journment. When this was read to the convention the follow- ing answer was adopted by a vote of 774 to 191 : The platform adopted by this convention is silent on the question of the monetary standard, because it is not regarded by us as a possible issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues were mentioned in the platform. Therefore there is nothing in the views expressed by you in the telegram just received which should preclude a man entertaining them from accepting a nomination on said platform. In 1908 Mr. Bryan, encouraged by the defeat which had overwhelmed Mr. Parker in 1904 and by the nomination of Mr. Taft as the successor of President Roosevelt, became a candidate for the third time and had no difficulty in obtaining the nomination. Indeed, the Democratic convention was a roaring mob in his favor from start to finish. At the first mention of his name in the opening ses- sion the delegates cheered and yelled for nearly an hour and a half without cessation. When he was placed in nomination at the evening session of the second day, another uproar, of almost equal dura- 96 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS tion, followed. His nomination at the final session on the first ballot by nearly the entire vote of the convention led to a third demonstration of like noise and duration. The latest victim of the two-thirds rule was Champ Clark, speaker of the House of Representatives, who went down to defeat before it in the national Democratic convention of 1912, at Baltimore. A notable departure from established precedent was made by this convention. The unit rule, under which a State delegation must cast its solid vote for the candidate favored by a majority of its members, and which had withstood all assaults for three- quarters of a century, was abrogated, so far as it was in the power of the convention to do so. A minority report from the committee on rules was presented in which it was recommended that dele- gates from congressional districts elected through preferential primaries and instructed to vote for par- ticular candidates should not be bound by resolu- tions of State conventions instructing the entire State delegation to vote as a unit. Preferential pri- maries had been held in several States in congres- sional districts and delegates had been elected com- mitted to the support of specified candidates. In the same States delegates-at-large had been elected in favor of other candidates, in which resolutions had been passed instructing the entire State delegation to vote as a unit in accordance with the will of the majority of its members. For example, there were AND ELECTIONS 97 18 district delegates from Ohio instructed in primary elections to support Woodrow Wilson, and the State convention had chosen delegates-at-large in favor of Judson Harmon, and had passed resolutions in- structing the entire State delegation to vote as a unit. As the majority of the delegation was in favor of Harmon, the 18 Wilson votes would, under the rule, be taken from Wilson and given to Harmon. There were several States in which similar condi- tions prevailed. Appeals were made in favor of maintaining the unit rule as "true Jeffersonian Dem- ocratic doctrine, " as indeed it was, and the argument was made that if the unit rule were abolished there would be no excuse for retaining the two-thirds rule, for one was the necessary concomitant of the other. But the new popular voice heard in the preferential primaries had more power in this convention than it had been able to command in the Republican con- vention at Chicago in the same year, and the minor- ity report abrogating the unit rule was adopted by a vote of 565^ to 491^. If the convention had been logical and consistent it would have followed this action with the repeal of the two-thirds rule, but no proposal of that kind was made, although the suggestion had been made in the debate. The consequence was that Mr. Clark failed of a nomination, although he had a clear ma- jority of the delegates in his favor. The abrogation of the unit rule had considerably improved the chances of his chief rival, Mr. Wilson, but had not 98 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS made Mr. Clark's nomination possible, because of the barrier of the two-thirds rule. He led in the balloting from the start, and maintained his lead during thirty ballots, having a clear majority in nine, touching his highest number, 556, in the tenth. There were 1,086 delegates and 725 votes were nec- essary for a nomination, so that Clark at his highest point was 169 votes short. His support began to crumble on the thirtieth ballot, when Wilson passed him, and on the forty-third a mild "stampede" began for Wilson, ending in his nomination on the forty-sixth, the vote standing Wilson 990, Clark 84, Harmon 12. Mr. Clark was very angry over his defeat, and immediately following Wilson's nomination he gave out for publication a statement in which, after assert- ing that he had received 200,000 majority in the States in which he and Wilson had competed in the primaries, he added: "I lost the nomination solely through the vile and malicious slanders of Colonel William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska. True, these slanders were by innuendo and insinuation, but they were no less deadly for that reason/' In the same statement he said: "I will support Governor Wilson with whatever power I possess and hope he will be elected." CHAPTER XIII THE "STEAM-ROLLER" CONVENTION A FINAL demonstration that the convention system of nominating candidates for President and Vice- President had passed completely into the control of party leaders or bosses was made by the Republican national convention which met in Chicago in June, 1912. That control had been increasing steadily for many years. As shown in previous chapters, the convention system was first put into national use by Andrew Jackson in 1832, who employed it to bring about the nomination of Van Buren, an unpopular candidate, for Vice-President on the ticket with himself, when he was running for re-election. It was adopted by the Whigs in 1839, and was adroitly manipulated by Thurlow Weed to prevent the nom- ination of Henry Clay for President, Weed himself admitting that Clay had a "decided plurality of the delegates " when the convention came together in December of that year. The politicians of those days, forced by popular hostility to abandon the caucus system of nomination, accepted what was professed to be a popular method, but from the first they conspired to minimize and, so far as possible, destroy its popular or representative character. Later politicians, pursuing their invariable prac- 99 100 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS tise of seeking to "beat" an objectionable system or law, have followed zealously in their foot-steps. Every succeeding national convention has passed a little more completely under their control. Until the convention of 1912, prudent regard for popular opinion led them to exercise their power as unosten- tatiously as possible, but the Republican bosses at Chicago in 1912 threw off all attempt at concealment or disguise and assumed openly that the convention had been called together for the purpose merely of registering their will and not the will of the people who had chosen the delegates. The perfection to which years of expert manipulation had brought the convention machinery made it easy for them to accomplish their purposes and cite party law and precedent for every arrogant and arbitrary act, as they could also be cited against every such act. Whatever they did they were able to make a plausi- ble claim to strict "regularity." The convention was the first in our political his- tory in which there were delegates who had been elected directly by the people in preferential pri- maries. There were 382 of these and they came from thirteen States California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. These, with the exception of the Massachusetts delegates, had been instructed directly and specifically to vote for the nomination of certain candidates. In most of these States, a large AND ELECTIONS 101 majority of the delegates had been instructed for Theodore Roosevelt. He had 26 in California; 56 in Illinois; 16 in Maryland; 18 in Massachusetts; 16 in Nebraska; 28 in New Jersey; 34 in Ohio; 10 in Ore- gon; 64 in Pennsylvania; 10 in South Dakota 278 in all. President Taft had 28 in Georgia; 2 in Illi- nois; 18 in Massachusetts; 8 (by popular choice) in Ohio; 12 in Pennsylvania 68 in all. Senator La Toilette had 26 in Wisconsin and 10 in South Dakota 36 in all. The total number of delegates in the convention was 1,078, and 540 were necessary for a nomination. When the convention came together both the Taft and Roosevelt leaders claimed a majority. In a canvass of the delegates, published by the New York Tribune, which was a strong Taft advocate, a few days before the opening of the convention, the num- ber of delegates who had expressed their preference for Roosevelt was placed at 469^, and of those similarly committed to Taft at 454J^. This was clear admission that Roosevelt had a larger number of delegates avowedly in his favor than Taft had. The seats of more than 200 delegates were contested, and in accordance with established procedure in the party all contests were referred to the National Republican Committee for investigation and report to the convention. The committee assembled at Chicago ten days in advance of the meeting of the convention. Sev- eral of its most influential members had been de- 102 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS feated in the election of delegates and were not to be members of the convention. These were known to be bitterly opposed to Mr. Roosevelt, and it was quite generally asserted in the press that they would use their power to prevent his nomination by so deciding the contests as to secure a majority of the convention against him. It was claimed, also, that in accordance with precedent, the committee had authority to make up the temporary roll of the con- vention, and thus secure control of its organization. The composition of the committee was peculiar. It had been the practise for many years for each State delegation to nominate and for the conven- tion, at the close of its work, to ratify the choice of members of its National Committee to serve for the ensuing four years. In this way each National Committee, through its control over contests, had it in its power to make up the roll of the next succeed- ing convention, although many or even a majority of its members might not be delegates in that body. In 1912 fifteen members of the committee had failed in their efforts to be chosen delegates; many of them had been thus repudiated by their own party by very large majorities. The total membership of the committee was 53. Of this number 10 were from the Southern States, not one of which would give the nominee of the convention an electoral vote, and four others were from territorial possessions Dis- trict of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Philippines, and Porto Rico which took no part in presidential elec- AND ELECTIONS 103 tions. These three sets of members, 29 in all, actu- ally represented nobody in the convention, yet they were its controlling and dominating force. The members of the committee who had been most sig- nally repudiated by their own people were the lead- ers in all acts of the committee, and with them stood unswervingly on all questions the Southern and ter- ritorial members. The first act of the committee was to elect Victor Rosewater, of Nebraska, who had failed to be elected a delegate, chairman, he, as vice-chairman of the committee, having been acting chairman because of the death of the occupant of that position. The moving spirits in the committee were Senator Pen- rose, of Pennsylvania, and Senator Crane, of Massa- chusetts, both defeated as delegates, and both, like Mr. Rosewater, not eligible for re-election as members of the National Committee. The unconcealed prom- inence of these repudiated leaders in the business of making up the temporary roll of the convention, and thereby securing control of it, very naturally aroused earnest protest, and impaired confidence in the strict impartiality of the committee's decisions. But party precedent authorized it, and protest and appeal were vain. The leaders of the committee had the courage of their kind. They went about their task openly and with slight regard for either the rights or the merits of their opponents. They adopted a set of rules, the chief of which was that there should be no roll-call save on the request of 104 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS twenty members, refusing to cut it down to ten, though under the Constitution of the United States one-fifth of members present is a sufficient number for a roll-call in the Senate or House of Representa- tives. Having a solid and unshakable majority of thirty-seven in the committee, the leaders knew that twenty members could not be collected in opposi- tion, and that embarrassing roll-calls could thus be avoided. Although President Taft sent a personal request that the hearings of the committee on con- tests be thrown open to members of the press, the committee voted to hold them behind closed doors, admitting only representatives of the three or four press associations. It was after the committee had refused to reduce the number of names required for a roll-call from twenty to ten that the brand of "Steam Roller" was applied to the committee's course. It was applied subsequently to the course of the convention, and adopted into general use both by the press in report- ing its proceedings and by delegates on the floor. Although the doors were closed to reporters gen- erally, an occasional bit of illuminating information escaped from the committee room. One such was published in the Chicago Tribune on June 8, a few days after the committee began its work, as follows : While the ninth Alabama contest was under con- sideration, Senator W. Murray Crane suggested to several members of the committee that it would be wise tactics to seat the Roosevelt delegates. From a photograph copyright by Underwood & Underwood. The Republican convention, Chicago, June 18, 1912. AND ELECTIONS 105 "Big Steve" Stephenson, of Colorado, who holds a proxy from former Senator Nathan B. Scott, of West Virginia, is reported to have replied: "We can't afford to let them have it. We might be able to spare two votes now, but we must look ahead to the time when we will have to give them something. We can't do it now." When the ninth district contest was settled by a vote of 38 to 15 in favor of the Taft forces, National Committeeman Mulvane, an ardent Taft man of Kansas, said to a man friendly to Colonel Roosevelt : "Now you fellows have got an inkling of what you are going to get. Are you going to waste our time going over all these contests?" "What do you fellows intend to do?" Mulvane was asked. "You know you surely can't elect Taft." To which Mulvane is said to have responded: "We can't elect Taft, but we are going to hold on to this organization, and when we get back four years from now we will have it and not those d insurgents." At the conclusion of the committee's work, it was announced officially that 92 contests had been inves- tigated and decided; there had been no roll-calls in 74 decisions; roll-calls in 16; unanimous vote in 4, and 2 contests had been abandoned. The net result was that 233 of the contested delegates were given to Taft and 6 to Roosevelt. The daily records of the proceedings of the committee were published in the newspapers of the country under such head-lines as the "Steam Roller Continues Its Work." "The Steam Roller Goes on Crushing Out Roosevelt 106 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Hopes." The "Steam Roller Gives Forty-Two More Votes to Taft None to Roosevelt." A full review of these 92 contests would be tedious even if it were possible to make it judicially, which is far from being the case. The principle at stake between the two contending forces was the elemen- tary one of representative government. Both Roose- velt and Taft had taken their stand upon it during the primary elections for delegates. When the pri- maries in Massachusetts resulted in the choice of eight Roosevelt delegates-at-large, and, at the same time, gave by a very small majority about 3,000 votes an expression of preference for Taft, Colonel Roosevelt at once announced that he should demand that this expression be obeyed by the eight delegates, although they had been explicitly chosen as Roose- velt men, giving as his reason that he intended to have the honest preference of the rank and file obeyed. This was near the beginning of the contest. Soon afterward opportunity came to Mr. Taft to show if he intended to adhere to this standard. On the eve of the primaries in Ohio Mr. Taft de- clared in the press that the result of those would settle the contest between himself and Colonel Roosevelt for the Republican nomination for the presidency. Colonel Roosevelt carried them by 47,000 majority, but neither Mr. Taft nor his man- agers accepted this result in Mr. Taft's home State as settling the contest. On the contrary, by adroit manipulation at the State convention which fol- AND ELECTIONS 107 lowed closely upon the primaries, the Taft managers, in flat defiance of the expressed popular will, secured the election of the six delegates at large and had them instructed for Mr. Taft. A similar course was followed by the Taft managers in Indiana, Michigan, and other States in which the opportunity existed. When the convention came together it was pre- dicted almost or quite universally by the newspaper correspondents in attendance that Taft's nomination had been assured by the action of the National Committee, since the " Steam Roller" would pursue its course as inflexibly in the convention as it had in the committee. This prediction was fulfilled liter- ally. At the first session formal protest was made by the Roosevelt leaders against allowing seventy- four delegates, whose seats had been contested and whose names had been placed on the temporary roll of the convention, to vote in the election of tempo- rary chairman, since by so doing each would be vot- ing upon his own right to a seat. In making the protest Governor Hadley of Mis- souri placed very clearly before the convention the real issue involved, which was simply whether the convention itself or the National Committee was to nominate the candidate for the presidency. He said : Were this question simply one of principle I would have no doubt what the decision would be; because upon a question of principle, if it is within the power of the thirty-seven men to say who shall constitute the majority of a convention, then we have ceased 108 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS to recognize the principle of representative govern- ment in this country in the conduct of the Repub- lican party. We have but one form of government in this country, and that is government by political parties, and if the decisions of parties in convention can be finally controlled by those who make up the temporary roll, then we have established within a po- litical organization a political oligarchy with power to make candidates and to defeat candidates; with power to pass laws and to veto laws. It is interesting to recall that a similar protest was made twenty-eight years earlier by the man in whose interest Governor Hadley was speaking. In the con- vention of 1884, at which Elaine was nominated for the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt was a delegate from New York. The National Committee named ex-Senator Powell Clayton, of Arkansas, for tempo- rary chairman. When its action was reported to the convention, Henry Cabot Lodge, a delegate from Massachusetts, nominated in opposition ex-Con- gressman John B. Lynch, of Mississippi, who was a negro. The point was raised immediately that for years the National Committee had selected the chairman, with subsequent approval by the conven- tion, and to elect Mr. Lynch would be to "override precedent. " George William Curtis and Silas B. Butcher, delegates from New York, seconded the nomination of Mr. Lynch, and then, according to the correspondent of the New York Tribune, "Theodore Roosevelt, sitting by George William Curtis, also made a speech, showing himself for the first time to AND ELECTIONS 109 the Western people, and being somewhat cheered. His square head, matted with short, dry, sandy hair, and his eye-glass and nervously forcible gestures were remarked." Mr. Roosevelt's speech in full was as follows: I trust that the motion made by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lodge) will be adopted, and that we will select as chairman of this convention that representative Republican, Mr. Lynch, of Mis- sissippi. Mr. Chairman, it has been said by the dis- tinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stew- art) that it is without precedent to reverse the action of the National Committee. Who has not known numerous instances where the action of a State com- mittee has been reversed by the State convention? Not one of us but has known such instances. Now there are, as I understand it, but two delegates to this convention who have seats on the National Committee; and I hold it to be derogatory to our honor, to our capacity for self-government, to say that we must accept the nomination of a presiding officer by another body; and that our hands are tied, and we dare not reverse its action. Now, one word more. I trust that the vote will be taken by individual members, and not by States. Let each man stand accountable to those whom he represents for his vote. Let no man be able to shelter himself behind the shield of his State. What we say is, that one of the cardinal doctrines of the American politi- cal government is the accountability of each man to his people; and let each man stand up here and cast his vote, and then go home and abide by what he has done. It is now, Mr. Chairman, less than a quarter of a 110 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS century since, in this city, the great Republican party for the first time organized for victory, and nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, who broke the fetters of the slave and rent them asunder for- ever. It is a fitting thing for us to choose to preside over this convention one of the race whose right to sit within these walls is due to the blood and the treasure so lavishly spent by the founders of the Republican party. And it is but a further vindica- tion of the principles for which the Republican party so long struggled. I trust that the Honorable Mr. Lynch will be elected temporary chairman of this convention. Colonel Roosevelt's position in 1912 was in com- plete accord with that taken by him in 1884, and was in no sense the outcome of later conditions. His protest in 1884, like that of Governor Hadley, in 1912, was aimed at the assumption that a National Committee, composed mainly of men who were not delegates in the convention, should dictate the con- vention's action in utter disregard of the principles of representative government. The convention of 1884, not being under Steam-Roller control, heeded Mr. Roosevelt's protest and elected Mr. Lynch by a vote of 431 in his favor to 382 for General Clayton. In 1912, however, the appeal of Governor Hadley was made to a very different body of delegates. By that time precisely such a " political oligarchy" as he described had been established within the party, firmly intrenched behind precedent, and this the Steam-Roller operators proceeded to demonstrate. AND ELECTIONS 111 The rejected delegate who was in the chair by virtue of being chairman of the National Committee, had been coached in advance for the emergency and was, so to speak, " loaded" to meet it. He ruled against the protest, taking from his pocket a carefully pre- pared document in which it was claimed that his decision was in accordance with party precedent of more than half a centuiy. Mr. Finley Peter Dunne ("Mr. Dooley"), who was present in the convention, wrote and published this account of the incident in the American Maga- zine of September, 1912: After Mr. Victor Rosewater had been instructed in his duties as acting chairman of the National Committee by the delectable three William Barnes, Jr., Murray Crane, and Boise Penrose and had rehearsed his decision on the right of the National Committee to seat the Taft delegates (which was prepared for him) until he was almost letter perfect, and was about to retire to his sleepless couch, the Senator from Pennsylvania genially said to him: "Victor, as soon as you've made that decision jump off the platform, for some one is going to take a shot at you, sure." The effect of this kindly counsel upon young Mr. Rosewater was not soothing. Yet he made the decision. There is no doubt about that. It is in the official record, written down by the official reporters the night before. But no one heard him make it. The actual, physical disposition of the decision is unknown. The impression of those who sat in front of the chairman and watched the play of his throat muscles was that he swallowed it. 112 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS After this ruling there was no doubt as to the dom- inating power of the National Committee over the convention. The Steam Roller went smoothly, re- lentlessly, and even proudly forward, crushing out all opposition. The committee's choice for temporary chairman, Senator Elihu Root, was placed in nom- ination and, by the votes of the 74 contested dele- gates whose names had been placed on the roll by the committee, was elected. The result of the bal- lot showed how vital their votes were, for the figures were 558 for Mr. Root and 501 for his chief opponent, with 19 scattering and not voting. To have taken chances with less than 74 votes would have been reckless, for the Steam Roller would have been thrown off the track, thus making the convention itself the nominating power. When Mr. Root had taken the chair and had de- livered his address, the Roosevelt leaders renewed their protest against allowing the 74 contested dele- gates to vote in the selection of committees of the convention, including the committee on credentials. Mr. Root overruled the protest, sustaining his de- cision on the ground of party precedent and parlia- mentary practise. In giving his decision, he said: No man can be permitted to vote upon the ques- tion of his own right to a seat in the convention, but the rule does not disqualify any delegate whose name is upon the roll from voting upon the contest of any- other man's right or from participating in the ordi- nary business of the convention so long as he holds AND ELECTIONS 113 his seat. Otherwise, any minority could secure con- trol of a deliberative body by grouping a sufficient number of their opponents in one motion, and by thus disqualifying them turn the minority into a majority without any decision upon the merits of the motion. ... To hold that a member whose seat is contested may take no part in the proceedings of this body would lead to the conclusion that if every seat were contested, as it surely would be if such a rule were adopted, there could be no convention at all, as nobody would be entitled to participate. Thus the National Committee's control of the convention was claimed to be in accordance with precedent. The claim could have been made with equal justice for the reverse course. Either claim would have been purely technical. The true test was, Did Mr. Root and his fellows in good faith seek to find out and give effect to the honestly expressed wish of the rank and file of the Republican party? The answer must be that they did not, for that an- swer was returned at the polls by the members of the rank and file themselves in the subsequent election. After the decision was announced Colonel Roose- velt instructed his delegates to take no further part in the deliberations of the convention. An offer had been brought to him to turn over a sufficient num- ber of Southern delegates to secure either his own nomination or that of any one he would designate. Colonel Roosevelt answered and this statement is made upon unimpeachable authority that he was 114 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS not interested in the fortunes of himself or any other one man, but in certain great fundamental principles which affected the right of honest self-government; that if the roll was purged he would accept the nom- ination of any man made by the convention, but if the roll was not purged he would neither accept a nomination of himself or support that of any other man. With Mr. Root's decision in support of its course, the Steam Roller proceeded merrily on its way. With the aid of the votes of the 74 contested dele- gates, it secured the appointment of a committee on credentials which could be depended upon to ratify all the findings of the National Committee on con- tested seats, which it proceeded to do, reporting in favor of seating the 74 as permanent members. When the vote on acceptance of this report was put before the convention for adoption, the temporary chairman held sternly to his decision that no one of the 74 whose seat was contested could vote on his own case, but as his 73 companions in dispute could be relied on to vote for him, the deprivation was easily borne. All "regular/' all "in accordance with precedent" in conventions since they were first established! The operators of the Steam Roller themselves had created the precedent in accordance with which they were operating it, and knowing their business thoroughly, they had made no mis- takes. Again it may be said, they could have cited equally good precedent for an opposite course. AND ELECTIONS 115 With the 74 contested delegates firmly in their seats, the remaining work of the convention went on with only slight and occasional friction. Nothing jarred the progress of the Steam Roller. Occasion- ally a delegate, not entirely reconciled to its crushing progress, made the point of order that it was " ex- ceeding the speed limit/ ' but so general had recogni- tion of its control of the proceedings become that the chairman was able to look upon such protest as an uncommonly good joke, and join in the general laugh. Only once was the beaten path of "regularity" departed from, and the responsible person in the case was Mr. Root, who had been elected permanent as well as temporary chairman. During the roll-call for the nomination of candidates for the presidency, the vote of Massachusetts was being polled. An account of what occurred has been published by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard Univer- sity, who was a member of the delegation, and from this the following quotation is made: The first delegate-at-large replied to his name: " Present and not voting." Whereupon the Honor- able Elihu Root, president of the convention, called the Taft alternate. Forthwith Frederick Fosdick, chairman of "the Roosevelt Eighteen/' stepped out into the aisle, raising his hand to command attention, and said: "Massachusetts is a law-abiding State, and will not stand for such a steal." Thereupon, the honored president of the convention advanced to the edge of the platform and said: "If the delegates 116 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS from Massachusetts will not do their duty, we will call upon those who will do it." To which Mr. Fos- dick manfully replied: "No convention can make me vote for any man." A second Roosevelt delegate answered, "Present and not voting," and a second alternate was called who voted for Taft. This, in brief, is the reason why the Massachusetts delega- tion, which was divided 18 to 18, shows on the record 20 votes "Taft" and 16 "present and not voting." If this transfer of two votes was fair play, good parliamentary law, and the traditional practise of a Republican convention, its basis can be found in the printed records of the successive Republican con- ventions since 1856. They have been examined by the writer from beginning to end as the basis of this article. There is not one single rule, vote, or decision in any one of the fourteen sets of proceedings which is a precedent for the decision of Mr. Root. On the contrary, the ruling was contrary to every precedent which bears on the case. Professor Hart goes on to say: The only possible excuse for Mr. Root's decision is that he thought he was applying a general princi- ple of parliamentary law which had been overlooked by his predecessor. That excuse absolutely breaks down before the fact that Mr. Root had not applied that principle in four previous roll-calls, did not apply it throughout the Massachusetts Roosevelt delegation, and did not apply it in any other dele- gation which was in like condition on the same roll- call. The facts of the Massachusetts case, as observed AND ELECTIONS 117 by the writer at the time from within the Massachu- setts Roosevelt delegation, are simply as follows: Throughout the convention "the Roosevelt Eight- een" made it a point to protest against the Steam- Roller process at every stage; and in the first three roll-calls their 18 votes were announced on the Roosevelt side. On the fourth roll-call, on the ac- ceptance of the platform, under a general agreement, the Roosevelt delegates all undertook to answer, "Present and not voting," or words to that effect. Two of the delegates-at-large, not expecting a roll- call at that time, were out of the convention hall; and the Taft chairman, observing it, called for the alternates, as he had a perfect right to do. The alternates were Taft men, and hence the vote was recorded 20 on the Taft side and 16 "present and not voting." There were nearly 350 votes of that nature, and in not one single case, either in the Massachusetts delegation or any other, whether the vote was announced by the delegation's chairman or obtained by polling the members, was an alternate called on the ground that his principal had declined to vote. Why Mr. Root thought it so necessary to get these two additional votes for Taft has never been revealed. His act, as Professor Hart shows, had no precedent in its support, and as such mars the per- fect record of "regularity" for the convention's con- duct. The fact that no protest was made to it shows that the convention managers insisted on strict regularity and obedience to precedent only when such conduct was necessary for the accom- plishment of their purpose. They thus confessed 118 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS that it was in their power to violate law and prece- dent whenever they chose to do so, or whenever their chairman elected to lead them in a new de- parture. The two votes were not absolutely neces- sary to secure Taft's nomination, for when the roll- call was ended the record stood: Taft 561; Roosevelt 107; La Follette 41; Cummins 17; Hughes 2; present and not voting 349. Taft thus received 21 votes more than were necessary for a nomination, and the two snatched, as it were, from Massachusetts by Mr. Root were superfluous. The Roosevelt dele- gates, under Roosevelt's personal direction, had withdrawn from active participation in the proceed- ings of the convention, and only about a fourth of them joined in the balloting. The Steam Roller had gone over them, but subsequent events were to show that it had by no means crushed them. One of the last acts of the convention was the election of a new National Committee to serve for four years, thus placing the controlling power of the convention of 1916 in the hands of a like body to that which had dominated the convention of 1912, with precedent lodged more firmly than ever in its hands. The convention of 1916 will have 93 fewer voting delegates than the convention of 1912, through the action of the National Republican Committee in revising the representation in 1915. Of the 93 eliminated 78 are from the South, 3 from New York, and 2 from New Mexico. There will be 10 dele- gates from Hawaii, the Philippines, and Porto Rico, AND ELECTIONS 119 but they will not be allowed to vote. The South will still have 200 delegates and the Territories 4. The total number of delegates will be 985, and 493 will constitute a majority and suffice for a nomina- tion. The Southern delegates will, therefore, con- stitute two-fifths of the number necessary to nom- inate. In the convention of 1912 the South had 278 delegates, or nearly one-half of the majority necessary to nominate, which was 590. Nearly 600 of the delegates will be chosen in direct primaries, and the balance, about 385, by the old method. This reverses the relative strength of the two kinds of delegates in the convention of 1912. CHAPTER XIV THE PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION WHEN the Steam Roller had passed over the Roose- velt delegates in the final case of contested seats to come before the Republican convention, the sup- porters of Roosevelt, acting upon his personal ad- vice, refrained in almost solid body from taking fur- ther part in the proceedings. A statement, which had been drawn up and signed by Colonel Roosevelt, was read to the convention, in which he said that the action of the convention, in seating the contested delegates placed upon the temporary roll by the National Committee, made the convention in no proper sense any longer a Republican convention representing the Republican party, and he hoped, therefore, that the men elected as Roosevelt dele- gates would decline to vote on any matter before the convention. Immediately following the completion of the roll- call, which resulted in the nomination of Taft, the Roosevelt delegates and alternates left the conven- tion and accompanied by a great throng of people went to another hall in the city, which was filled to overflowing as soon as the doors were opened. A convention was organized and resolutions were 120 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 121 adopted nominating Roosevelt as the candidate of the Progressive party for the presidency. A com- mittee of notification, representing the strongest Republican States, twenty-two in number, was ap- pointed to apprise him of the nomination. When he appeared in the hall a scene of the wildest enthusi- asm followed. All witnesses of this scene describe it as something quite without precedent in convention history, being more like the beginning of a religious crusade than the founding of a political party. Colonel Roosevelt made a brief speech, in which he said: I think the time has come when not only men who believe in Progressive principles, but all men who believe hi those elementary maxims of public and private morality which must underlie every form of successful free government, should join in our movement. I, therefore, ask you to go to your several homes to find out the sentiment of the people at home and then again come together, I suggest by mass convention, to nominate for the presidency a Progressive on a Progressive platform that will en- able us to appeal to Northerner and Southerner, Easterner and Westerner, Republican and Democrat alike, in the name of our common American citizen- ship. If you wish me to make the fight, I will make it, even if only one State should support me. I am in this fight for certain principles, and the first and most important of these goes back to Sinai, and is embodied in the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." Thou shalt not steal a nomination. Thou shalt neither steal in politics nor in business. 122 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Thou shalt not steal from the people the birthright of the people to rule themselves. A call for a National Progressive Convention, to meet at Chicago on August 5, in the same building as that in which the Republican convention had held its sessions, was issued on July 7. There were sixty-three signers to the call, representing forty States, mostly Northern, and no Territories. When the convention assembled at Chicago there were delegates from every State except South Caro- lina. Many States sent three and four times the regular number of delegates, so that there were in attendance fully two thousand in all. There were negro delegates from several States, including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Rhode Island whose character and standing in the communities from which they came were equal in every respect to those of the white delegates. The convention was as extraordinary in character as that which had been assembled so hastily in Chicago in June. Its members, like those of the June gathering, sang hymns and patriotic songs, like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the "Star- Spangled Banner," "Onward, Christian Soldiers." When Roosevelt made his first appearance on the platform he was cheered continuously for nearly an hour. On the evening of the second day Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for President, and Hiram W. Johnson, of California, for Vice-President. The convention adjourned after singing the "Doxology." From a photograph copyright by Moffett Studio. The National Progressive convention, Chicago, August 6, 1912. AND ELECTIONS 123 Under such really extraordinary conditions was launched a new political party which was destined to break all records of new or so-called third parties, by achieving a popular success that was nothing short of marvellous. When the result of the election was recorded it was seen that, while the Democratic candidate for the presidency, Woodrow Wilson, had been elected, Colonel Roosevelt was second in the poll, having secured the electoral vote of six States, 88 votes in all, while Mr. Taft had carried only two States, Vermont and Utah, with a total of 8 electoral votes. Colonel Roosevelt's popular vote was 4,119,- 507, and Mr. Taft's 3,484,956. California, from whose delegation to the Chicago convention the National Republican Committee, in face of the fact that Roosevelt had carried the preferential primaries by a majority of 77,000, had seated two Taft dele- gates, who were admitted to have very doubtful claims to recognition, gave Roosevelt its electoral vote, casting 283,610 votes for him and 3,914 for Taft. Pennsylvania, where Roosevelt delegates had been elected by about 130,000 majority in the pref- erential primaries, gave its electoral vote to Roose- velt, as did also Michigan and Minnesota. Ohio, Taft's home State, where six Taft delegates at large had been chosen by the Republican State conven- tion, although the preferential primaries had been carried for Roosevelt delegates by about 47,000 ma- jority, gave its electoral vote to Wilson. Illinois, where the Roosevelt majority in the primaries had 124 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS been 150,000, gave Roosevelt 130,000 more votes than it gave Taft, and its electoral vote to Wilson. Whatever else might be said of these results, they could not be construed as a favorable popular ver- dict on the Steam-Roller method of nominating a candidate for the presidency. CHAPTER XV MACHINERY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS UNDER the Constitution as adopted in 1789, both President and Vice-President were chosen by electors appointed by the States, each State fixing the method of appointment, and each having a number of elec- tors equal to its representation in both houses of Congress. Each elector voted for two candidates; the one receiving the highest vote was to be Presi- dent, provided he had a majority of the whole num- ber of electors, and the one receiving the next highest number, Vice-President. In case more than one candidate had a majority, and the number of votes was equal, then the choice of President was to be made by the House of Representatives, who must choose one of those having a majority, or, in case no one had a majority, from the five highest on the list of candidates. Each State in such election had one vote, two-thirds of all the States constituting a quorum, and a majority of all being necessary for election. In every case, after the choice of Presi- dent, the candidate having the largest number of electoral votes was to be Vice-President, but if two or more remained who had equal votes, the Senate was to choose from them the Vice-President. 125 126 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS This plan worked very well during the first and second elections, when Washington was the universal choice and the electors merely recorded the popular will, and fairly well in the third. Rhode Island, with three electoral votes and North Carolina with seven, had not adopted the Constitution, and could not take part in the first election; two electors of Maryland and two of Vir- ginia were unable to attend, three because of ice in the rivers and bays and one because of gout. Wash- ington's term was held to expire at the end of March 3, 1793, though he was not inaugurated President till April 30, 1789, because March 4, 1789, had been fixed by the Constitution for the assembling of Con- gress, and the whole government was assumed to come into being on that day. In the second election there appeared for the first time in national politics an anti-Federalist party, under the name of Republican, which later became the Democratic party. Its chief candidates were George Clinton and Thomas Jefferson, the latter being the organizer and leader of the party. The election machinery provided by the Consti- tution had already begun to creak in the third elec- tion. Mr. Adams had only one vote more than the necessary majority, and there was a question of the validity of the four votes of Vermont which were counted for him. One elector in Pennsylvania, who had been chosen by popular vote as an Adams man, cast his vote for Jefferson. He has the distinction of AND ELECTIONS 127 being the only elector in our history who has thus betrayed the trust placed in him. In the fourth election Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 votes, John Adams had 65, and C. C. Pinckney 64. There was, consequently, no choice, and the election went to the House of Representatives, as provided in the Constitution. After a contest lasting for six days, in which thirty- six ballots were taken, Jefferson was elected Presi- dent on February 17, by the vote of ten States against that of four States for Burr, who was elected Vice-President. The tie vote of 1800 demonstrated so clearly the need of a change in the method of voting provided in the Constitution, that in December, 1803, Congress passed and thirteen of the sixteen existing States subsequently ratified an amendment which provided that electors should vote separately for President and Vice-President. The new method went into effect for the first time in the election of 1804. The election of 1820 occurred in what was known as "the era of good feeling." There was no organ- ized opposition to Monroe's re-election. He lacked only one vote of being re-elected unanimously, thus sharing that honor with Washington. There was no election for President in 1824, since no candidate had a majority of all the electoral votes. Andrew Jackson had 99 and John Adams 84. On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected Mr. Adams President on the first ballot, the 128 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS vote standing 87 for him, 71 for Jackson, and 54 for Crawford. The votes of thirteen States went to Adams, of seven to Jackson, and of four to Crawford. Mr. Adams was declared elected President by the speaker. On the same day both houses of Congress in joint session declared Mr. Calhoun elected Vice- President. In the election of 1824 the electors were chosen by popular vote in eighteen States; in six States they were appointed by the legislatures. For the first time an attempt was made to assemble the popular vote, and while the result was not accurate, the fig- ures are interesting as being the first of their kind ever collected. They gave the following totals for the four candidates for President: Jackson, 152,899; Adams, 105,321; Crawford, 47,265; Clay, 47,087. Mr. Adams was, in a twofold sense, a minority President, being in a minority in both the electoral college and in the popular vote. He was also be- hind Jackson in both instances. His election under these conditions sounded the death-knell of the cau- cus system of nominating electors, and led to the establishment of the national convention system, and to the choice of electors by popular vote, nearly all the States adopting that method before the election of 1828. Previous to 1828 the real election had taken place in February preceding the inauguration of President in March, when the votes were canvassed in joint session, the exact result of the choice of electors in AND ELECTIONS 129 the various States not being known until that time. In the election of 1828, therefore, the people for the first time were able to give expression to their choice, and the record of popular votes in presidential elec- tions begins at that date. For the first time in the history of the country all candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency in the election of 1836 were nominated in national con- ventions. There were three such conventions Anti-Masonic, Democratic, and National Republi- can. The "two-thirds rule/' since prevailing in Democratic conventions, was originated in the first convention of that party, in Baltimore, May 22, 1832. The Whig party, made up mainly of members of the National Republican party, made its first appear- ance in national politics at this election. The election of 1876 was disputed. The Demo- crats claimed, on the morning after election, that they had carried every Southern State, as well as New York, Indiana, New Jersey, and Connecticut, giving their candidates, Tilden and Hendricks, 203 electoral votes. On the same day the Republican National Committee claimed for their party in ad- dition to other States, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, and that their candidates, Hayes and Wheeler, had 185 electoral votes, one more than a majority. Subsequently the electoral vote of Ore- gon was disputed. Final decision was made by an electoral commission created by Act of Congress, and composed of five members of each house and 130 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS five justices of the Supreme Court, to which all dis- puted returns were referred. This body was com- posed of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, and in each contest that came before it the decision rendered was by a vote of 8 to 7 in favor of the Re- publican case, thus securing a final verdict declaring the election of the Republican candidates for Presi- dent and Vice-President by one vote in the Electoral College. An important change was made by Congress in 1886 in regard to the presidential succession. In 1791 a law had been enacted which made the presi- dent pro tern, of the Senate successor to the office of President in the event of the removal, death, resig- nation, or disability of both the President and Vice- President, and in case there should be no president of the Senate, then the speaker of the House of Representatives should act as President. On Janu- ary 18, 1886, an act was approved which provided that the succession should devolve first upon the secretary of state and then in order upon the secre- tary of the treasury, the secretary of war, the attor- ney-general, the postmaster-general, secretary of the navy, and secretary of the interior. In February, 1887, a law was enacted which pro- vided a new method of counting the electoral vote, a subject which had been under discussion since the disputed election of 1876, when the Hayes-Tilden contest was decided by an electoral commission. Under the "twenty-second joint rule" either house AND ELECTIONS 131 of Congress could reject from the count electoral votes, for no vote that was objected to could be counted except by the concurrent votes of the two houses. The refusal of the Senate in 1877 to abide by the joint rule, which had governed the electoral count since 1865, led to the creation of the electoral commission. The act of 1887 provided that a State may determine finally every contest arising out of a presidential election, and in case of a conflict of State tribunals, no vote can be rejected by Congress save on concurrent votes by both houses. A complete record of the electoral and popular votes in all presidential elections, the first ten by electors chosen under the caucus system, and the remainder by electors chosen by popular vote, will be found in the final chapter of this volume. CHAPTER XVI CAMPAIGN METHODS AND CARICATURE THE modern presidential campaign, with its organ- ized uproar, great parades, innumerable mass-meet- ings, often vigorous exchange of vituperation and personal abuse, and the use of caricature as a weapon of attack, dates from the appearance of General Jackson in national politics. The advent of so distinct and so robust a personality seems to have stimulated a resort to new methods of various kinds, both for advocating his fortunes and for opposing him. The use of caricature in our politics dates from his campaign for re-election in 1832, as I shall endeavor to show presently. Campaigning in our modern sense, previous to his time, was un- known. The presidential candidates were put for- ward and their election was advocated by their friends and by the press, but almost invariably with decorum and seldom with manifestations of popu- lar excitement. But General Jackson "changed all that" in the twinkling of an eye. He opened his first campaign in January, 1828, with a grand flourish, the like of which had never been dreamed of in pre- vious contests. A celebration of the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815, was ar- ranged in that city, and the battle's hero was invited 132 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 133 as the guest of the State. Delegations were invited from all parts of the country, and they were present in large numbers. A steamer was sent from New Orleans, with a reception committee, to meet the general at Natchez and escort him to the scene. There was a procession, banquet, and ball at Natchez when the general appeared there on another steamer which had brought him from his home. The two steamers then started together for New Orleans. As they approached the city, the steamer Pocahontas, upon which the general was borne, dis- played, says a contemporary chronicler, "twenty- four flags waving from her lofty decks." A fleet of steamers had gone forth to meet him, with "two stupendous boats, lashed together, leading the van." "The whole fleet kept up a constant fire of artillery, which was answered from several ships in the har- bor and from the shore. General Jackson stood on the back gallery of the Pocahontas, his head uncov- ( ered, conspicuous to the whole multitude, which literally covered the steamboats, the shipping, and the surrounding shores." ^ Jackson landed on the levee amid a great throng of people, conspicuous among whom were many of his brother soldiers. Four days of high festival fol- lowed, with enthusiastic speeches of congratulation from the visiting delegations und stirring responses from the general, the echoes of which floated over the land and stirred it to unwonted excitement. The campaign which followed is said to have been 134 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS the most scurrilous in our history. Campaign pa- pers made their first appearance, and were devoted entirely to personal abuse of the two opposing can- didates Jackson and Adams. One of these which supported Jackson was called We the People, and the other, which supported Adams, was named the Anti-Jackson Expositor. Nothing in the public or private life of either es- caped exposure and distortion. Jackson was de- nounced as a bloodthirsty butcher, a fighter of duels, a murderer of Indians, Englishmen, and everybody else who got in his path. Hand-bills were put forth headed with a coffin-lid bearing an inscription of each victim's death. Peculiar circumstances of his marriage, long forgotten, were recalled and set forth with gross exaggeration, and so large be- came the volume of slander and accusation that a special committee was appointed to consider the various charges and disprove them, which task it executed at great length. Adams was accused of "bargain and corruption," because of his alliance with Clay, of Federalism, Freemasonry, and Uni- tarianism, of haughtiness, stinginess, selfishness, and extravagant expenditure. One charge which caused great commotion was that he had used the public money to buy a billiard-table which he had dared to set up in the White House. This was accom- panied with another charge that he had refurnished with appalling extravagance the East Room of the White House, in which his excellent mother had FANCIED SECURITY.OR THE RATS ON A BENDER. JACKSON CLEARING THE KITCHEN. AND ELECTIONS 135 been in the habit of hanging the family washing to dry. These charges are not without contemporaneous human interest, for they find echo occasionally in the debates of Congress even in our day. So also do other charges made by the excited partisans on either side in 1828. The Jacksonian organs declared that if Adams were re-elected, "the next Congress will be the last that will ever sit in the United States/' and claimed that "if General Jackson be not elected, the Union will be dissolved." A sug- gestion of later campaign methods was afforded inj the use made of Jackson's pet name, "Old Hickory." His supporters organized clubs of young men, who, paraded with transparencies and planted hickory poles, dancing around them and shouting, "Jackson forever." The Adams followers would attack these performers and seek to tear up the poles and bear them away in triumph, with the result of frequent fights and riots. With General Jackson's campaign for re-election the modern presidential contest may be said to have^ been fairly introduced. He had then made a recorfy in office that could be attacked and had conducted all his chief acts as President with such an amount of disturbance that the people were more interested in him as a personality than they were in any one else in the nation. He had entered the presidency as the saviour of his country, a military hero of in- domitable valor. His subsequent fight against the 136 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS United States Bank, his vociferous and uncere- monious methods of conducting controversies with political opponents, the subservient conduct of his famous "kitchen cabinet/ ' and its dissolution when Van Buren withdrew from it, had combined during his first term to enhance greatly his attractiveness as a popular idol. He appeared before the people as their only champion against the oppressive designs of a huge money monopoly in which the whole world was joined. He was the "People's Friend" in all crises; the giant who, single-handed, was fighting their battles against enemies from all quarters. Every conspicuous act of his public life was per- formed amid uproar and turmoil. Even when his "kitchen cabinet" was dissolved, there was so much dramatic disturbance that one of the political cari- catures of the time pictures him, armed with a churn-dasher, clearing the kitchen of all opponents as with the very besom of destruction. In waging their war against so picturesque a per- sonage as General Jackson the opposition felt the need of a new and more graphic weapon than any : previously used, and they turned to caricature. The talent which they called to their aid was crude in ideas and still more crude in execution, but a great mass of caricature, in the form of large sheets to be displayed in shop-windows and posted on walls and fences, was put forth. "The favorite idea of the caricaturists/' says one of Jackson's biographers, "was to depict Mr. Van Buren as an infant in the AND ELECTIONS 137 arms of General Jackson, receiving sustenance from a spoon in the hand of the general." Another, which was very popular, represented Jackson receiving a crown from Van Buren and a sceptre from Satan. Another showed the President raving with obvious fury at a delegation. Another represented Jackson and a group of his warmest official supporters, dressed as burglars, aiming a huge battering-ram at the United States Bank's barred front door. The Jackson campaigners did not endeavor to meet caricature with caricature, but went their way "stirring the popular heart." They did an enor- mous business in transparencies and hickory poles. A Frenchman who was travelling in the country at the time saw so many Jackson processions that he thought they were one of the institutions of the country, and wrote to his friends at home this graphic and valuable contemporary record of their appearance and character: Besides the camp-meetings, the political proces- sions are the only things in this country which bear any resemblance to festivals. The party dinners, with their speeches and deluge of toasts, are frigid, if not repulsive; and I have never seen a more mis- erable affair than the dinner given by the opposition; that is to say, by the middle class, at Powelton, in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. But I stopped involuntarily at the sight of the gigantic hickory poles which made their solemn entry on eight wheels, for the purpose of being planted by the Democracy on the eve of the election. I remember one of these 138 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS poles, with its top still crowned with green foliage, which came on to the sounds of fifes and drums, and was preceded by ranks of Democrats, bearing no other badge than a twig of the sacred tree in their hats. It was drawn by eight horses, decorated with ribbons and mottoes. Astride on the tree itself were a dozen Jackson men of the first water, waving flags with an air of anticipated triumph, and shouting "Hurrah for Jackson !" But this entry of the hickory was but a by- matter compared with the procession I witnessed in New York. It was nearly a mile long. The Dem- ocrats marched in good order, to the glare of torches; the banners were more numerous than I had ever seen them in any religious festival; all were in transparency, on account of the darkness. On some were inscribed the names of the Democratic societies or sections: Democratic young men of the ninth or eleventh wards; others bore imprecations against the Bank of the United States; Nick Biddle and Old Nick here figured largely. Then came portraits of General Jackson afoot and on horseback; there was one in the uniform of a general, and another in the person of the Tennessee farmer, with the famous hickory cane in his hand. Those of Washington and Jefferson, surrounded with Democratic mottoes, were mingled with emblems in all tastes and of all colors. Among these figured an eagle, not a painting, but a real, live eagle, tied by the legs, surrounded by a wreath of leaves, and hoisted upon a pole, after the manner of the Roman standards. The imperial bird was carried by a stout sailor, more pleased than ever was a sergeant permitted to hold one of the strings of the canopy in a Catholic ceremony. From farther than the eye AND ELECTIONS 139 could reach came marching on the Democrats. I was struck with the resemblance of their air to the train that escorts the viaticum in Mexico and Puebla. The American standard-bearers were as grave as the Mexican Indians who bore the sacred tapers. The Democratic procession, also, like the Catholic pro- cession, had its halting-places; it stopped before the houses of the Jackson men to fill the air with cheers, and halted at the doors of the leaders of the opposi- tion to give three, six, or nine groans. It has been said of the campaign of 1840, with "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," that it was the first in which the masses of the people took intense in- terest. In a sense this is true, but at the same time, \ the campaign of 1840 was the natural development of the methods first put in use under Jackson's lead- ership. General Harrison had some of the drawing qualities as a candidate that Jackson had possessed. He was a military hero as Jackson was, and he com- bined with that attractive quality a simplicity of life and character which greatly endeared him to the people. In attempting to belittle him in the public estima- tion, the Democrats unwittingly supplied the ma- terial for making his campaign at once the noisiest and the best-natured that the country has ever known. They declared that the general lived in a log cabin and drank hard cider. Harrison's supporters at once took this up as their campaign battle-cry. From the moment they did this and put it into effect, all talk of principles and issues departed from 140 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS the contest. The whole population gave itself up to parades, mass-meetings, and song singing. Huge Harrison processions, with log cabins, cider-barrels and coonskin caps on poles, fairly covered the land. In some instances they stretched from one State into another, all marching jubilantly with their gro- tesque emblems and singing unceasingly: What has caused this great commotion- 7notion-motion-7notion t Our country through f It is the ball a-rolling on For Tippecanoe and Tyler too. And with them we will beat little Van. j Van, is a used-up man. The crowds that gathered were simply stupendous would be regarded as phenomenal even in our day. There was a Whig carnival at Bunker Hill at which 75,000 were said to be present, and one at Dayton, Ohio, at which General Harrison appeared, which was said to comprise at least 100,000. Thurlow Weed says the most memorable gathering of the campaign was held at Syracuse, to which people came by hundreds and thousands, on foot, in car- riages, on canal-boats from all points along the canal, many of them with bands of music, and all with glee clubs, playing and singing "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and other similar refrains. "They began to arrive at sunrise and continued arriving till 2 P. M. It was altogether the most exciting scene 10CO TOGO CANDIDATES TRAVELLING, OS THE CANAL SYSTEM. "A BOSTON NOTION OF THE WORLD'S FAIR- A NEW CRADLE OF LIBERTY." AND ELECTIONS 141 I ever witnessed." Of the campaign in general, Mr. Weed says: "Log cabins, emblematic of the candi- date's rustic origin and habits, were erected in the principal cities and villages, in all of which enthusi- astic meetings were held." CHAPTER XVII GENESIS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL CARICATURE FEW of the Jackson caricatures are to be found now. They were used at frequent intervals, mainly in New York City, in lithograph sheets, to be nailed upon walls or passed from hand to hand. They were crude in drawing, and sometimes coarse to the point of indecency. They bore evidence that their designers had gone abroad for inspiration, tak- ing their ideas mainly from English caricaturists. In fact, our modern school of caricature dates from almost the same time as that of England, and both followed closely after that of Italy, France, and Ger- many. In all these countries the first political cari- catures were lithograph sheets, passed about from hand to hand; usually issued by the artists them- selves at first, and subsequently by some publishing house. The founder of the modern school in England was James Gillray, who was born in 1757, a few years before the death of Hogarth. His earlier work, which was mainly social, partook largely of the characteristics of the caricaturists who had pre- ceded him. It was generally coarse, and it nearly always made its effect by use of exaggeration. In his later years, however, between 1803 and 1811, 142 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 143 he turned his attention to political caricature, be- ginning with Napoleon as a subject, and adopted methods from which the modern school has been developed. It would be more accurate to say that Gillray pointed the way to the founding of the modern school of political caricature, rather than that he was its founder. He never separated him- self entirely from the tradition, as old almost as the art of drawing, that coarseness and exaggeration were the essential elements of humor as exhibited in caricature. The first English artist to make that separation completely was John Doyle, father of Richard Doyle. He began to publish political caricatures in 1830, under the signature of "H. B.," and was the first caricaturist to preserve faithfully in all cases the likenesses of his subjects, and to give to them their individual attitudes and tricks of man- ner. He was the real founder of the Punch cartoon as it was developed by Richard Doyle, John Leech, and John Tenniel. He preferred to draw single figures, though he sometimes produced groups with several figures, calling his productions "Political Sketches." It is a curious and interesting fact that the United States supplied the inspiration for one of Doyle's most successful pictures, and incidentally, perhaps, helped to lay the foundation for the double-page group cartoon with which we were so familiar later. In 1836, Thomas D. Rice, the father of negro min- 144 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS strelsy in America, went to London to introduce his invention. His "Jim Crow" song proved a great popular hit, and all London went to hear it and then went about singing it. Doyle, with the quick eye which is the sine qua non of the true political cari- caturist, drew and issued a large cartoon in which all the leading politicians of the day who had been changing their party affiliations or modifying their views were represented as assembled at a ball, and as being led forward, one by one, by Rice to be taught to "turn about and wheel about and jump Jim Crow." The establishment of Punch in 1841 put an end to the lithograph sheet caricatures in England. The famous Punch cartoonists, Richard Doyle, John Leech, John Tenniel, Linley Sanbourne, and Bernard Partridge, followed John Doyle's departure in pre- serving likenesses, but the double-page cartoon with many figures has been the exception with them rather than the rule. The typical Punch cartoon is confined to a few figures, frequently to one. While there has been a steady advance in artistic merit since 1841, there has been little change in the gen- eral style of political caricature in Punch. In the United States the many-figured group cartoon appears to have been a steady favorite since Jackson's time. Its immediate inspirers were un- doubtedly Gillray and John Doyle, more especially the latter, whose sketches had been filling the shop- windows of London for two years when similar pro- AND ELECTIONS 145 ductions began to appear on this side of the water. Doyle had followed Gillray at a considerable dis- tance, however; for he was a far inferior artist in every way, having slight perception of humor and being hard and inflexible in his methods. What Doyle did was to take Gillray's occasional act of giving a correct likeness, and make it his own per- manent practise. His sketches are valuable to-day chiefly for this quality, all his drawings of leading men of the period being veritable portraits of real historical value, some of them the best in existence. Our early American political caricaturists followed Doyle's example as faithfully as their powers as draftsmen would permit. That they did not suc- ceed very well in the beginning was not strange. Drawing was scarcely taught at all in this country at the time, and the only persons who were skilled in it had drifted here from abroad, and had little knowledge of our politics and public men. It was only in very rare instances, therefore, that a litho- graph caricature of an earlier date than 1840 can be found which is even tolerable, either in conception or execution. There was a slight improvement after that period, and by 1850 a sufficient advance had been made to justify the assertion that the founda- tion of a school of American political caricature had been laid. In 1848 Messrs. Currier & Ives began, in Nassau Street, New York City, the publication of campaign caricatures in lithograph sheets similar to those 146 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS which had been issued in London and other foreign cities. This was the year of the Taylor-Cass-Van Buren campaign, which resulted in Taylor's election. Few of the caricatures of that year are obtainable now, or of those issued by the same firm in the fol- lowing campaign of 1852. A complete set had been preserved by the publishers, but was stolen during a fire several years ago. I am indebted to Mr. James M. Ives, of Currier & Ives, for much interesting information about the entire series of early caricatures, and for several of the earlier sketches, including the original drawing of the Jackson kitchen-clearing picture. There was a contemporary caricature, now unobtainable, called "Rats Leaving a Falling House," which represented Jackson seated in a kitchen, smoking, while five rats, bearing the heads of the members of his Cabinet, were scurrying to get out by doors, windows, and other openings. Jackson had planted his foot on the tail of the one which bore Martin Van Buren's head, and was holding him fast. This caricature, as well as its companion, "Jackson Clearing His Kitchen, " is believed to have been the work of an English artist named E. W. Clay. Both were pub- lished in 1831, soon after the dissolution of the "kitchen cabinet." The faces in the kitchen-clear- ing scene are all portraits : Van Buren, Nicholas Bid- die, president of the United States Bank, and Cal- houn stand nearest to Jackson; prostrate on the floor is Dixon H. Lewis, whose portly figure was a AND ELECTIONS 147 conspicuous feature of the Washington life of the time; and fleeing from the room with outstretched arms is Francis P. Blair, editor of the Jacksonian organ, the Globe. An interesting caricature of a decade or so later is that called "A Boston Notion of the World's Fair." This was drawn by Clay, and was aimed at the Abolition movement, which was steadily mak- ing headway in Boston under the leadership of Gar- rison. Uncle Sam appears in this dressed in the style of Franklin, as was always his garb in the earlier American caricatures. The World's Fair re- ferred to was that held in New York in 1844. Clay is the author of the single representative of the triangular contest of 1848, when Taylor, Cass, and Van Buren were the presidential candi- dates. Marcy, the author of the phrase "To the victors belong the spoils," appears in this with a patch on his trousers marked "50 cents," which was an invariable feature of any caricature of him. It was based on a report that he had, while governor of New York, included in a bill against the State, for travelling expenses, a charge "to patching trou- sers 50 cents," his reason being that as he had torn the trousers while on business for the State, it was the State's duty to repair the damage. Van Buren is shown towing the boat "up Salt River," because he was the candidate of a faction which had bolted from the nomination of Cass, and was thus making the latter's election impossible. 148 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Marcy appears in the caricature of the Pierce cam- paign of 1852 with his hand covering the patch, he having obviously become weary of the allusions to it by this time. In this picture Pierce, of whom a striking likeness is presented, is borne upon the shoulders of William R. King, who was the candi- date for Vice-President, while Stephen A. Douglas assists Marcy in supporting him. In their original form, the cartoons here given were about the size of the later double-page cartoon in Puck. With the exception of the earliest two, all of them were published by Currier & Ives. In all of them the faces are carefully drawn portraits, and the figures are presented in natural attitudes. The general style of the pictures is similar to that of the earlier political-caricature period in European coun- tries. The figures are presented almost invariably without background, and each of them is represented as giving utterance to some sentiment which is en- closed in a loop over his head. This use of the loop was abandoned in nearly all European countries before its appearance here. It is to be found in some but not in all of the Gillray caricatures, in some of Doyle's and very rarely in the earlier numbers of Punch. The European artists abandoned the practise when they began to draw and compose their caricatures so well that they told their own story, with the aid of a title or a few words of dialogue beneath them. It was abandoned in this country later under like conditions, and was THE GREAT PRESIDENTIAL SWEEPSTAKES THE "MUSTANG" TEAM AND ELECTIONS 149 not used at all for many years until the appearance of comic illustrated supplements in the Sunday news- papers and comic features in the daily press, when it was revived and brought into general use. The early American caricaturists used the loop as gen- erously as possible, as the specimens of their work given herewith testify. Their publishers found that the public demanded this, and that a picture without the loops would not sell. Yet the pictures told their story perfectly without these aids. In a large collection of them, I found none whose meaning was not made obvious by the title beneath it. Take those relating to the cam- paign of 1856, for example, and see how plainly their meaning appears at a glance. In "The Great Presi- dential Sweepstakes" Fillmore is starting well in the lead, because as the candidate of the American party he had been the first nominee in the field. Next to him comes Buchanan, borne on the shoulders of Franklin Pierce, whose successor in the presidency he was to be; and bringing up the rear is a cart with Fremont in the driver's seat, Jessie Benton Fremont stowed snugly in behind, Mr. Beecher lift- ing at the wheel, and Horace Greeley coaxing the sorry-looking horse to pull his burden through the "Abolition cesspool" in which the whole party is wallowing. "The Mustang Team" tells its story with equal directness. The three editors, Greeley, Bennett, and Raymond, are astride Fremont's sorry nag, while an- 150 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS other of the chief editors of the day, General James Watson Webb, is catching on behind. This was the forerunner of the oft-repeated cartoon of a later day, in which editors of our great journals were frequently made to figure in even less favorable attitudes. The Fremont cart has the same look as in the first pic- ture, with the addition of a bag for the "Bleeding Kansas Fund." It is noticeable that Uncle Sam, who figures as toll-gatherer in this picture, and who has changed his costume since the cartoon of 1843, is presented without the chin beard which he wears habitually in modern cartoons. In all the pictures of this period he is clean-shaven, and with a costume similar to that which is still assigned to him. No word is necessary in explanation of the picture in which Farmer Fillmore is about to scatter the rats who are swarming about the "public crib" in the hope of getting possession of its contents. As a prophecy the picture was as bad a failure as its com- panion which represents Fillmore as standing be- tween Fremont and Buchanan, keeping them from each other's throats, and as destined presumably to triumph over them at the polls for Buchanan was subsequently victorious. The early appearance of the "public crib" as a synonym for the spoils of office is a point of some interest. It was evidently familiar at the time this picture was drawn, and may date back to Jackson's time, possibly far be- yond that, coming to us from English usage. CHAPTER XVIII CARTOONS OF LINCOLN'S FIRST CAMPAIGN MANY of the cartoons in which Lincoln figured rep- resent him in connection with one or more fence rails. He had become the " rail-splitter " candidate in as unexpected a way as General Harrison had become the log-cabin candidate a few years earlier. At the Republican State convention of Illinois, in May, 1860, Lincoln was present as a spectator and was invited to a seat on the platform. Soon after the proceedings began, one of the delegates, the once- famous "Dick" Oglesby, asked to be allowed to offer a contribution to the convention. The outer door of the hall swung open and John Hanks, a cousin of Lincoln, advanced toward the platform bearing two weather-beaten rails, upon which was displayed a banner with this inscription : ABRAHAM LINCOLN THE BAIL CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN 1860 Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made in 1830 by Thomas Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose father was the first pioneer of Macon County. This novel exhibit caused a tremendous uproar, with cries for Lincoln. As soon as quiet was re- 151 152 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS stored, he arose and said: "I suppose Lam expected to reply to that. I cannot say whether I made those rails or not, but I am quite sure I have made a great many just as good." An ardent Lincoln dele- gate said afterward in describing the scene: " These rails were to represent the issue in the coming con- test between labor free and labor slave; between democracy and aristocracy. Little did I think of the mighty consequences of this little incident; little did I think that the tall and angular and bony rail- splitter, who stood in girlish diffidence, bowing with awkward grace, would fill the chair once filled by Washington, and that his name would echo in chants of praise along the corridor of all coming time." The caricatures, reproduced in these pages, relat- ing to the great campaign of 1860 were the most successful of the kind ever issued in this country. The two in which Lincoln is the chief figure, "The Nigger in the Woodpile" and "An Heir to the Throne," came out soon after his nomination, and the likeness of him which is presented in both of them seems to be based on the photograph which was taken in Chicago in 1857. It is a powerful face, full of the same sad and noble dignity which became more deeply marked upon it in later years the face, indeed, even then, of the "kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man" of Lowell's immortal ode. There were two similar pictures in the 1860 collec- tion, "The Impending Crisis" and "The Irrepressi- ble Conflict," had a very large sale, exceeding 50,000 AND ELECTIONS 153 copies each. They represented the failure of Seward to obtain the Republican nomination, and in both Horace Greeley was pictured as the chief agent of the disaster. In the one given Mr. Greeley is depicted as having pushed Mr. Seward off a wharf, and as having been caught in the act by Henry J. Ray- mond, while General Webb gives evidence as an eye- witness. In the other Mr. Greeley was throwing Mr. Seward overboard from a boat which Lincoln was steering, and which was very heavily loaded with the leaders of the Republican party. Mr. Seward's famous phrase, which gave the picture its title, was uttered in October, 1858, and had passed almost im- mediately into the political vocabulary of the people. One of the most peculiar of the caricatures of this 1860 campaign is that called "Progressive Democ- racy." The manner in which the heads of the Dem- ocratic candidates are placed upon the bodies of the mules in this picture is the same as that em- ployed in all the earlier caricatures before the year 1800, and but rarely after that time. Early in the nineteenth century the caricaturists began to form the human features from the face of an animal, rather than to hang the human head in front of the animars ears as is done in this picture. The prom- inent position occupied by the Tammany Indian gives evidence that the politics of that period did not differ in some respects from the politics of to-day. All these caricatures of 1856 and 1860 were drawn by Louis Maurer. 154 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Belonging to a different class of caricatures of this period are four cartoons, published in a series on a single page of Harper's Weekly on March 9, 1861, relating to Lincoln's secret midnight journey through Baltimore in February, on his way to Washington to be inaugurated, and his subsequent arrival. These reveal much of the contemptuous view taken of Lincoln in certain parts of the North during the campaign. In the two other specimens of the caricatures of 1861, which are here presented with those of later date, the most interesting is that called "The Seces- sion Movement." This is an almost exact repro- duction of a very successful caricature of Jackson's time. Its authorship is unknown. In its original form it represented Jackson "going the whole hog" in his quest for popularity, reaching out for a butter- fly labelled "Popularity/' and exclaiming, "By the Eternal, I'll get it!" He was mounted upon the hog which South Carolina is riding in the present picture, and behind him upon donkeys rode the members of his "kitchen cabinet," with the excep- tion of Van Buren. The latter, mounted upon a fox, was taking the course pursued by Georgia in the later picture, and was uttering a phrase which he had made public in one of his letters, to the effect that, while he generally followed his illustrious leader, he had thought it advisable in the present emergency to "deviate a little." This fixes the date of the original picture at the beginning of the cam- AND ELECTIONS 155 paign of 1832, after Van Buren had resigned from the Cabinet. A single specimen of the year 1864, "Running the Machine, " shows Lincoln's Cabinet in session, and gives us a poor portrait of him. The greenback mill, which Fessenden, as secretary of the treasury, is turning, shows a productive capacity sufficient to attract the interest and excite the envy of fiat money advocates of a later time. The caricature which distanced all others in popu- larity in the early war period was that drawn by Frank Beard, called "Why Don't You Take It?" This had a sale exceeding 100,000 copies, and went to all parts of the North. It was reproduced, in a weak- ened form, and placed on envelopes among the count- less other devices which were used in that way to express Union sentiment. An interesting collection of these decorated envelopes is among the archives of the New York Historical Society. Mr. Beard's formidable bulldog was intended to represent Gen- eral Scott, and in some of the reduced reproductions Scott's name was placed upon his collar. The cari- cature hit the popular fancy when the Confederate army was threatening to advance upon Washington, and streets were made impassable wherever it was exhibited in shop-windows. The publication of these lithograph caricatures was continued through the Lincoln-McClellan cam- paign of 1864, a specimen of which is presented, showing General McClellan as a peacemaker be- 156 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS tween Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. This likeness of Lincoln is so inaccurate as to be almost unrecog- nizable, and is by John Cameron, the artist who drew the Cabinet group. Caricatures were issued also during the campaigns of 1868 and 1872, two of which are given herewith. One represents Gree- ley in a perambulator propelled by Theodore Tilton, with Victoria Woodhull behind him, and Colonel John Cochrane in front admonishing him to quiet- ness. The other represents Schurz, Greeley, Sum- ner, and other leaders of the anti-Grant movement dancing on a gridiron. They did not differ materi- ally from the earlier ones, showing very little prog- ress in either design or drawing. CHAPTER XIX WEEKLY AND DAILY JOURNAL CARTOONS THE death-knell of the lithograph-sheet caricature was sounded when the illustrated newspapers began to publish their political caricatures. They did not do this till the close of the war, though Thomas Nast made his first appearance in Harper 's Weekly while the war was in progress. His pictures during the war were serious in purpose, and cannot be classed as caricatures. He began his career as a political caricaturist when Andrew Johnson started to "swing round the circle," but his fame rests on achievements of a later period. His series of about fifty cartoons upon the Tammany Ring, during and following the exposures of 1871, constitute a distinct epoch in American political caricature. He was un- like any caricaturist who had preceded him, and his successors have not followed his methods. He gave to the satiric art of caricature a power that it had never before known in this country, and seldom in any country. It is impossible to look at this work of his in the light of what had preceded it, and of what has come after it, and not say that Nast stands by himself, the creator of a school which not only began but ended with him. He had drawn political caricatures before he had Tweed and his allies for 157 158 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS subjects, and he drew other political caricatures after his destructive, deadly work with them was finished; but his fame will rest on his work of that period. The most powerful of the series, and the one of lasting historic value because of the first ap- pearance of the Tammany tiger as the symbol of Tammany Hall, was issued two days before the elec- tion of November, 1871, in which the Tweed Ring was completely overthrown. In fact, to Nast be- longs the credit of creating, in addition to the Tam- many tiger, the Democratic donkey and the Repub- lican elephant. The first appearance of the donkey as the Democratic party symbol was during the Grant-Greeley campaign of 1872, and the first ap- pearance of the Republican elephant was on Novem- ber 7, 1874, just three years after the birth of the Tammany tiger. The donkey and the elephant, destined to indefinite use in political caricature and parlance, were first placed together in one cartoon by Nast in 1880. While Nast had no successor in artistic methods, the success of caricature in the pages of an illustrated newspaper was so clearly demonstrated by him, that he pointed the way to the establishing of the weekly journals devoted to that purpose which sprang up later, and which, for a time, so com- pletely occupied the field that Harper 's Weekly and other similar competitors practically withdrew from it. The founder and chief developer of that school of AND ELECTIONS 159 political caricature in America, as it appeared for several years in the many-colored cartoons of Puck and Judge, was a young artist and actor from Vienna, named Joseph Keppler, who reached Saint Louis in 1868 in search of his fortune. He had studied draw- ing under the best teachers in Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts, but a strong inclination for acting had taken him upon the stage. During the first year or two after his arrival in America he went about the country as a member of a travelling theatrical troupe, appearing in the theatres of many cities, in- cluding those at Saint Louis, New Orleans, and New York. Keppler's hand turned naturally to caricature, and after vain attempts to sell some of his drawings to daily newspapers in Saint Louis, he started in that city in 1869 an illustrated lithographic weekly, in German, with the title Die Vehme. The paper had a short life, and was succeeded in 1870 by a new ven- ture called Puck. Two volumes of this were issued, that of the first year being in German alone, and that of the second in both German and English. The enterprise was doing fairly well, when Keppler was compelled to abandon it. He went to New York City in 1873, where he did some work for a weekly illustrated paper for a time, and also reappeared upon the local stage as an actor. In September, 1876, the first number of Puck in New York was issued in German, and in March, 1877, the first number in English made its appearance. 160 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS It was a very different Puck from what it be- came later. Its cartoons were drawn on wood, and were in white and black. The drawing was strong, but the composition of the pictures was almost as crude as that of the old lithograph sheets. Kep- pler at first followed the French and Italian schools of caricature, exaggerating the size of the heads and the length of the legs. He very soon abandoned this, however, and began to feel his way toward the gradual unfolding of what under his guidance be- came a distinctly American school of caricature. In 1878 he began to draw on stone, and in order to brighten the effect of his pictures he commenced to tint them slightly with a single color. In 1879 two colors or tints were used, and from that time on the growth was steady and rapid, until the bright and multicolored cartoon of a later day was developed. No one can look at the lithograph-sheet carica- tures of 1856 and 1860 and not be struck with the strong general resemblance which they bear to the cartoons of Keppler's day. There is the same use of many figures in both, and the same mingling of editors, politicians, and other prominent personages in groups and situations illustrating and ridiculing the political developments of the day. Instead of using the overhead loops to explain the meaning of the picture, however, the Keppler school of artists built up elaborate backgrounds and surrounded the central figures with details which, if the cartoon was a success, helped to tell its story at a glance. AND ELECTIONS 161 The artistic merit of the modern cartoon was far in advance of its predecessors. The style was very different from that of the Punch cartoon, which has been developed from the same original source as the American. Both trace their pedigree back to Gill- ray and Doyle, but the development has been in different directions. The Punch cartoon of to-day is confined in almost all instances to a few figures, and, except in the great advance made in artistic merit, does not differ in general style from the Punch cartoon of fifty years ago. The American colored cartoon was a modern crea- tion. It took the old group idea of Gillray and Doyle, made it gorgeous with colors, built it up and fortified it with backgrounds, and imparted to the figures and faces of its personages a freedom of humor and a terrible vigor of satire which were pe- culiarly American. The author and gradual un- folder of this cartoon was Keppler, who had the honor not only of founding a school of American cari- cature, but of establishing successful comic journal- ism in America. He had able disciples and coad- jutors in Gillam, Taylor, Opper, Dalrymple, and others, and an invaluable associate and helper on the literary side in H. C. Bunner; but he was the pioneer. This school of weekly journalism, with its many- colored political cartoons and its comic and satirical letter-press, was at the summit of its power in the Blaine-Cleveland campaign of 1884. Probably no 162 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS more terribly effective series of political caricatures was ever issued than that which Puck put forth in that campaign. Certainly nothing that the same journal did subsequently in the campaigns of 1888 and 1892 ; while it retained its political prominence, approached them in power. Four of the most fa- mous of them, all from the pencil of Gillam, who was Keppler's chief assistant, are reproduced in these pages. While something of their original force is taken away by the absence of the colors in which they were first published, enough of it remains to give an adequate idea of the extraordinary vigor and merciless directness which characterized them. They literally struck terror to the supporters of Mr. Elaine wherever they appeared, and there was no corner in the land to which they did not penetrate. In 1884, and in several subsequent national cam- paigns, Puck, as the representative of the Mugwump and Democratic forces, and Judge, as the representa- tive of the Republican party, exerted an influence in the politics of the country which was probably greater than that of all the daily press combined. Their weekly cartoons were awaited eagerly, were passed from hand to hand, and were the subject of animated comment in all political circles. But this influence waned so rapidly that very little of it remains to-day. Doubtless one cause of the decline was the death of Keppler and the ablest of his associates, but the chief cause was the use of the cartoon as a weapon of daily journalism. One by *THE IMPENDING CRISI^-OR CAUGHT INTHE ACT, 'THE JMI GGER" IN THE WOODPILE. AND ELECTIONS 163 one the leading newspapers of the land added a car- toonist to their staffs, until the journal which did not employ one became the exception to the general rule. Many of them publish a cartoon daily, on the leading topic of the moment, political or other, and the inevitable consequence is that the freshness is taken from all subjects for such treatment long be- fore the weekly journal gets around to it. The daily cartoon differs from that of the comic weeklies in that it has no color and it is usually con- fined to a few figures. It attempts nothing so elabo- rate as the double-page drawings, of which the "Phyrne" reproduced from Gillam's hand is a sample. The work is executed, of course, in great haste and is often very crude in drawing and finish, but considering the pressure under which both artist and engraver perform their tasks, it is surprisingly well done. The increasing demand for men who can do it has brought forward a new school of cari- caturists whose most conspicuous members are in artistic ability, fertility of imagination, and force- fulness of expression the equals of the best of their predecessors. The influence which they exert upon public opinion is incalculable. They have largely superseded the editorial page of the newspaper as the moulder of political thought. Where one person reads an editorial article, a thousand look at the cartoon. In fact, every one who takes up the news- paper sees the cartoon and is influenced more or less by its interpretation of an event, or of an indi- 164 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS vidual act. Usually the treatment is good-natured, but in many instances it is partisan rather than judicial, taking the political side held by the paper in which it appears. CHAPTER XX WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATIONS FROM the first the American people elected to make of the inauguration of a President a great national festival. They did this spontaneously, and in quiet disregard of all efforts to prevent them. Washing- ton desired to be installed as first President without pomp or parade, as was natural in a man who looked upon his consent to serve as the greatest sacrifice of personal feelings and wishes he had ever been called upon to make, and who entered upon his task with a most unfeigned reluctance, and with a real diffidence for which he did not expect to receive credit from the world. He wrote to Lafayette, soon after the adoption of the Constitution: "In answer to the observations you make on the probability of my election to the presidency, knowing me as you do, I need only say, that it has no enticing charms and no fascinating allurements for me. . . . The increasing infirmities of nature and the growing love of retirement do not permit me to entertain a wish beyond that of living and dying an honest man on my own farm." Writing at about the same time on the same subject to Hamilton, he said: "While you and some others who are acquainted with my heart would acquit, the world and posterity might possi- 165 166 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS bly accuse me of inconsistency and ambition. " After it had been decided that he must accept the office, he wrote to General Knox: In confidence I tell you (with the world it would obtain little credit) that my movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit, who is going to the place of his execution; so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities, and in- clination, which are necessary to manage the helm. In his diary, under date of April 16, 1789, he wrote: About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and, with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York in company with Mr. Thomson and Colonel Humphreys, with the best disposition to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations. Yet his journey from Mount Vernon to New York, which he wished to make as private as possible, was converted by the people, overflowing with venera- tion and gratitude, into an unbroken triumphal progress, which culminated in a series of public demonstrations and ceremonies that surpassed any- thing of the kind yet seen in the young republic. AND ELECTIONS 167 When only a few miles from Mount Vernon, at Alexandria, he was greeted with a great assemblage of friends and neighbors and honored with a public banquet. In responding to the address of the mayor, Washington said: "All that now remains for me is to commit myself and you to the care of that beneficent Being who, on a former occasion, happily brought us together after a long and distressing sep- aration. Perhaps the same gracious Providence will again indulge me. But words fail me. Unutterable sensations must then be left to more expressive silence, while from an aching heart I bid all my affectionate friends and kind neighbors farewell." From Alexandria to Georgetown he was accompa- nied by neighbors and friends, and even by children, "a company," says a contemporary writer in a let- ter published in The Pennsylvania Packet of April 21, 1789, "which did more honor to a man than all the triumphs that Rome ever beheld; and the person honored is more illustrious than any monarch on the globe." The people of Georgetown escorted him north till he was met by the welcoming people of Baltimore, and this continuous attendance was kept up till he reached New York. In Baltimore, Wil- mington, Philadelphia, great preparations had been made to receive him. There were street illumi- nations, banquets, military parades, addresses of welcome, and great outpourings of people. Near Philadelphia he was met at the Pennsyl- vania line with a cavalcade of soldiers and escorted 168 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS into Chester. In resuming his journey he left his carriage and mounted a white horse, upon which, in the midst of a troop of cavalry, he rode into Phila- delphia, passing under triumphal arches decorated with laurel and evergreen and between interminable lines of people who walled both sides of the line of march. A banquet with two hundred and fifty guests was served. At the close of the exercises in Philadelphia, he was escorted by the city troops to Trenton, where he was again met by military and civic organizations and honored with attentions like those he had received at other points. Through Princeton and Brunswick, amid demon- strations of honor and affection, he reached Eliza- bethtown Point, where he was met by the com- mittees of Congress and went on board a barge which had been built especially to convey him through the bay to New York City. It had been launched only two days before his arrival, was about fifty feet long and was rowed by thirteen masters of vessels dressed in white uniforms and black caps ornamented with fringes. Six other barges, with members of the committees and distinguished guests, followed the President's barge as it moved slowly forward to the point of landing at the foot of Wall Street. Doctor James Lloyd Cogswell, a spectator of the scene, thus described it in a letter written on the evening of the memorable day: From the Battery to the Coffee House, where the general landed, the ships, docks, and houses were ft. en K U O Ul 5) U) UJ 5 AND ELECTIONS 169 crowded with people as thick as they could stand. The guns of the Battery were fired as soon as the general passed, and all the people upon the Battery gave three huzzas. The cheers were continued along from the Battery unto the place of landing as the barge passed. I was on board Captain Woolsey's ship, which lies in the slip by the Coffee House, and had a very fine prospect. The successive motion of the hats from the Battery to the Coffee House was like the rolling motion of the sea, or a field of grain moving with the wind when the sun is frequently intercepted with a cloud. Washington was met at the landing by Governor Clinton, and invited to enter a carriage, but de- clined, preferring to walk to his house accompanied by the governor. Doctor Cogswell thus describes the procession: The procession immediately formed and pro- ceeded from the Coffee House into Queen Street, and thence to the President's house. The light in- fantry, grenadiers, and a train of artillery led on the procession. The officers in uniform, not on duty, followed. The general walked after them, at the right hand of Governor Clinton. Then followed the principal officers of state, members of Congress, clergy, and citizens. The general was dressed in blue, with buff-colored underclothes. The proces- sion moved very slowly and with great solemnity. The windows, stoops, and streets were crowded; the latter so closely you might have walked on people's heads for a great distance. Notwithstanding all the exertions of the guard to keep the crowd off, they were so wedged in by Embree's corner (in Pearl 170 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Street) that they could not move for some time. The general was obliged to wipe his eyes several times before he got into Queen Street. After they had tarried some time at the President's house, he returned and dined with Governor Clinton. . . . It is now half after nine o'clock. Since I began this letter I had a call to visit a sick person in Beaver Street. I walked up Queen and Wall Streets and round by the new buildings through Hanover Square. Every house is illuminated except those of the Quakers. The appearance is brilliant beyond de- scription. The house which had been fitted up for Washing- ton as President was known as the Franklin House, was owned by Samuel Osgood, and stood at the junction of Cherry and Pearl Streets, on Franklin Square. It was taken down in 1856. Governor Clinton's house stood in Pearl Street opposite Cedar. Washington himself, on the evening of the day, thus recorded his emotions in his diary: The display of boats which attended and joined us on this occasion, some with vocal and some with instrumental music; the decorations of the ships, the roar of the cannon, and the loud acclamations of the people, which rent the skies as I walked along the streets, filled my mind with sensations as painful (considering the reverse of this scene, which may be the case after all my labors to do good) as they are pleasing. The inauguration occurred on April 30. For nearly a fortnight crowds had been pouring into the AND ELECTIONS 171 city from all directions. Taverns and boarding- houses were thronged with guests, and every private house was filled with them. At twelve o'clock noon the procession which was to escort the President to Federal Hall, where the ceremonies were to take place, began to form at his house. It was composed of a troop of horse, two companies of grenadiers, a company of light infantry, a battalion, and a com- pany of Scotch Highlanders in full uniform, with music by bagpipe. Washington rode in a state coach, drawn by four horses. The military contin- gent amounted in all to about five hundred men. It drew up about two hundred yards from Federal Hall, which stood in Wall Street at the head of Broad, where the Sub-treasury building now stands, and Washington passed through its two lines into the hall. The building in which the inauguration ceremonies were held had been the city hall, built in 1699. It had served as municipal and colonial court-house, debtors 7 and county jail, and capitol of the province. When New York was selected in 1788 for the meet- ing of the new Congress, it was determined to trans- form this building into a Federal Hall as seat of the new government. Wealthy citizens advanced $32,- 000 for that purpose, and the work was begun in October, 1788. It was thrown open for inspection shortly before the inauguration. A grand balcony had been constructed at the second story of the building, where the inauguration 172 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS oath was to be administered. An accurate view of this is presented in the cut which is reproduced in these pages from Harper' 's Weekly. To this balcony Washington, after meeting the Senate and House of Representatives in the chamber of the former, was escorted by the Vice-President, John Adams, and fol- lowed by other higher public functionaries. The oath of office was administered by Chancellor Liv- ingston. Washington laid his hand upon the Bible, bowed, and said with great solemnity: "I swear, so help me God!" Bending reverently, he kissed the book. Livingston stepped forward, raised his hand and said: "Long live George Washington, President of the United States !" The crowd then broke into cheers, cannon boomed, the bells of the city rang, and Washington, accompanied by the other persons on the balcony, proceeded to the Senate-chamber, where he delivered his inaugural address. Eliza Morton Quincy, in a privately printed mem- oir, thus describes the balcony scene: I was on the roof of the first house in Broad Street, which belonged to Captain Prince, the father of one of my schoolmates, and so near Washington that I could almost hear him speak. The windows and roofs of the houses were crowded, and in the streets the throng was so dense that it seemed as if one might literally walk on the heads of the people. The balcony of the hall was in full view of this assembled multitude. In the centre of it was placed a table, with a rich covering of red velvet; and upon this a crimson-velvet cushion, on which lay a large AND ELECTIONS 173 and elegant Bible. This was all the paraphernalia for this august scene. All eyes were fixed upon the balcony, where, at the appointed hour, Washington entered, accompanied by the chancellor of the State of New York, by John Adams, Vice-President; Gov- ernor Clinton, and many other distinguished men. By the great body of the people he had probably never been seen except as a military hero. The first in war was now to be the first in peace. His en- trance upon the balcony was announced by univer- sal ^shouts of joy and welcome. He was dressed in a suit of black velvet, and his appearance was most dignified and solemn. Advancing to the front of the balcony, he laid his hand on his heart and bowed several times, and then retreated to an armchair near the table. The populace appeared to under- stand that the scene had overcome him, and were at once hushed into profound silence. Other spectators do not agree with Mrs. Quincy as to the clothes worn by Washington. According to Washington Irving, he "was clad in a full suit of dark-brown cloth of American manufacture, with a steel-hilted dress sword, white-silk stockings, and silver shoe-buckles. His hair was dressed and pow- dered in the fashion of the day, and worn in a bag and solitaire." Senator Maclay says, he "was dressed in a full suit of dark-brown cloth manufac- tured at Hartford, with metal buttons with an eagle on them/' Maclay, who heard the inaugural ad- dress, wrote: This great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the levelled cannon or 174 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make out to read, though it must be supposed he had often read it before. He put part of the fingers of his left hand into the side of what I think the tailors call the fall of the breeches, chang- ing the paper into his right hand. After some time he then did the same thing with some of the fingers of his right hand. When he came to the words all the world, he made a flourish with his right hand, which left rather an ungainly impression. I sin- cerely, for my part, wished all set ceremony in the hands of the dancing-masters, and that this first of men had read off his address in the plainest man- ner, without ever taking his eyes from the paper, for I felt hurt that he was not first in every- thing. Fisher Ames, who also heard him, was more deeply impressed: He addressed the two Houses in the Senate- chamber; it was a very touching scene, and quite of a solemn kind. His aspect grave, almost to sad- ness; his modesty, actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention, added to the series of objects presented to the mind, and overwhelming it, produced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members. After the address, Washington and all the other officials present at the exercises proceeded on foot, accompanied by the same military procession, to Saint PauPs chapel, where religious services were conducted by the Bishop of New York. Fisher RUNNING THClttACHINE?': THE "SECESSION AND ELECTIONS 175 Ames wrote in regard to this part of the cere- monies: I was present in the pew with the President, and must assure you that, after making all deductions for the delusion of one's fancy in regard to characters, I still think of him with more veneration than for any other person. Time has made havoc upon his face. That, and many other circumstances not to be reasoned about, conspired to keep up the awe I brought with me. CHAPTER XXI JOHN ADAMS'S GLOOMY ENTRANCE So long as Washington was on the scene he domi- nated it completely. He came much nearer to hav- ing his own way at his second inauguration, in Phila- delphia, than he had been able to at his first, in New York, chiefly through the desire of his political rivals to prevent a fresh demonstration of the popu- lar adoration of him. Jefferson's immortal devotion to republican simplicity had its origin in this desire; for he favored the abolition of all public exercises at the second inauguration, and wished to have the oath of office administered to Washington privately at his house, a certificate of it to be deposited in the State Department. Hamilton took the same view, but other members of the Cabinet favored exercises in the open Senate-chamber, and their opinion pre- vailed. There was as large an attendance as the hall would hold, but no parade or other popular demonstration. The people went on worshipping their hero with undiminished fervor, however. They celebrated his birthday with such honors and in so general a way, that his rivals were more distressed than ever, and began to see in this infatuation a menace to the republic, a threat of monarchy. 176 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 177 The chief sufferer from this condition of affairs was John Adams, when the time came to inaugurate him as Washington's successor. He is the only President we have had, with the possible exception of Mr. Van Buren, who can be said to have played a secondary part at his own inauguration. The people had no eyes for him; they saw only the stately figure of Washington passing forever from the scene. The ceremonies were held in Indepen- dence Hall, Philadelphia, in the House of Repre- sentatives. Washington drove to the hall in his coach-and-four, and was lustily cheered both out- side and inside the building. He passed quickly to his seat, as if eager to stop the applause. Adams entered a few minutes later, dressed in a light drab suit, and passed slowly down the aisle, bowing in response to the respectful applause which greeted him. He took the oath, and then delivered his in- augural address. Writing to his wife on the follow- ing day, Mr. Adams thus described the scene in which, as he was fully conscious, he was playing only a secondary part: Your dearest friend never had a more trying day than yesterday. A solemn scene it was indeed; and it was made more affecting to me by the presence of the general, whose countenance was as serene and unclouded as the day. He seemed to me to enjoy a triumph over me. Methought I heard him say: "Ay! I am fairly out, and you fairly in. See which of us will be happiest." When the ceremony 178 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS was over, he came and made me a visit, and cordially congratulated me, and wished my administration might be happy, successful, and honorable. In the chamber of the House of Representatives was a multitude as great as the space could contain, and I believe scarcely a dry eye but Washington's. The sight of the sun setting full orbed, and another rising, though less splendid, was a novelty. I had not slept well the night before and did not sleep well the night after. I was unwell and did not know whether I should get through or not. I did, how- ever. How the business was received, I know not, only I have been told that Mason, the treaty pub- lisher, said we should lose nothing by the change, for he had never heard such a speech in public in his life. All agree that, taken together, it was the sub- limest thing ever exhibited in America. Four days later the new President was still dwell- ing upon the sadness and gloom of the occasion, saying in another letter to his wife: Mrs. Gushing will call upon you, and give you an account of what they call the inauguration. It is the general report that there has been more weeping than there has ever been at the representation of any tragedy. But whether it was from grief or joy, whether from the loss of their beloved Presi- dent, or from the accession of an unbeloved one, or from the pleasure of exchanging Presidents without tumult, or from the novelty of the thing, or from the sublimity of it arising out of the multitude present, or whatever other cause, I know not. One thing I know. I am a being of too much sensibility AND ELECTIONS 179 to act any part well in such an exhibition. Perhaps there is little danger of my having such another scene to feel or behold. Doubtless the real cause for his depression was the solitude in which he found himself as revealed in the following passage from the same letter: The stillness and silence astonishes me. Every- body talks of the tears, the full eyes, the streaming eyes, the trickling eyes, etc., but all is enigma be- yond. No one descends to particulars to say why or wherefore; I am, therefore, left to suppose that it is all grief for the loss of their beloved. Two or three persons have ventured to whisper in my ear that my speech made an agreeable impression. This was written on March 9. The gloom and solitude were still unbroken a full week later, for on March 17 he again wrote: It would have given me great pleasure to have had some of my family present at my inauguration, which was the most affecting and overpowering scene I ever acted in. I was very unwell, had no sleep the night before, and really did not know but I should have fainted in the presence of the world. I was in great doubt whether to say anything or not besides repeating the oath. And now the world is as silent as the grave. All the Federalists seem to be afraid to approve anybody but Washington. The Jacobin papers damn with faint praise, and under- mine with misrepresentation and insinuation. If the Federalists go to playing pranks, I will resign the 180 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS office and let Jefferson lead them to peace, wealth, and power if he will. From the situation where I now am, I see a scene of ambition beyond all my former suspicion or imagination; an emulation which will turn our government topsyturvy. Jealousies and rivalries have been my theme, and checks and balances as their antidotes till I am ashamed to repeat the words; but they never stared me in the face in such horrid forms as at present. To the account which Mr. Adams gave of the inauguration scene should be added the striking pic- ture of what followed when the ceremonies were ended. William A. Duer, who was president of Columbia College between 1829 and 1842, says, in his personal recollections, that, when at the close Washington moved toward the door, there was a precipitate rush from the gallery and corridors for the street, and he found a great throng awaiting him as he emerged from the door. They cheered him, and he waved his hat to them, his countenance radiant with benignity, his gray hair streaming in the wind. He walked to his house, followed by the crowd, and on reaching it turned about for a final greeting. His countenance assumed a grave and almost melancholy expression, his eyes were bathed in tears, and only by gestures could he indicate his thanks and convey his farewell blessing. CHAPTER XXII THE TRUTH ABOUT JEFFERSONIAN SIMPLICITY No inauguration myth has been more tenacious of life than that which pictured Jefferson, attired as a plain citizen, riding on horseback to the Capitol, hitching his horse to the palings, and walking, un- attended, into the Senate-chamber to take the oath as President. To have done this would have been in accordance with his previous utterances, for he had strongly condemned as savoring of monarchy all public ceremony at the swearing in of a President. When the time for his own inauguration arrived, however, the case seems to have looked different to him. Whether it was because he was to be the first President inaugurated at the new Capitol, or because of an unwillingness to disappoint the large numbers of his friends and partisans who had assembled to honor him, is not clear; but the fact is that he did permit a considerable display at the ceremonies. He was met at the door of his boarding-house, which was only a stone's throw from the Capitol, by a militia artillery company and a procession of citizens, and, escorted by these, he went on foot to the Capi- tol. The horseback story, or "fake/ 7 as it would be denominated in modern journalism, was the inven- tion of an Englishman named John Davis, who put 181 182 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS it in a book of American travels which he published in London two years later. In order to give it an air of veracity, Davis declared that he was present at the inauguration, which was not true, A vera- cious account of the ceremonies was sent to England by Edward Thornton, who was then in charge of the British legation at Washington. He enclosed a copy of the new President's inaugural address, and, after making some comments upon its democratic ten- dencies, went on to say: The same republican spirit which runs through this performance, and which in many passages dis- covers some bitterness through all the sentiments of conciliation and philanthropy with which it is over- charged, Mr. Jefferson affected to display in per- forming the customary ceremonies. He came from his own lodgings to the house where the Congress convenes, and which goes by the name of the Capi- tol, on foot, in his ordinary dress, escorted by a body of militia artillery from the neighboring State, and accompanied by the secretaries of the navy and the treasury, and a number of his political friends in the House of Representatives. He was received by Mr. Burr, the Vice-President of the United States, who arrived a day or two ago a.t the seat of government, and who was previously admitted this morning to the chair of the Senate; and was after- ward complimented at his own lodgings by the very few foreign agents who reside at this place, by the members of Congress, and other public officials. The new Capitol was then in process of construc- tion. Only the north wing was so far completed as WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ITl THE TRUE ISSUE OR THATS WHATS THE MATTER 1 . AND ELECTIONS 183 to be occupied by the Senate, the courts, and the small library of Congress. To the north wing Jeffer- son, accompanied by a few officials and his friends, proceeded. On reaching the Senate-chamber in which he was to be inaugurated, Jefferson became a member of one of the most striking groups ever gathered in a public place. On one side of him stood John Marshall, as chief justice, to administer the oath, and on the other Aaron Burr, who was to be sworn in as Vice-President. As described by his contemporaries, Jefferson was a remarkable person- age. He was very tall, six feet two and a half inches in height, with a sandy complexion, awkward manners, and shy and cold in bearing. Senator Maclay wrote this description of him as he appeared in 1790: Jefferson is a slender man, has rather the air of stiffness in his manner. His clothes seem too small for him. He sits in a lounging manner, on one hip commonly, and with one of his shoulders elevated much above the other. His face has a sunny aspect. His whole figure has a loose, shackling air. He had a rambling, vacant look, and nothing of that firm, collected deportment which I expected would dig- nify the presence of a secretary or minister. I looked for gravity, but a laxity of manner seemed shed about him. He spoke almost without ceasing; but even his discourse partook of his personal demeanor. It was loose and rambling; and yet he scattered in- formation wherever he went, and some even brilliant sentiments sparkled from him. 184 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Joseph Story, writing of John Marshall in 1808, thus pictured him: A tall, slender figure, not graceful or imposing, but erect and steady. His hair is black, his eyes small and twinkling, his forehead rather low; but his features are in general harmonious. His man- ners are plain yet dignified, and an unaffected mod- esty diffuses itself through all his actions. His dress is very simple, yet neat; his language chaste, but hardly elegant; it does not flow rapidly, but it sel- dom wants precision. In conversation he is quite familiar, but is occasionally embarrassed by a hesi- tancy and drawling. ... I love his laugh it is too hearty for an intriguer; and his good temper and unwearied patience are equally agreeable on the bench and in the study. Burr, the third personage in this group, was rather small in stature, but dignified and easy in manners and dressed with aristocratic care. He was, says Henry Adams in his "History of the United States," to which I am indebted for most of the material of this chapter: An aristocrat imbued in the morality of Lord Chesterfield and Napoleon Bonaparte. Colonel Burr was the chosen head of Northern democ- racy, idol of the wards of New York City, and aspirant to the highest offices he could reach by means legal or beyond the law; for, as he pleased himself with saying, after the manner of the First Consul of the French Republic, "Great souls care little for small morals." AND ELECTIONS 185 The three men were agreed in one respect: they distrusted and disliked one another thoroughly. Jefferson both feared and hated Marshall, saying of him that he had a mind of that gloomy malignity which would never let him forego the opportunity of satiating it on a victim. Marshall said of Jeffer- son, shortly before the inauguration, that by weak- ening the office of President he would increase his personal power, and that his letters had shown that his morals could not be pure. Both Jefferson and Marshall looked upon Burr as a political and social adventurer who was living up to his own creed, "Great souls care little for small morals." The outgoing President, Mr. Adams, was not present at the exercises; but he undoubtedly took a grim pleasure in the presence of Marshall, whom he had made chief justice, greatly to the wrath of Jefferson, only a few weeks before. After the cere- monies the new President proceeded to the execu- tive mansion, or "The Palace," as it was then styled, in the same manner as he had gone to the Capitol. CHAPTER XXIII INAUGURATION CLOTHES AND CUSTOMS WASHINGTON set the example, which has been fol- lowed at frequent intervals by new Presidents even to our day, of wearing at the first inauguration ceremonies clothing of American manufacture. He was dressed in a suit of dark cloth made at Hartford. I have been able to find no mention of the national- ity of the "light drab suit" which John Adams wore. Jefferson was inaugurated in his "every-day clothes/ 7 which may or may not have been exclusively Ameri- can; but before the end of his service as President he appeared at his New Year reception dressed in an entire suit of homespun. Madison carried the matter a step further; for, as he passed down the aisle of the House of Representatives to be inau- gurated, he was spoken of as a "walking argument in favor of the encouragement of native wool." His coat had been made on the farm of Colonel Humphreys, and his waistcoat and small clothes on that of Chancellor Livingston, all from the wool of merino sheep raised in the country. John Quincy Adams says in his diary that the house was very much crowded, and that its appearance was mag- nificent, but that Mr. Madison read his address in a tone so low that it could not be heard. Contem- 186 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 187 porary descriptions of Madison picture him as a small, modest, and jovial man. Washington Irving wrote of him in 1812, at the time of his second election to the presidency: "As to Jemmy Madison, oh, poor Jemmy! he is but a withered little apple-john." Grigsby, in his "Convention of 1776," says: In his dress he was not at all eccentric or given to dandyism, but always appeared neat and genteel, and in the costume of a well-bred and tasty old- school gentleman. I have heard in early life he sometimes wore light-colored clothes; but from the time I first knew him . . . never any other color than black, his coat being cut in what is termed dress fashion; his breeches short, with buckles at the knees, black-silk stockings, and shoes with strings or long fair top-boots when out in cold weather, or when he rode on horseback, of which he was fond. . . . He wore powder on his hair, which was dressed full over the ears, tied behind, and brought to a point above the forehead, to cover in some degree his baldness, as may be noticed in all the likenesses taken of him. Sir Augustus Foster, whom President Madison sent out of the country in 1812, when the war with England came on, wrote of him: I thought Mr. Jefferson more of a statesman and man of the world than Mr. Madison, who was rather too much the disputatious pleader; yet the latter was better informed, and, moreover, a social, jovial, and good-humored companion, full of anecdote, 188 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS sometimes rather of a loose description, but oftener of a political and historical interest. He was a little man, with small features, rather weazened when I saw him, but occasionally lit up with a good-natured smile. He wore a black coat, stockings with shoes buckled, and had his hair powdered, with a tail. American wool seems, therefore, to have made its first appearance as a "walking argument" under favorable conditions. John Quincy Adams, accord- ing to his biographer, Mr. Morse, "was dressed in a black suit of which all the materials were of Ameri- can manufacture." I can find no mention anywhere of the clothes worn by James Monroe when he was inaugurated in 1817. The occasion was notable chiefly for being the first one held out of doors since the seat of government had been moved to Washington. There had been out-of-door exercises when Washington was installed in New York, but all his successors till Monroe had been inaugurated within doors. It is said by some authorities that the proposal to change to the open air in 1817 was the outcome of a long and bitter wrangle between the two houses as to the division of seats in the house at the ceremonies. Agreement being apparently impossible, some one suggested that by going out of doors, room enough could be found for everybody, and the idea was acted upon joyfully. An elevated platform was erected for the occasion under the unfinished portico of the Capitol, and from this Monroe delivered his THE ELEPHANT AND H1S KEEPERS HOT REPUBUCANS ON THE DEMOCRATIC GRIDIROjf AND ELECTIONS 189 inaugural address to the largest assemblage that had yet been gathered there. The day was balmy and beautiful. The National Intelligencer said of the assemblage: Such a concourse was never before seen in Wash- ington; the number of persons present has actually been estimated at from five to eight thousand. Yet notwithstanding the magnitude of the assemblage, we have heard of no accident. There were no outdoor exercises at Monroe's sec- ond inauguration, the weather being stormy, rain and snow falling throughout the day. The attend- ance on this occasion did not exceed two thousand persons. John Quincy Adams was also inaugurated indoors four years later, and it was not till the ad- vent of General Jackson, in 1829, that the outdoor exercises became the established custom. CHAPTER XXIV THE JACKSON INVASION JACKSON'S entry upon the presidency has been lik- ened repeatedly to the descent of the barbarians upon Rome. It was accompanied with a huge mul- titude of people from all parts of the land, and by an amount of uproar altogether unprecedented. Webster wrote from the capital, several days before the inauguration, that the city was full of specula- tion and speculators, there being a great multitude, too many to be fed without a miracle, and all hun- gry for office. "I never saw such a crowd before/' he added. "Persons have come five hundred miles to see General Jackson, and they really seem to think that the country is rescued from some dreadful danger." They surged through the streets shouting, " Hurrah for Jackson ! " They swarmed about Gads- by's tavern, where the general lodged, in such masses as completely to hem it in and make access to his presence nearly impossible. A contemporary writer, Arthur J. Stansbury, thus described the situation: No one who was at Washington at the time of General Jackson's inauguration is likely to forget that period to the day of his death. To us, who had witnessed the quiet and orderly period of the Adams 190 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 191 administration, it seemed as if half the nation had rushed at once into the capital. It was like the in- undation of the northern barbarians into Rome, save that the tumultuous tide came in from a differ- ent point of the compass. The West and the South seemed to have precipitated themselves upon the North and overwhelmed it. On that memorable occasion you might tell a "Jackson man" almost as far as you could see him. Their every motion seemed to cry out "Victory!" Strange faces filled every public place, and every face seemed to bear defiance on its brow. It appeared to me that every Jackson editor in the country was on the spot. They swarmed especially in the lobbies of the house, an expectant host, a sort of praetorian band, which, having borne in upon their shields their idolized leader, claimed the reward of the hard-fought contest. His quarters were assailed, surrounded, hemmed in, so that it was an achievement to get into his presence. On the morning of the inauguration, the vicinity of the Capitol was like a great, agitated sea; every avenue to the fateful spot was blocked up with people, insomuch that the legitimate procession which accompanied the President-elect could scarce make its way to the eastern portico, where the ceremony was to be performed. To repress the crowd in front, a ship's cable was stretched across about two-thirds of the way up the long flight of steps by which the Capitol is approached on that side, but it seemed at times as if even this would scarce prove sufficient to restrain the eagerness of the multitude, every man of whom seemed bent on the glory of shaking the President's hand. Never can I forget the spectacle which presented itself on 192 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS every side, nor the electrifying moment when the eager, expectant eyes of that vast and motley multi- tude caught sight of the tall and imposing form of their adored leader, as he came forth between the columns of the portico; the color of the whole mass changed as if by a miracle; all hats were off at once, and the dark tint which usually pervades a mixed map of men was turned, as by a magic wand, into the bright hue of ten thousand upturned and exul- tant human faces, radiant with sudden joy. The peal of shouting that arose rent the air, and seemed to shake the very ground. But when the chief jus- tice took his place and commenced the brief cere- mony of administering the oath of office, it quickly sank into comparative silence; and as the new Presi- dent proceeded to read his inaugural address, the stillness gradually increased; but all efforts to hear him, beyond the brief space immediately around, were utterly vain. An eye-witness, who took a somewhat jocose view of the day's events, wrote that the most remarkable feature about Jackson as he marched down the aisle of the Senate with a quick, large step, as though he proposed to storm the Capitol, was his double pair of spectacles. He habitually wore two pairs, one for reading and the other for seeing at a distance, the pair not in use being placed across the top of his head. On this occasion, says the eye-witness, the pair on his head reflected the light; and some of the rural admirers of the old hero were firmly persuaded that they were two plates of metal let into his head to close up holes made by British bullets. The alarm. On Thursday night, after he had retired, Mr. Lincoln was aroused and informed that a stranger desired to see him on a matter of life and death. ... A conversation elicited the fact that an organized body of men had determined that Mr. Lincoln should never leave the city of Baltimore alive. . . . Statesmen laid the plan. {Bankers indorsed it, and adventurers were to carry it into effect." Reproduced by courtesy of Harper & Brothers. The council. Mr. Lincoln did not want to yield, and his friends cried with indignation. But they insisted, and he left." From "Harper's Weekly." AND ELECTIONS 193 The ceremony ended, the general mounted his horse to proceed to the White House, and the whole crowd followed him. "The President," says a con- temporary writer, u was literally pursued by a mot- ley concourse of people, riding, running helter-skel- ter, striving who should first gain admittance into the executive mansion, where it was understood that refreshments were to be distributed." An abun- dance of refreshments had been provided, including many barrels of orange punch. As the waiters opened the doors to bring out the punch in pails, the crowd rushed in upon them, upsetting the pails and breaking the glasses. Inside the house the crush was so great that distribution of refreshments was impossible, and tubs of orange punch were set out in the grounds to entice people from the rooms. Jackson himself was so pressed against the wall of the reception-room that he was in danger of injury, and was protected by a number of men linking arms and forming a barrier against the crowd. Men with boots heavy with mud stood on the satin-covered chairs and sofas in their eagerness to get a view of the hero. Judge Story wrote that the crowd con- tained all sorts of people, from the highest and most polished down to the most vulgar and gross in the nation. "I never saw such a mixture," he added. "The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant. I was glad to escape from the scene as soon as possi- ble." Jackson's second inauguration was in marked con- 194 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS trast to the first. In accordance with an unbroken line of precedents since Washington's day, these second-term exercises were brief and simple. They were held in the House of Representatives, in the presence of the two houses of Congress and the assembled dignitaries of the home and foreign gov- ernments. Jackson's personal appearance at this time is graphically described by Schouler, in his "History of the United States": His modest but distinguished mien prepossessed all hearts in his favor. Both houses of Congress received him with every token of respect. Among foreign ministers, resplendent in gold lace, and offi- cers in their uniforms, he stood contrasted in plain black suit with not a single decoration: an elderly man, tall, spare and bony, and by no means robust in aspect. His dark-blue eyes peered out searchingly from beneath heavy eyebrows and a wrinkled fore- head, high but narrow; his firm-set mouth and chin worked almost convulsively with the play of his emotions. His thick hair, bristling stiffly up in front, was by this time perfectly white, and, being brushed upward and back from the brow, gave to his long and beardless face a delicate look, almost womanly in repose, which could not be forgotten. He was dressed in the plain, civilian suit of the period, with watch seal dangling from the fob, a shirt slightly ruffled, and starched collar points standing sentinel on the chin, which rose resolute from the constraint of a stiff black stock. The special train. 'He wore a Scotch plaid cap and a very long military cloak, so that he was entirely unrecognizable. Reproduced by courtesy of Harper & Brothers. The old complaint. 'Mr. Lincoln, accompanied by Mr. Seward, paid his respects to President Buchanan, spending a few minutes in general conversation. From " Harper's Weekly." CHAPTER XXV UNIQUE DISTINCTION OF THE ADAMSES NEITHER of the two Adamses who filled the presi- dency attended the inauguration ceremonies of his successor. No other President that the country has had, with the exception of Andrew Johnson, has this distinction, and there were special reasons in Johnson's case. Colonel A. K. McClure states these as follows: Grant and Johnson had an acrimonious dispute when Grant, as secretary of war, ad interim, ad- mitted Stanton back to the office after the Senate had refused to approve his removal by the President, and from that time Grant and Johnson never met or exchanged courtesies on any other than official occasions, where the necessity for it was imperative. When the arrangements were about to be made for the inauguration of Grant, he peremptorily refused to permit President Johnson to accompany him in the carriage to the Capitol for the inauguration ceremonies, and Johnson did not make his appear- ance on that occasion. No excuse or defense of John Adams's conduct in refusing to attend the inauguration of Jefferson has been advanced. His descendant, Henry Adams, in 195 196 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS his "History of the United States," makes a tenta- tive effort to excuse him by saying: The retiring President was not present at the in- stallation of his successor. In Jefferson's eyes a revolution had taken place as vast as that of 1776; and if this was his belief, perhaps the late President was wise to retire from a stage where everything was arranged to point a censure upon his principles, and where he would have seemed, in his successor's opinion, as little in place as George III would have appeared at the installation of President Washington. One biographer of Adams, John T. Morse, Jr., rejects this excuse as purposeless, and says: Adams sat signing appointments to office and at- tending to business till near the close of the last hour of his term. Then, before the people were astir on the morning which ushered in the day of Jefferson's inauguration, he drove out of Washing- ton. It was the worst possible manifestation of all those petty faults which formed such vexatious blemishes in Adams's singularly compounded char- acter. He was crushed beneath an intense disap- pointment which he did not deserve; he was humili- ated by an unpopularity which he did not merit. There is no allusion to the matter in the letters of Adams to his wife. The series of published let- ters to her from him closes with February 16, 1801, and in the final letter he says: The election will be decided this day in favor of Mr. Jefferson, as it is given out by good authority. AND ELECTIONS 197 The burden upon me in nominating judges and con- suls and other officers, in delivering over the furni- ture, in the ordinary business at the close of a session, and in preparing for my journey of five hundred miles through the mire, is and will be very heavy. My time will all be taken up. In the case of John Quincy Adams, there was much more excuse. The main reason for his ab- sence from Jackson's inauguration was stated tersely in Niks' s Register of March 27, 1829: It is proper to mention, for the preservation of facts, that General Jackson did not call upon Presi- dent Adams, and that Mr. Adams gave not his attendance at the installation of President Jackson. This conduct must have been a cause of grief to the editor of the National Intelligencer, for four years earlier he had written, when describing the scene which followed the inauguration of Adams: General Jackson, we are pleased to observe, was among the earliest of those who took the hand of the President; and their looks and deportment toward each other were a rebuke to the littleness of party spirit which can see no merit in a rival and feel no joy in the honor of a competitor. Adams himself wrote quite fully on the subject in his diary. I condense somewhat an entry of Febru- ary 28, 1829: On the llth day of this month Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, was declared elected President. On the same day the President-elect arrived in this city 198 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS and took lodgings at Gadsby's Hotel. He has not thought proper to hold any personal communication with me since his arrival. I sent him word by Marshal Ringgold that I should remove with my family from the house, so that he may, if he thinks proper, receive his visits of congratulation here on the 4th of March. He desired Ringgold to thank me for this information; spoke uncertainly whether he would come into the house on the 4th or not, but said if it would be in any manner inconvenient to my family to remove, he wished us not to hurry ourselves at all, but to stay in the house as long as it should suit our convenience, were it even a month. His avoidance of me has been noticed in the news- papers. The Telegraph newspaper has assigned for the reason of this incivility that he knows I have been personally concerned in the publications against his wife in the National Journal. This is not true. I have not been privy to any publication in any newspaper against either himself or his wife. Within a few days another reason has been assigned. Mr. David Hoffman, of Baltimore, urged me to attend the inauguration and said in that event he was in- formed it was General Jackson's intention to pay me a visit, his reason for not having done it before having been the chance there might have been of his meeting Mr. Clay with me. Mr. Ringgold says Mr. McLean, the postmaster-general, told him that he had conversed with the general upon his abstain- ing from visiting me, and that the general had told him he came here with the intention of calling upon me, but had been dissuaded from it by his friends. Under the date of March 3 occurs this entry: "About nine in the evening I left the President's AND ELECTIONS 199 house, and with my son John and T. B. Adams, Jr., came out and joined my family at Meriden Hill." On the following day, that of the inauguration, there is the following: This day Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, was in- augurated as President of the United States. I had caused a notification to be published in the National Intelligencer and Journal, requesting the citizens of the district and others, my friends, who might be disposed to visit me, according to the usage hereto- fore, to dispense with that formality. Very few, therefore, came out. . . . The day was warm and spring-like, and I rode on my horse, with Watkins, into the city and thence through F Street to the Rockville Turnpike, and over that till I came to the turn of the road, by which I returned over College Hill back to the house. General Jackson was very much in evidence at the inauguration of his successor, Mr. Van Buren. The two rode side by side from the White House to the Capitol, and back again, after the ceremonies, in a carriage made of wood from the frigate Consti- tution, presented by the Democrats of New York. But the general was at all moments the central figure; the crowd along the route and at the Capitol paid only slight attention to the new President. CHAPTER XXVI "TIPPECANOE" AND OTHER INAUGURATIONS OF the inauguration of General William Henry Har- rison, in 1841, John Quincy Adams says in his diary that it was celebrated with demonstrations of popu- lar feeling unexampled since that of Washington in 1789. It had more of a left-over campaign flavor than any other inauguration either before or since. The great "Tippecanoe" canvass, with its log cabins and hard cider, its enormous processions, its bound- less enthusiasm and incessant uproar, got under such headway that it could not be stopped with election day. Enough of it was still in motion in March to make the inauguration of the general a virtual continuation of it, so far as the procession was concerned. The log cabins were brought to the capital for the occasion, and many of the clubs came with their regalia and banners. A magnificent carriage had been constructed by his admirers, and presented to General Harrison, with the expressed wish that he ride in it to the Capitol; but he de- clined to do so, insisting upon riding a horse in- stead. The crowd of visitors along the avenue from the White House to the Capitol was the largest yet seen in Washington. The procession created such 200 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS 201 enthusiasm that the novel expedient was adopted of having it march and countermarch several times before leaving its hero at the Capitol. For two hours it went to and fro in the avenue before the spectators were supposed to have their fill of it. Mr. Adams, who saw it from his window, under which it passed, describes it in his diary as a mixed military and civil cavalcade with platoons of militia companies, Tip- pecanoe clubs, students of colleges, schoolboys, a half dozen veterans who had fought under the old hero in the War of 1812, sundry awkward and un- gainly painted banners and log cabins, and without carriages or showy dresses. The coup d'ceil, he adds, was showy-shabby; and he says of the general: "He was on a mean-looking white horse, in the centre of seven others, in a plain frock coat, or surtout, un- distinguishable from any of those before, behind, or around him." The day was cold and bleak, with a chilly wind blowing. General Harrison stood for an hour ex- posed to this while delivering his address, and at its close mounted his horse and returned to the White House with the procession again as an escort. The crowds at Folk's inauguration were said to be the largest yet seen at the Capitol, which was undoubtedly true; for as the country has advanced in size, the number of people going to Washington to witness the advent of every new President has steadily increased. Evidences that the outdoor cus- tom had become firmlv established in Folk's time is 202 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS furnished by the fact that, although rain fell steadily throughout the day, he delivered his address from the portico to a wide, moving sea of umbrellas, with no protection save an umbrella which was held over his head. The crowds amused themselves during the progress of the procession along Pennsylvania Avenue by repeating the favorite cry of the oppo- sition in the preceding campaign, "Who is James K. Polk?" Roars of laughter always followed this somewhat worn, but always amusing, query. An interesting contemporary note of this inauguration is the following: Professor Morse brought out his magnetic tele- graph to the portico platform, close to one side of it, from which point he could hear everything that went on, having under view all the ceremonies per- formed, transmitting the results to Baltimore as fast as they transpired. John Quincy Adams, in a very characteristic pas- sage in his diary, says of this inauguration under date of March 4, 1845: There was an unusual degree of pomposity paraded in the inauguration of James K. Polk as President of the United States by the Democracy; but I wit- nessed nothing of it. A committee of arrangements for the reception and inauguration of the President- elect had been appointed by the Senate all rank Democrats who, in a very polite note, enclosed to me three printed copies of the arrangement, with a notification that a position had been assigned to the AND ELECTIONS 203 ex-Presidents, which the committee would be happy to have me occupy. I did not avail myself of the invitation. There was a procession of ten or eleven military companies, who escorted Mr. Polk and Mr. Tyler, who rode together in an open carriage, from Coleman's National Hotel to the Capitol. They first assembled in the Senate-chamber, whence they proceeded to a platform protruding from the portico. There Mr. Polk delivered his inaugural address, half an hour long, to a large assemblage of umbrellas, for it was raining hard all the time. The official oath was then administered to him by Chief Justice Taney and the draggletail procession, thinned in numbers, escorted him back to the President's house. At night there were two balls: one at Carusi's Hall, at ten dollars a ticket, of all parties; the other, of pure Democrats, at five dollars a ticket, at the National Theatre. Mr. Polk attended both, but supped with the true-blue five-dollar Democracy. My family and myself received invitations to both, but attended neither. There was little that varied the now well-estab- lished monotony of inauguration ceremonies when Franklin Pierce came in, in 1853, and James Bu- chanan in 1857. Pierce was one of the most buoy- antly self-poised men who ever entered upon the presidency. He made the journey from the White House to the Capitol standing erect in the carriage beside President Fillmore, and bowing constantly to the cheers with which he was greeted. At the Capitol he distinguished himself by being the first President to deliver his address without notes, speak- 204 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS ing in a remarkably clear voice, and arousing great enthusiasm by his handsome appearance, dignified bearing, and somewhat unusual oratorical powers. The inauguration ball dates from the very begin- ning. There was a ball when Washington was in- augurated in New York, but, owing to the pressure of other demands upon his time, it did not take place till the evening of May 7. Washington at- tended, and performed a minuet with Miss Van Zandt, and danced cotillons with Mrs. Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Mrs. Maxwell, and others. There was no ball at his second inauguration because of its extremely quiet character, and there was none when Mr. Adams came in because of the general grief over Washington's departure. I can find no mention of a ball when Jefferson was inaugurated, but there was one when Madison came in, and since then there has been no break in the custom. There were, as Mr. Adams records in the entry quoted above, two when Polk was inaugurated, and two when Taylor succeeded him an administration and an opposition ball on each occasion, both very well attended. The crush was so great at the Taylor administration ball that many persons narrowly escaped injury, and there were loud complaints be- cause of the inadequate supply of refreshments. CHAPTER XXVII LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURATION FOR six weeks or more previous to Lincoln's depar- ture from Springfield on February 11, 1861, to take the oath of office as President, the newspapers of the country had been filled with threats of secession, rumors of revolutions, stories of plots to seize Wash- ington and burn the public buildings, and to pre- vent the counting of the electoral votes and the inauguration of the new President. The journey was begun amid wide-spread popular uneasiness about the personal safety of Lincoln. Whether he himself shared it or not is only a matter of con- jecture. Herndon records that he was "filled with gloomy forebodings of the future" as he was taking leave of his family and friends, that he said to him that the "sorrow of parting from his old associates was deeper than most persons would imagine, but it was more marked in his case because of the feeling which had become irrepressible that he would never return alive. " This does not imply that he antici- pated immediate danger. In describing his depar- ture and the circumstances attending his farewell speech, Hay and Nicolay write: "As the conductor paused with his hand lifted to the bell-rope, Mr. 205 206 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Lincoln appeared on the platform of the car, and raised his hand to command attention. The by- standers bared their heads to the falling snowflakes, and, standing thus, his neighbors heard his voice for the last time, in the city of his home, in a farewell address so chaste and pathetic that it reads as if he already felt the tragic shadow of forecasting fate." My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a cen- tury, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave,' not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I can- not fail. Trusting in him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To his care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. No one can read that without recalling involun- tarily the farewell speech of Washington at Alex- andria, quoted earlier in these pages. It has the same pathetic note of affection and sadness and humility. It is not my purpose to describe here the journey to Washington, with its secret midnight trip through Baltimore. That is set forth in detail 8 & ^ .2 w AND ELECTIONS 207 by his biographers. The fear of personal assault upon him remained after his arrival in Washington and hung like a sombre, intangible cloud over the inauguration ceremonies. Great precautions, under the personal direction of General Scott, had been taken to guard the line of procession from Mr. Lincoln's hotel to the Capitol. He was surrounded by military guards, and riflemen in squads were placed on the roofs of houses along Pennsylvania Avenue, with orders to watch the windows on the opposite side and to fire upon them in case any attempt should be made to fire from them on the presidential carriage. Troops were also stationed upon the steps of the Capitol and in the windows of the wings. On the brow of the hill, not far from the north entrance to the Capitol, commanding both the approach and the broad platform of the east front, was stationed a battery of flying artillery, in the immediate vicinity of which General Scott re- mained, a careful observer during the entire cere- monies, ready to take personal command should it be necessary. Arriving at the Capitol, Mr. Lincoln and his com- panions passed to the Senate-chamber. A con- temporary observer who saw the outgoing and the incoming Presidents enter arm in arm wrote: "Bu- chanan was pale, sad, nervous; Lincoln's face was slightly flushed, his lips compressed. For a few minutes they sat in front of the President's desk. Mr. Buchanan sighed audibly and frequently. Mr. 20S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS Lincoln was grave and impassive as an Indian mar- tyr." When they passed from the Senate-chamber and emerged upon the platform erected on the east portico, the new President formed one of a remark- able group. Chief Justice Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision, stood ready to administer to him the oath of office. Near by was Senator Ste- phen A. Douglas, Lincoln's lifelong political oppo- nent and a defeated candidate for the presidency. With them was, of course, the retiring President. When Lincoln arose to deliver his address, he found himself incumbered with a high silk hat, a cane, and a roll of manuscript. He hesitated for a mo- ment, looking for some place upon which to deposit his hat, when Mr. Douglas stepped forward and took it from him, saying in a whisper to a friend as he passed back to his seat: "If I can't be President, I at least can hold his hat." The attendance was enormous, and as Lincoln began his address he saw before him the largest throng that had ever gathered to greet a new President, though larger ones have assembled to greet his successors. Horace Greeley, who was on the platform, wrote in his "Recollections of a Busy Life": Mr. Lincoln entered Washington the victim of a grave delusion. A genial, quiet, essentially peace- ful man, trained in the ways of the bar and the stump, he fully believed that there would be no civil war no serious effort to consummate disunion. His faith in reason as a moral force was so implicit AND ELECTIONS 209 that he did not cherish a doubt that his inaugural address, whereon he had bestowed much thought and labor, would, when read throughout the South, dissolve the Confederacy as frost is dissipated by a vernal sun. I sat just behind him as he read it, on a bright, warm, still, March day, expecting to hear its delivery arrested by the crack of a rifle aimed at his heart; but it pleased God to postpone the deed, though there was forty times the reason for shooting him in 1861 that there was in '65, and at least forty times as many intent on killing or having him killed. Xo shot was then fired, however; for his hour had not yet come. Mr. Greeley also relates this story, which may be taken as an authentic reflection of Lincoln's mind as he stood at the threshold of the presidency: Almost every one has personal anecdotes of "Old Abe." I knew him more than sixteen years, met him often, talked with him familiarly; yet, while multitudes fancy that he was always overflowing with jocular narrations or reminiscences, I cannot remember that I ever heard him tell an anecdote or story. One, however, that he did tell while in this city, on his way to assume the presidency, is so characteristic of the man and his way of regarding portents of trouble, that I here record it. Almost every one was asking him, with evident apprehension, if not perturbation : "What is to be the issue of this Southern effervescence? Are we really to have civil war?" and he once responded in substance as follows: "Many years ago, wnen I' was a young lawyer 210 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS and Illinois was little settled, except on her southern border, I, with other lawyers, used to ride the cir- cuit, journeying with the judge from county-seat to county-seat in quest of business. Once, after a long spell of pouring rain, which had flooded the whole country, transforming small creeks into rivers, we were often stopped by these swollen streams, which we with difficulty crossed. Still ahead of us was Fox River, larger than all the rest; and w r e could not help saying to each other: 'If these streams give us so much trouble, how shall we get over Fox River? 7 Darkness fell before we had reached that stream, and we all stopped at a log tavern, had our horses put out, and resolved to pass the night. Here we were right glad to fall in with the Methodist pre- siding elder of the circuit, who rode it in all weather, knew all its ways, and could tell us all about Fox River. So we all gathered around him, and asked him if he knew about the crossing of Fox River. 'Oh, yes/ he replied, 'I know all about Fox River. I have crossed it often, and understand it well; but I have one fixed rule with regard to Fox River: I never cross it till I reach it. ' " The weather on the day of Lincoln's second in- auguration was gloomy with a drizzling rain. After the usual exercises in the Senate-chamber, those on the platform on the east front of the Capitol began. Noah Brooks thus describes the scene: Abraham Lincoln, rising tall and gaunt among the groups about him, stepped forward and read his inaugural address, which was printed in two broad columns upon a single page of large paper. AND ELECTIONS 211 As he advanced from his seat, a roar of applause shook the air, and, again and again repeated, died far away on the outer fringe of the throng, like a sweeping wave upon the shore. Just at that mo- ment the sun, which had been obscured all day, burst forth in its unclouded meridian splendor, and flooded the spectacle with glory and with light. The inaugural address was received in most pro- found silence. Every word was clear and audible as the ringing and somewhat shrill tones of Lincoln's voice sounded over the vast concourse. Looking down into the faces of the people, illuminated by the bright rays of the sun, one could see moist eyes and even tearful cheeks, as the good President pro- nounced these noble words: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans; to do all which may achieve a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Chiefly memorable in the mind of those who saw that second inauguration must still remain the tall, pathetic, melancholy figure of the man who, then inducted into office in the midst of the glad acclaim of thousands of people, and illumined by the deceptive brilliance of a March sunburst, was already standing in the shadow of death. This inauguration was the first re-election cere- mony of the kind since Jackson's time, for after him no President till Lincoln had been elected to a second term. The principal novelty of the inaug- 212 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS uration parade was the presence in it for the first time of representatives of the freed colored race. A battalion of negro soldiers formed a part of the military escort and there were civic associations of negro citizens in the procession. The bronze statue of Freedom had recently been placed upon the dome of the Capitol, and "her guardianship," says the Hay and Nicolay biography, "was justified by the fact that the thirteenth amendment virtually blotted slavery from the Constitution." Since Lincoln's time each succeeding inauguration of a new President has been celebrated in much the same way, with a steadily increasing multitude of spectators, and a swelling measure of pomp and pageantry. In outward appearance there has been much similarity in these recurring quadrennial dem- onstrations; but each has had a distinct individuality shaped by the personality of its central figure and by the forces which prevailed in the election. At both inaugurations of General Grant the crowds were enormous; but those which have gath- ered every four years since have shown no diminu- tion from the standard of bigness then fixed. That standard, which stood at from five to eight thousand in the early years of the last century, has passed 100,000. At McKinley's second inauguration there was a military and civic parade in which 30,000 men were in line, while the number of spectators who thronged the entire length of Pennsylvania Avenue and packed every inch of available space in front i photograph copyright by Underwood & Underwood. President Wilson taking the oath of office, 1913. AND ELECTIONS 213 of the inauguration platform, though a heavy rain was falling, defied computation. In 1905, when Mr. Roosevelt was inaugurated, having been elected President after serving three years in that office because of the death of President McKinley, it was estimated that fully 500,000 people were in attendance. The weather was ex- ceptionally fine for the season, and the civic and military parade, which was three and a half hours in passing the reviewing stand, numbered 35,000 men. In 1909, when Mr. Taft was inaugurated, a fierce storm of wind and sleet made outdoor exer- cises at the Capitol impossible, and the new Presi- dent was inaugurated in the Senate-chamber, the exercises being held there for the first time in more than seventy years. A new departure was made by the retiring President, Roosevelt, in the estab- lished order of ceremonies. It had been the custom for many years for the retiring President to ride back to the White House at the conclusion of the exercises at the Capitol in the carriage with the new President. Mr. Roosevelt, believing that the new President should hold the undivided centre of the scene, went from the Capitol direct to the railway station, where he took the train for New York. As a consequence, Mrs. Taft rode with her husband to the White House, being the first and only wife of a President to do this, for four years later, at President Wilson's wish, Mr. Taft rode back to the White House with him. 214 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS At the inauguration in 1913, the attendance, as well as the parade, exceeded all records. There were 40,000 in the parade, which was four hours in pass- ing the reviewing stand. For the first time since the inauguration of Madison in 1808 there was no inauguration ball, it having been abandoned at the personal suggestion of President Wilson. CHAPTER XXVIII RESULTS OF NATIONAL ELECTIONS PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT CHOSEN BY ELECTORS APPOINTED BY CAUCUS FIRST ELECTION, FEBRUARY 4, 1789 Number of States, 13 Electoral Votes, 91 George Washington, Va 69 George Clinton, N. Y 3 John Adams, Mass 34 John Milton, Ga 2 John Jay, N.Y 9 Samuel Huntington, Conn. . 2 Robert H. Harrison, Md 6 James Armstrong, Ga 1 John Rutledge, S. C 6 Edward Telfair, Ga 1 John Hancock, Mass 4 Benj. Lin coin, Mass 1 George Washington was declared elected President and John Adams Vice-President, on February 4, 1789. SECOND ELECTION, 1793 Number of States, 15 Electoral Votes, 132 George Washington, Va.,Fed.l32 Thomas Jefferson, Va., Rep. 4 John Adams, Mass., Fed. ... 77 Aaron Burr, N. Y., Rep 1 George Clinton, N. Y., Rep . . 50 Washington and Adams were declared re-elected President and Vice-President, on February 20. THIRD ELECTION, FEBRUARY, 1797 Number of States, 16 Electoral Votes, 138 John Adams, Mass., Fed 71 John Jay, N. Y., Fed 5 Thomas Jefferson, Va., Rep . . 68 James Iredell, N. C., Fed. ... 3 Thomas Pinckney, S. C., Fed. 59 George Washington,Va.,Fed. 2 Aaron Burr, N. Y., Rep 30 Samuel Johnson, N. C., Fed. 2 Samuel Adams, Mass., Rep.. 15 John Henry, Md., Fed 2 Oliver Ellsworth, Conn., Ind . 11 Charles C. Pinckney, S. C . . . 1 George Clinton, N. Y., Rep . . 7 John Adams was declared elected President and Thomas Jefferson Vice-President. 215 216 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS FOURTH ELECTION, FEBRUARY, 1800 Number of States, 16 Electoral Votes, 138 Thomas Jefferson, Va., Rep.. 73 C. C. Pinckney, S. C., Fed.. . 64 Aaron Burr, N. Y., Rep 73 John Jay, N. Y., Fed 1 John Adams, Mass., Fed. ... 65 Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice-President by the House of Representatives. FIFTH ELECTION, 1804 Number of States, 17 Electoral Votes, 176 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT Thomas Jefferson, Va., Rep. . 162 George Clinton, N. Y., Rep. . 162 Chas. C. Pinckney, S. C., Fed. 14 Rufus King, N. Y., Fed 14 Thomas Jefferson and George Clinton were declared elected Presi- dent and Vice-President. In this election candidates for Vice-Presi- dent were voted for directly for the first time. SIXTH ELECTION, 1808 Number of States, 17 Electoral Votes, 176 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT James Madison, Va., Rep 122 George Clinton, N. Y., Rep. . 113 Charles Pinckney, S. C., Fed. 47 Rufus King, N. Y., Fed. ... 47 George Clinton, N. Y., Rep . . 6 James Madison, Va., Rep ... 3 John Langdon, N. H., Rep . . 9 James Monroe, Va., Rep. ... 3 James Madison and George Clinton were declared elected Presi- dent and Vice-President. SEVENTH ELECTION, 1812 Number of States, 18 Electoral Votes, 217 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT James Madison, Va., Rep. . .128 Elbridge Gerry, Mass., Rep. 131 De Witt Clinton, N. Y., Fed. 89 Jared Ingersoll, Pa., Fed.. . . 86 James Madison and Elbridge Gerry were declared elected President and Vice-President. AND ELECTIONS 217 EIGHTH ELECTION, 1816 Number of States, 19 Electoral Votes, 221 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT James Monroe, Va., Rep 183 Daniel D. Tompkins, N. Y., Rufus King, N. Y., Fed 34 Rep 183 John E. Howard, Md., Fed. 22 James Ross, Pa., Fed 5 John Marshall, Va., Fed. ... 4 Robert G. Harper, Md 3 James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins were declared elected President and Vice-President. NINTH ELECTION, 1820 Number of States, 24 Electoral Votes, 235 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT James Monroe, Va., Rep. . . .231 Daniel D. Tompkins, N. Y., John Quincy Adams, Mass., Rep 218 Rep 1 Richard Stockton, N. J., Rep 8 Daniel Rodney, Del., Rep. . 4 Robt. G. Harper, Md., Rep. 1 Richard Rush, Pa., Rep 1 James Monroe and Daniel G. Tompkins were declared elected President and Vice-President. TENTH ELECTION, 1824 Number of States, 24 Electoral Votes, 261 PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT Andrew Jackson, Tenn., Rep. 99 John C. Calhoun, S. C., Rep.182 J. Q. Adams, Mass., Rep.. . . 84 Nathan Sanford, N.Y., Rep. 30 W. H. Crawford, Ga., Rep . . 41 Nath'l Macon, N. C., Rep. . . 24 Henry Clay, Ky., Rep 37 Andrew Jackson, Tenn., Rep 13 M. Van Buren, N. Y., Rep.. 9 Henry Clay, Ky., Rep 2 Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun were declared elected Presi- dent and Vice-President. 218 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS ii PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS CHOSEN BY ELECTORS ELECTED BY POPULAR VOTE ELEVENTH ELECTION, 1828 Number of States, 24 Electoral Votes, 261 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Andrew Jackson, Term., Dem 178 647,231 John Quincy Adams, Mass., Rep 83 509,097 VICE-PRESIDENT John C. Calhoun, S. C., Dem 171 Richard Rush, Pa., Rep 83 William Smith, S. C., Dem 7 TWELFTH ELECTION, 1832 Number of States, 24 Electoral Votes, 286 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Andrew Jackson, Term., Dem 219 687,502 Henry Clay, Ky., Nat. Rep 49 530,189 John Floyd, Va., Ind 11 1 QQ inc William Wirt, Md., Anti-Masonic. ... 7 J VICE-PRESIDENT Martin Van Buren, N. Y., Dem 189 John Sergeant, Pa., Nat. Rep 49 William Wilkins, Pa., Dem 30 Henry Lee, Mass., Ind 11 Amos Ellmaker, Pa., Anti-Masonic. . . 7 THIRTEENTH ELECTION, 1836 Number of States, 26 Electoral Votes, 294 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Martin Van Buren, N. Y., Dem 170 761,549 Wm. H. Harrison, Ohio, Whig 73 1 7 q ft fl rr A Hugh L. White, Tenn., Whig 26 / 7t5b ' b5 Daniel Webster, Mass., Whig 14 Willie P. Mangum, N. C., Whig 11 AND ELECTIONS 219 VICE-PRESIDENT Richard M. Johnson, Ky., Dem 147 Francis Granger, N. Y., Whig 77 John Tyler, Va., Whig 47 William Smith, Ala., Dem 23 FOURTEENTH ELECTION, 1840 Number of States, 26 Electoral Votes, 294 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE William H. Harrison, Ohio, Whig 234 1,275,017 Martin Van Buren, N. Y., Dem 60 1,128,702 James G. Birney, N. Y., Lib VICE-PRESIDENT John Tyler, Va., Whig 234 R. M. Johnson, Ky. , Dem 48 L. W. Tazewell, Va., Dem 11 James K. Polk, Tenn., Dem. . . : 1 Thomas Earl, Pa., Lib The Abolition or Liberty party pulled 7,069 votes. FIFTEENTH ELECTION, 1844 Number of States, 26 Electoral Votes, 275 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE James K. Polk, Tenn., Dem 170 1,337,243 Henry Clay, Ky., Whig 105 1,299,068 James G. Birney, N. Y., Lib 62,300 VICE-PRESIDENT George M. Dallas, Pa., Dem 170 T. Frelinghuysen, N. J., Whig 105 Thomas Morris, Ohio, Lib SIXTEENTH ELECTION, 1848 Number of States, 30 Electoral Votes, 290 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Zachary Taylor, La., Whig 163 1,360,101 Lewis Cass, Mich., Dem 127 1,220,544 Martin Van Buren, N. Y., Free Soil. . 291,263 220 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS VICE-PRESIDENT Millard Fillmore, N. Y., Whig 163 William O. Butler, Ky., Dem 127 Charles F. Adams, Mass., Free Soil. . . SEVENTEENTH ELECTION, 1852 Number of States, 31 Electoral Votes, 296 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Franklin Pierce, N. H., Dem 254 1,601,474 Winfield Scott, N. J., Whig 42 1,380,576 John P. Hale, N. H., Free Dem 156,149 VICE-PRESIDENT William R. King, Ala., Dem 254 William A. Graham, N. C., Whig 42 George W. Julian, Ind., Free Dem .... EIGHTEENTH ELECTION, 1856 Number of States, 31 Electoral Votes, 296 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE James Buchanan, Pa., Dem 174 1,838, 169 John C. Fremont, Cal., Rep 114 1,341,264 Millard Fillmore, N. Y., Amer 8 874,538 VICE-PRESIDENT John C. Breckinridge, Ky., Dem 174 Wm. L. Dayton, N. J., Rep 114 A. J. Donelson, Tenn., Amer 8 NINETEENTH ELECTION, 1860 Number of States, 33 Electoral Votes, 303 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Abraham Lincoln, 111., Rep 180 1,866,352 John C. Breckinridge, Ky., Dem 72 845,763 Stephen A. Douglas, 111., Dem 12 1,375,157 John Bell, Term., Union 39 589, 581 VICE-PRESIDENT Hannibal Hamlin, Me., Rep 180 Joseph Lane, Ore., Dem 72 H. V. Johnson, Ga., Dem 12 Edward Everett, Mass., Union 39 AND ELECTIONS 221 TWENTIETH ELECTION, 1864 Number of States, 25 Electoral Votes, 233 POPULAR AND PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE SOLDIER VOTE Pop., 2,213,665 Abraham Lincoln, 111., Rep 212 SoL ' 116 ' 887 2,330,552 I Pop., 1,802,237 Sol., 33,748 1,835,985 VICE-PRESIDENT Andrew Johnson, Tenn., Rep George H. Pendleton, Ohio, Dem 21 Provision was made by the States to take the vote of soldiers in the field. TWENTY-FIRST ELECTION, 1868 Number of States, 37 Electoral Votes, 294 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Ulysses S. Grant, 111., Rep 214 3,015,071 Horatio Seymour, N. Y., Dem 80 2,709,615 VICE-PRESIDENT Schuyler Coif ax, Ind., Rep 214 Francis P. Blair, Mo., Dem 80 Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia had no vote because not reconstructed. TWENTY-SECOND ELECTION, 1872 Number of States, 37 Electoral Votes, 366 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Ulysses S. Grant, 111., Rep 286 3,597,070 Horace Greeley, N. Y., Lib. & Dem. . 2,834,079 Charles O'Connor, N. Y., Dem 29,408 VICE-PRE SIDENT Henry Wilson, Mass., Rep 286 B. Gratz Brown, Mo., Lib. & Dem John Quincy Adams, Mass., Dem .... Mr. Greeley died a few weeks after election and his electoral votes were scattered among several candidates when the official canvass was made. 222 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS TWENTY-THIRD ELECTION, 1876 Number of States, 38 Electoral Votes, 369 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio, Rep 185 4,033,950 Samuel J. Tilden, N. Y., Dem 184 4,284,885 Peter Cooper, N. Y., Greenback Green C. Smith, Ky., Pro. James R. Walker, 111., Amer VICE-PRESIDENT William A. Wheeler, N. Y., Rep 185 Thos. A. Hendricks, Ind., Dem 184 Samuel F. Gary, Ohio, Greenback .... Gideon T. Stewart, Ohio, Pro D. Kirkpatrick, N. Y., Amer TWENTY-FOURTH ELECTION, 1880 Number of States, 38 Electoral Votes, 369 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE James A. Garfield, Ohio, Rep 214 4,449,053 Winfield S. Hancock, Pa., Dem 155 4,442,035 James B. Weaver, Iowa, Greenback . . . 307,306 Neal Dow, Maine, Pro 10,305 John W. Phelps, Vt., Amer VICE-PRESIDENT Chester A. Arthur, N. Y., Rep 214 William H. English, Ind., Dem 155 B. J. Chambers, Tex., Greenback H. A. Thompson, Ore., Pro S. C. Pomeroy, Ky., Amer TWENTY-FIFTH ELECTION, 1884 Number of States, 38 Electoral Votes, 401 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem 219 4,911,017 James G. Blaine, Me., Rep 182 4,848,334 Benj. F. Butler, Mass., Greenback.. . . 133,825 John P. St. John, Ky., Pro 151,809 VICE-PRESIDENT Thos. A. Hendricks, Ind., Dem 219 John A. Logan, 111., Rep 182 A. M. West, Miss., Greenback William Daniel, Md., Pro AND ELECTIONS 223 TWENTY-SIXTH ELECTION, 1888 Number of States, 38 Electoral Votes, 401 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Benjamin Harrison, Ind., Rep 233 5,440,216 Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem 168 5,556,918 Clinton B. Fisk, N. J., Pro 249,907 A. J. Streeter, 111., N. L 148,105 VICE-PRESIDENT Levi P. Morton, N. Y., Rep 233 Allen G. Thurman, Ohio, Dem 168 John A. Brooks, Mo., Pro A. E. Cunningham, Ark., N. L TWENTY-SEVENTH ELECTION, 1892 Number of States, 44 Electoral Votes, 444 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem 277 5,556,918 Benj. Harrison, Ind., Rep 145 5,176,108 James B. Weaver, Iowa, Pop 22 1,041,028 John Bedwell, Cal., Pro VICE-PRESIDENT Adlai E. Stevenson, 111., Dem 277 Whitelaw Reid, N. Y., Rep 145 James G. Field, Va., Pop 22 James B. Cranfill, Texas, Pro TWENTY-EIGHTH ELECTION, 1896 Number of States, 45 Electoral Votes, 447 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE William McKinley, Ohio, Rep 271 7,104,779 W. J. Bryan, Neb., Dem. and Pop.. . . 176 6,502,925 John M. Palmer, 111., Nat. Dem 133,148 Joshua Levering, Md., Pro 132,007 VICE-PRESIDENT Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y., Rep 271 Arthur Sewall, Me., Dem 149 Thomas E. Watson, Ga., Pop 27 Simon B. Buckner, Ky., Nat. Dem. . . Hale Johnson, 111., Pro 224 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS TWENTY-NINTH ELECTION, 1900 Number of States, 45 Electoral Votes, 447 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE William McKinley, Ohio, Rep 292 7,207,923 William J. Bryan, Neb., Dem 155 6,358,133 John G. Wooley, 111., Pro 208,914 VICE-PRESIDENT Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y., Rep 292 Adlai E. Stevenson, 111., Dem 155 Henry B. Metcalf, Ohio, Pro THIRTIETH ELECTION, 1904 Number of States, 45 Electoral Votes, 476 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y., Rep 336 7,623,486 Alton B. Parker, N. Y., Dem 140 5,077,911 Eugene V. Debs, Ind., Soc 402,283 Silas C. Swallow, Pa., Pro 258,536 Thos. E. Watson, Ga., Pop 117,183 VICE-PRESIDENT Charles W. Fairbanks, Ind., Rep 336 Henry G. Davis, W. Va., Dem 140 Benj. Hanford, N. Y., Soc George W. Carroll, Texas, Pro Thos. H. Tibbies, Neb., Pop THIRTY-FIRST ELECTION, 1908 Number of States, 46 Electoral Votes, 483 PRESIDENT ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE William H. Taft, Ohio, Rep 321 7,678,908 William J. Bryan, Neb., Dem 162 6,409,104 Eugene V. Debs, Ind., Soc 420,793 Eugene W. Chapin, Ariz., Pro 253,840 Thomas E. Watson, Ga., Pop 29,100 VICE-PRESIDENT James S. Sherman, N. Y., Rep 321 John W. Kern, Ind., Dem 162 Benjamin Hanford, N. Y., Soc Aaron S. Watkins, Ohio, Pro Samuel Williams, Ind., Pop AND ELECTIONS 225 THIRTY-SECOND ELECTION, 1912 Number of States, 48 PRESIDENT Electoral Votes, 531 ELEC. VOTE POPULAR VOTE Woodrow Wilson, N. J., Dem 435 6,293,019 Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y., Prog 88 4,119,507 William H. Taft, Ohio, Rep 8 3,484,956 Eugene V. Debs, Ind., Soc 901,873 Eugene W. Chapin, Ariz., Pro 207,928 *VICE-PRESIDENT Thomas R. Marshall, Ind., Dem 435 Hiram W. Johnson, Cal 88 Nicholas Murray Butler, N. Y., Rep. . 8 Emil Seidel, Wis., Soc Aaron S. Watkins, Ohio, Pro * The Republican candidate, James S. Sherman, died on October 30, before the election, and the National Republican Committee ap- pointed N. M. Butler to the vacancy. INDEX ADAMS, Charles F., electoral vote for, 220. Adams, Henry, description of Burr, 184; excuse of John Adams, 196, 197. Adams, John, description of a caucus club, 2, 3; 7, 126-128, 172, 173; inauguration of, 177- 180; 185; inauguration dress of, 186; failure to attend in- auguration of successor, 195- 197; letter, 196, 197; 204; elec- toral votes cast for, 127, 128, 215, 216. Adams, John Quincy, charges against, 134, 135; 186; inaugu- ration dress of, 188; 189; rea- sons for absence from Jack- son's inauguration, 197-199; on Harrison's inauguration, 201; on Folk's inauguration, 202, 203; electoral votes cast for, 217, 218. Adams, John Quincy, the young- er, electoral vote for, 221. Adams, Samuel, 3; electoral votes cast for, 215. Adams, T. Q., electoral votes cast for, 217. Ames, Fisher, account of Wash- ington's inauguration, 174, 175. Anti-Masonic party, the, 8. Armstrong, James, electoral votes cast for, 215. Arthur, Chester A., 62, 64; elec- toral votes cast for, 222. BALL, inauguration, 204. Baltimore convention of 1831, 8; of 1835, 11; of 1844, 16-21; of 1852, 32-35; of 1860, 52, 53. Barnes, William, Jr., 111. Bayard, Samuel F., 92. Beard, Frank, 155. Bedwell, John, electoral vote for, 223. Beecher, 149. Bell, John, electoral votes cast for, 220. Bennett, 149. Biddle, Nicholas, 146. Birney, James G., electoral vote for, 219. Blaine, James G., long period a presidential candidate, 55; charge against, 55; illness of, 56; congratulatory message to Mr. Hayes, 56; disappoint- ment at result of Cincinnati convention, 57; nomination in 1884, 58, 71; letter to friend, concerning his defeat, 59; re- fusal of candidacy in 1888, 59; resignation from secretary- ship of state, 59; defeated in 1892, 60, 61; an aid to Cleve- land, 62, 63; 64-66; 70; politi- cal idol in 1880, 80; 82-84; wild demonstrations for, 85; 108; caricatures of, 161, 162; electoral votes cast for, 86, 222. Blair, Francis P., 147; electoral votes cast for, 221. Bosses, control of national con- ventions by, 99, 100. Breckinridge, John C., 52; elec- toral votes cast for, 220. Bristow, Benjamin H., 70. Brooks, John A., electoral vote for, 223. 227 228 INDEX Brooks, Noah, on Lincoln's re- ception of the news of his re- election, 50; account of Lin- coln's second inauguration, 210, 211. Brown, B. Gratz, electoral vote for, 221. Bryan, William Jennings, nom- ination in 1896 and in 1900, 93, 94; defeat in 1904, 94; nomination in 1908, 95; 98; electoral votes cast for, 223, 224. Buchanan, James, 16, 90, 150, 203; electoral votes cast for, 220. Buckner, Simon B., electoral vote for, 223. Bunner, H. C., 161. Burr, Aaron, 127, 183-185; elec- toral votes cast for, 127, 215, 216. Butler, Benjamin F., 19, 53, 54; electoral votes cast for, 222. Butler, Nicholas Murray, elec- toral votes cast for, 225. Butler, William O., electoral votes cast for, 220. CALHOUN, John C., 128, 146; electoral votes cast for, 217, 218. Cameron, John, 156. Campaigning, Jackson's meth- ods of, 132-139; a French- man's account of Jackson pro- cessions, 137-139; campaign of 1840, 139-141. Caricature, 132, 136, 137; mod- ern school of political, 142, 143; early American, 145-150; American school of, founded by Keppler, 159, 160. Caricatures, the Jackson, 142; the Punch, 143, 144; many- figured group, 144; use of loop in, 148, 149, 160; the Lincoln, 152-156; comic weekly, 157- 162; Democratic Donkey, 158; Republican Elephant, 158; Tammany Tiger, 158; multi- colored, 160, 161; lithograph sheet, 142, 160; artistic merit of, 161; Elaine-Cleveland cam- paign, 161, 162; daily cartoon, 162-164; "A Boston Notion of the World's Fair," 147; "Bleeding Kansas Fund," 150; "The Great Presiden- tial Sweepstakes," 149; "An Heir to the Throne," 152; "The Impending Crisis," 152; "The Irrepressible Conflict," 152; "Jackson Clearing His Kitchen," 146; "The Mus- tang Team," 149; "The Nigger in the Woodpile," 152; "Phryne," 163; "Progressive Democracy," 153; "Rats Leav- ing a Falling House," 146; "Running the Machine," 155; "The Secession Movement," 154; "Why Don't You Take It?" 155. Carroll, George W., electoral vote for, 224. Cartoons, see Caricatures. Gary, Samuel F., electoral vote for, 222. Cass, General, 16, 32, 146, 147; electoral votes cast for, 219. Caucus, the, origin of the word, 1, 2; the Colonial, 3, 4; con- gressional and legislative, 4-7; 128. Chambers, B. J., electoral vote for, 222. Chapin, Eugene W., electoral votes cast for, 224, 225. Charleston convention of 1860, 51-53. INDEX 229 Chase, 47. Chicago convention of 1860, 39- 45; of 1908, 71-75; of 1912, 99 et seq. Chicago Tribune, report on "Steam Roller" convention, 104, 105. Choate, Rufus, 33, 34. Cincinnati convention of 1876, 55, 56. Clark, Champ, defeat in conven- tion of 1912, 96-98; electoral votes cast for, 98. Clay, E. W., 146, 147. Clay, Henry, nominated by Bal- timore convention, 8; his "In- fant-School," 8; defeat at Har- risburg convention, 1839, 12- 14; 18; bitterness in defeat, 22-27; declined place in Har- rison's Cabinet, 24; nominated in 1844, 24; defeat of, 24; his own words of his defeat, 25; popular affection for, 25, 26; defeat in 1848, 26, 27; refusal to support Taylor, 27; 28, 30, 31, 44, 60, 80, 99, electoral votes cast for, 128; 217-219. Clayton, Powell, 108, 110. Cleveland, Grover, elected mayor of Buffalo, 62; governor of New York, 63; a possible presi- dential candidate, 64; treat- ment of a counter-scandal against his rival, 65-68; recep- tion of news of his election as President, 69; 92; renomina- tion, 93; caricatures of, 161, 162; electoral votes cast for, 222, 223. Clinton, De Witt, electoral votes cast for, 216. Clinton, Governor George, 126, 169, 170, 173; electoral votes cast for, 215, 216. Cochrane, Colonel John, 156. Cogswell, Doctor James Lloyd, account of Washington's ar- rival in New York, 168-170. Colfax, Schuyler, electoral votes cast for, 221. Conkling, Senator, 70; leader of Grant forces in convention of 1880, 80-85, 87; advocates the unit rule, 81 ; speech nominat- ing Grant, 82-84. Convention, the nominating, origin of, 1-7; first State, 5-8; first national, 8; third-term, 77-88; in Baltimore, 1831, 8; Democratic of 1832, 9, 10, 89; in Baltimore, 1835, 11; in Baltimore, 1844, 16-21; in Baltimore, 1852, 32-35; in Harrisburg, 1839, 11-15; Whig convention of 1848, 26; Whig convention of 1852, 32-35; in Chicago, 1860, 39-45; in Char- leston, 1860, 51-53; in Rich- mond, 1860, 52; in Baltimore, 1860, 52; in Cincinnati in 1876, 55, 56; Republican, of 1876, 70; of 1880, 58, 77-80; of 1884, 71, 108-110; of 1888, 59, 71; of 1892, 59, 60; of 1896, 71; of 1908, 71-75; of 1916, 118, 119; Progressive, 120-122. Cooper, Peter, electoral vote for, 222. Crane, Senator W. Murray, 103, 104, 111. Cranfill, James B., electoral vote for, 223. Crawford, W. H., electoral votes cast for, 128, 217. Cummins, electoral votes cast for, 118. Cunningham, A. E., electoral vote for, 223. Currier & Ives, 145, 146, 148. Curtis, George William, 41, 44, 108. 230 INDEX DALLAS, George M., electoral votes cast for, 219. Dalrymple, 161. Daniel, William, electoral vote for, 222. "Dark horse," in convention nominations, 16-20. Davis, Henry G., electoral votes cast for, 224. Davis, Jefferson, 156. Davis, John, 181, 182. Dayton, Wm. L., electoral votes cast for, 220. Debs, Eugene V., electoral votes cast for, 224, 225. Delegates elected directly by the people, first convention to have, 100. Democratic convention of 1832, 9, 10; of 1840, 89; of 1844, 16- 21; of 1848 and 1852, 89; of 1856 and 1860, 90; of 1864 to 1884, 91, 92; of 1888 and 1896, 93; of 1900, 94; of 1904, 94, 95; of 1908, 95; of 1912, 96- 98. Die Vehme, 159. Dodge, Mary A., quoted, 56, 57. Donelson, A. J., electoral votes cast for, 220. Douglas, Stephen A., his nomi- nation in 1860, 51-54; 90; caricature of, 148; 208; elec- toral votes cast for, 220. Dow, Neal, electoral votes cast for, 222. Doyle, John, 143-145, 148. Doyle, Richard, 143, 144. Duer, William A., 180. Dunne, Finley Peter, account of election of chairman of Re- publican convention, 111. Dutcher, Silas B., 108. Edmunds, 64; electoral votes cast for, 86. Elections, presidential, machin- ery of, 125-129. Electoral votes, method of count- ing, 130, 131. Ellmaker, Amos, electoral votes cast for, 218. Ellsworth, Oliver, electoral votes cast for, 215. English, William H., electoral votes cast for, 222. Evarts, William M., 45. Evening Post, comment of, on convention of 1844, 20. Everett, Edward, electoral votes cast for, 220. FAIRBANKS, Charles W. ; elec- toral votes cast for, 224. Federal Hall, New York, 171. Fessenden, Secretary, 155. Field, James G., electoral votes cast for, 223. Fillmore, Millard, 149, 150, 203; electoral votes cast for, 220. Fisk, Clinton B., electoral votes cast for, 223. Floyd, John, electoral votes cast for, 218. Folger, Charles, J., 62, 63. Fosdick, Frederick, 115, 116. Foster, Sir Augustus, descrip- tion of Madison, 187, 188. Franklin House, the, 170. Free-silver coinage, the question of, 93, 94. Frelinghuysen, T., electoral votes cast for, 219. Fremont, 149, 150. Fremont, Jessie Benton, 149. Fremont, John C., electoral votes cast for, 220. EARL, Thomas, electoral vote for, 219. GARFIELD, James A., 58, 71; his rout of Conkling, 81, 82; nomi- INDEX 231 nation of, 86, 87; electoral votes cast for, 222. Garland, Hamlin, his "Life of Grant," quoted, 86, 87. Garrison, 147. Gerry, Elbridge, electoral votes cast for, 216. Giddings, his motion at conven- tion of 1860 accepted, 41, 42. Gillam, 161-163. Gillray, James, 142-145, 148. Gold standard, the, 93-95. Goodrich, description of a town meeting, 4. Gordon, William, account of caucus in 1788, 3; 7. Gorman, Senator A. P., 68. Graham, William A., electoral votes cast for, 220. Granger, Francis, 15; electoral votes cast for, 219. Grant, General U. S., 47; unop- posed candidate, 70; his tour of the world and popular en- thusiasm for, 77-79; his opin- ion on his third-term candi- dacy, 78, 79; Conjkling's support of, 80; Garfield's op- position to, 81; Conkling's nominating speech for, 82-84; wild demonstration for in con- vention of 1880, 84, 85; his de- feat, 86; reception of news of the balloting, 86, 87; 158, 195; inauguration of, 212; electoral votes cast for, 86, 221. Greeley, Horace, 12; his admis- sion of plot to defeat Clay, 13, 14; account of Tyler's quarrel, 30; 44, 92; caricatures of, 149, 153, 156, 158; account of Lin- coln's inaugural address, 208, 209; anecdote of Lincoln, 209, 210 ; electoral votescastf or, 22 1 . Grigsby, description of Madison, 187. HADLEY, Governor, protest to Republican convention of 1912, 107, 108, 110. Hale, Senator, John P., 56; leader of Elaine forces in con- vention of 1880, 80, 85; elec- toral votes cast for, 220. Halpin, Maria, 65. Halstead, Murat, description of scenes in the Wigwam, 42, 43. Hamilton, 165, 176. Hamlin, Hannibal, electoral votes cast for, 220. Hancock, John, electoral votes cast for, 215. Hancock, General Winfield S., electoral votes cast for, 92, 222. Hanford, Benjamin, electoral vote for, 224. Hanks, John, 151. Harmon, Judson, 97; electoral votes cast for, 98. Harper, Robert G., electoral votes cast for, 217. Harper's Weekly, caricatures in, 154, 157, 158. Harrisburg, convention of 1839, 11-15. Harrison, Benjamin, 59, 60; nomination of, 71; electoral votes cast for, 223. Harrison, Robert H., electoral votes cast for, 215. Harrison, General W. H., nomi- nation at Harrisburg conven- tion, 12-15; 16, 23, 24, 28; inaugural address, 29, 30; 31, 32, 89; in the political cam- paign of 1840, 139-141; in- auguration of, 200, 201; elec- toral votes cast for, 218, 219. Hart, Professor Albert Bushnell, account of roll-call at conven- tion of 1912, 115-117. Hartranft, Governor, 70. 232 INDEX Harvey, Peter, 30, 34, 35. Hayes, Rutherford B., 56; nomi- nation of, 70, 130; electoral votes cast for, 129, 222. Hayne, 28. Hendricks, Thomas A., electoral votes cast for, 129, 222. Henry, John, electoral votes cast for, 215. Herndon, his account of Lin- coln's attitude in 1860, 38, 39; 41, 46, 205. Hill, David B., 94. Howard, John E., electoral votes cast for, 217. Hudson, William C., quoted, 64, 65; account of Cleveland's treatment of a scandal against his opponent, 66, 67. Hughes, electoral votes cast for, 118. Humphreys, Colonel, 186. Huntington, Samuel, electoral votes cast for, 215. Hyer, Tom, 43. INAUGURATION, first out-of-door, 188;clothes, 186-188; ball, 204. Inaugurations, presidential, 165 et seq.; second-term, 194. Ingersoll, Jared, electoral votes cast for, 216. Iredell, James, electoral votes cast for, 215. Irving, Washington, describes Washington's inauguration dress, 173; description of Madison, 187. Ives, James M., 146. JACKSON, General Andrew, 8; and the convention system, 9- 11; two-thirds rule established by, 10, 89; 17, 19,99, 127, 128; campaigning methods of, 132- 139; charges against, 136; his campaign for re-election, 135, 136; his "kitchen cabinet," 136; caricatures of, 136, 137, 142, 154; a Frenchman's ac- count of his campaign pro- cessions, 137-139; first in- auguration, 190-193; second inauguration, 193, 194; per- sonal appearance, 194; at Van Buren's inauguration, 199; Adams's absence from inaug- uration of, 197-199; 211; elec- toral votes cast for, 127, 128, 217, 218. Jay, John, electoral votes cast for, 215, 216. Jefferson, Thomas, 126, 127, 176, 180; inauguration of, 181-185; personal appearance of, 183; dislike of Marshall and Burr, 185; inauguration dress, 186; 187, 195, 196, 204; electoral votes cast for, 127, 215, 216. Johnson, Andrew, failure to at- tend successor's inauguration, 195; electoral votes cast for, 221. Johnson, Hale, electoral vote for, 223. Johnson, H. V., electoral votes cast for, 220. Johnson, Hiram W., 122; elec- toral votes cast for, 225. Johnson, Richard M., electoral votes cast for, 219. Johnson, Samuel, electoral votes cast for, 215. Judge cartoons, 159, 162. Julian, George W., electoral vote for, 220. KEPPLER, Joseph, 159-162. Kern, John W., electoral votes cast for, 224. King, Rufus, electoral votes cast for, 216, 217. INDEX 233 King, William R., 148; electoral votes cast for, 220. Kirkpatrick, D., electoral vote for, 222. "Kitchen cabinet," Jackson's, 136, 146, 154. Knox, General, 166. LAFAYETTE, 165. La Follette, Senator, electoral votes cast for, 101, 118. Lamont, Daniel, 66-68. Lane, Joseph, 52 ; electoral votes cast for, 220. Langdon, John, electoral votes cast for, 216. Lee, Henry, electoral votes cast for, 218. Leech, John, 143, 144. Levering, Joshua, electoral votes cast for, 223. Lewis, Dixon H., 146. Lincoln, Abraham, presidential aspirations in 1860, 37; letters to a Kansas friend, 37, 38; nomination at the Wigwam, 39-45; his reception of the news of his nomination, 46; reception of news of election, 46, 47; his renomination, 47; discouragement regarding like- lihood of re-election, 48, 49; reception of news of re-elec- tion, 50; 51; "rail-splitter," candidate, 151; caricatures of, 152-156; first inauguration, 205-210; farewell speech, 206; inaugural address, 208, 209; anecdote of, 209, 210; second inauguration, 210-212; elec- toral votes cast for, 220, 221. Lincoln, Benjamin, electoral votes cast for, 215. Livingston, Chancellor, 172, 186. Livingston, Mrs. Peter Van Brugh, 204. Lodge, Henry Cabot, quoted, 28; opinion on Webster's last candidacy, 33; 73, 75, 108. Loeb, Secretary, 73. Logan, John A., electoral votes cast for, 222. Lynch, John B., 108, 110. MCCLELLAN, General George B., nomination of, 48; 49, 92; caricature of, 155; electoral votes cast for, 221. McClure, Colonel A. K., his ac- count of Scott's defeat, 15; of Blaine after Cincinnati con- vention, 57; of Grant after defeat, 87, 88; on Johnson's non-attendance at Grant's in- auguration, 195. McKinley, William, nomination of, 71; second inauguration, 212; electoral votes cast for, 223, 224. Maclay, Senator, description of Washington's inauguration, 173, 174; description of Jef- ferson's appearance, 183. Macon, Nathaniel, electoral votes cast for, 217. Madison, James, inauguration dress, 186; contemporaneous pictures of, 187, 188; 204; electoral votes cast for, 216. Mangum, Willie P., electoral votes cast for, 218. Marcy, 147, 148. Marshall, John, 183-185; elec- toral votes cast for, 217. Marshall, Thomas R., electoral vote for, 225. Maurer, Louis, 153. Maxwell, Mrs., 204. Metcalf, Henry B., electoral vote for, 224. Milton, John, electoral votes cast for, 215. 234 INDEX Monroe, James, 127; first out- of-door inauguration, 188; sec- ond inauguration, 189; elec- toral votes cast for, 216, 217. Morris, Thomas, electoral vote for, 219. Morse, John T., Jr., 188; on Adams's failure to attend Jef- ferson's inauguration, 196. Morton, Levi P., 70; electoral votes cast for, 223. Mulvane, Committeeman, 105. NAST, Thomas, 157, 158. National assembly of young men at Washington, 1832, 8. National Intelligencer, quoted, 189, 197. National Republican Committee, 101 et seq.' } composition of, 102; the leaders, 103; brand of "Steam Roller" applied to, 104-107; control of conven- tion, 112, 113; election of a new,. 118. National Republican party, 8. New York Historical Society, 155. New York Tribune, quoted, 108, 109. Nicolay and Hay, their "Life of Lincoln," quoted, 39, 47, 48, 205, 212. Niles's Register, quoted, 197. O'CONNOR, Charles, electoral votes cast for, 221. Oglesby, "Dick," 151. Opper, 161. Osgood, Samuel, 170. PALMER, John M., electoral votes cast for, 223. Parker, Alton B., 94, 95 ; his views on the gold standard, 94, 95; electoral votes cast for, 224. Partridge, Bernard, 144. Pendleton, George H., electoral votes cast for, 221. Pennsylvania Packet, quoted, 167. Penrose, Senator, 103, 111. Phelps, John W., electoral vote for, 222. Pickering, John, his "Vocabu- lary of Americanisms," 1, 2. Pierce, General, 35; caricature of, 148, 149; inauguration of, 203; electoral votes cast for, 220. Pinckney, Charles C., 64; elec- toral votes cast for, 127, 215, 216. Pinckney, Thomas, electoral votes cast for, 215. Pocahontas, the, 133. Polk, James K., stampede for, in Democratic convention of 1844, 16-20; inauguration of, 201-203; 204; electoral votes cast for, 219. Pomeroy, S. C., electoral vote for, 222. President, election of, 125-129. Presidential succession, changes in regard to, 130. Processions, campaign, 137-139, 140. Progressive convention, 120-122. Puck cartoons, 159, 160, 162. Punch cartoons, 144, 148, 161. QUINCY, Eliza Morton, descrip- tion of balcony scene at Wash- ington's inauguration, 172, 173. RANDALL, 54. Raymond, Henry J., 149, 153. Reed, Speaker, 23. Reid, Whitelaw, electoral votes cast for, 223. Republican convention of 1880, 77-88; of 1884, 108-110; of INDEX 235 1888, 59, 71; of 1892, 59, 60; of 1896, 71; of 1908, 71-75. Republican convention in Chi- cago, 1912, 99 et seq.; dele- gates to, 100, 101, 106; protest of Roosevelt leaders, 107, 108, 110; election of temporary chairman, 107-111; represen- tative government principle at stake, 108, 110; contested delegates, 112-115; irregular- ity in polling vote, 115-118. Rice, Thomas D., 143, 144. Ringgold, Marshal, 198. Rodney, Daniel, electoral votes cast for, 217. Roosevelt, Theodore, nomina- tion for the presidency, 71; choice of Mr. Taft as his suc- cessor, 71; refusal to accept nomination in 1908, 72, 73; 94, 95; protest to convention of 1884, 108-110; speech, 109; and the Republican conven- tion of 1912, 101, 102; with- draws delegates from Repub- lican convention, 113, 118, 120; nominated candidate of Progressive party, 121, 122; speech at founding of Progres- sive party, 121; electoral votes cast for, 101, 118, 123, 124, 223-225; inauguration of, 213. Root, Senator Elihu, temporary chairman of National Com- mittee, 112; decision on seat- ing delegates in convention, 112-114; irregularity in poll- ing Massachusetts vote, 115- 117. Rosewater, Victor, 103, 111. Ross, James, electoral votes cast for, 217. Rowley, 86. Rush, Richard, electoral votes cast for, 217, 218. Rutledge, John, electoral votes cast for, 215. Rynders, Isaiah, 53. ST. JOHN, John P., electoral votes cast for, 222. Sanbourne, Linley, 144. Sanford, Nathan, electoral votes cast for, 217. Schouler, his account of Morse telegraph report, 20; descrip- tion of Jackson's personal ap- pearance, 194. Schurz, Carl, account of Clay's defeat, 24, 25; 156. Scott, General Winfield, defeat at Harrisburg convention, 12- 15; nomination in 1852, 34r-36; 61; caricatures of, 155; 207; electoral votes cast for, 220. Scott, Nathan B., 105. Seidel, Emil, electoral vote for, 225. Sergeant, John, electoral votes cast for, 218. Sewall, Arthur, electoral votes cast for, 223. Seward, William H., 12, 13, 35, 38, 40, 42-44; reception of the news of his defeat, 45; 49; caricatures of, 153. Seymour, Horatio, 92; electoral votes cast for, 221. Sheehan, William F., 94. Sherman, James S., electoral votes cast for, 224. Sherman, John, 71, 81, 84; elec- toral votes cast for, 86. Smith, Goldwin, account of Webster's last days, 36; 38. Smith, Green C., electoral vote for, 222. Smith, William, electoral votes cast for, 218, 219. "Stampede," nomination by means of, 16-20. 236 INDEX Stansbury, Arthur J., account of Jackson's inauguration, 190- 192. Stanwood, on the two-thirds rule, 91. State nominating convention, the first, 5, 6, 8. "Steam-roller," the, 104 et seq.} 124. Stephenson, "Big Steve," 105. Stevens, Thaddeus, 15. Stevenson, Adlai E., electoral votes cast for, 223, 224. Stewart, Gideon T., electoral vote for, 222. Stockton, Richard, electoral votes cast for, 217. Story, Joseph, picture of John Marshall, 184; 193. Streeter, A. J., electoral votes cast for, 223. Simmer, 156. Swallow, Silas C., electoral votes cast for, 224. TAFT, Charlie, 73-75. Taft, Mrs., 73-76, 213. Taft, William H., 64; nomina- tion of, 71-76, 95; in the convention of 1912, 101-107, 116-118; inauguration of, 213; electoral votes cast for, 101, 118, 123, 124, 224, 225. Tammany Ring cartoons, 157, 158. Taney, Chief Justice, 208. Tarbell, Ida, on Lincoln's recep- tion of the news of his elec- tion, 47. Taylor, General Zachary, nomi- nation for presidency in 1848, 26, 27; Webster's dislike of, 31, 32; 60, 146, 147, 161; in- auguration ball, 204; electoral votes cast for, 219. Tazewell, L. W., electoral votes cast for, 219. Telegraph, first nomination pro- ceedings to be reported by, 16, 20, 21; inauguration cere- monies reported by, 202. Telfair, Edward, electoral votes cast for, 215. Tenniel, John, 143, 144. Third-term convention, 77-88. Thompson, H. A., electoral vote for, 222. Thornton, Edward, account of Jefferson's inauguration, 182. Thurman, Allen G., electoral votes cast for, 223. Tibbies, Thos, H., electoral vote for, 224. Tilden, Samuel J., 92; electoral votes cast for, 129, 130, 222. Tilton, Theodore, 156. "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," 139-141. Tompkins, Daniel D., electoral votes cast for, 217. Tweed, in caricature, 157, 158. "Two-thirds rule," the, 10, 13, 52, 89-98. Tyler, John, 14, 17; treachery to his party, 30; 44; electoral votes cast for, 219. "UNIT RULE," the, 13, 81, 82, 91, 93; abrogation of, 96, 97. VAN BUREN, Martin, nominated Vice-President, 1832, 9, 10; nominated President, 1835, 11; 15; leading candidate in 1844, 16; betrayal of, 18-21; 32, 89, 93, 99, 136; caricatures of, 136, 137, 146, 147, 154, 155; 177, 199; electoral votes cast for, 89, 217-219. Van Zandt, Miss, 204. Vice-President, election of, 125- 129. INDEX 237 WALKER, James R., electoral vote for, 222. Washburne, Elihu B., 79; elec- toral votes cast for, 86. Washington, George, 126; letters expressing reluctance to ac- cept office of President, 165, 166; note from diary, 166; journey from Mount Vernon to New York, 166-170; ad- dress at Alexandria, 167; ban- quet to, in Philadelphia, 168; barge built for, 168; enthusi- astic reception in New York, 168-170; house in New York, 170; feeling regarding recep- tion given him, 170; first in- auguration, 170-175; inaugu- ration clothes, 173,|l86; second inauguration, 176; at Adams's inauguration, 177-180; 188, 189; electoral votes cast for, 215. Watkins, Aaron S., electoral vote for, 224, 225. Watson, Thomas E., electoral votes cast for, 223, 224. Weaver, James B., electoral votes cast for, 222, 223. Webb, General James Watson, 150, 153. Webster, Daniel, 12, 13; am- bition to become President, 28 et seq. ; nominated by Mas- sachusetts, 28, 29; his support of Harrison, 29; made secre- tary of state, 29; his revision of Harrison's inaugural ad- dress, 29, 30; resignation of secretaryship of state, 30; re- fusal to permit New Hamp- shire to nominate him, 30; support of Clay, 31; re-elected to the Senate, 31 ; comment on General Taylor, 31, 32; final appearance as a candidate, 32- 34; effect of his speech on the Wilmot Proviso, 33; disap- pointment at General Scott's nomination, 34-36; death, 35, 36; 60; on Jackson's inaugura- tion, 190; electoral votes cast for, 218. Weed, Thurlow, his account of first nominating convention, 5, 6; his campaign against Clay, 12-14, 27; conversation with Webster, 29, 31; 32; dis- appointment at Seward's de- feat, 44, 45; 48, 99; on the campaign of 1840, 140, 141. West, A. M., electoral vote for, 222. Wheeler, William A., electoral votes cast for, 129, 222. Whig party, the, convention in Harrisburg, 1839, 11-15; 24; convention of 1848, 26; con- vention of 1852, 32-35. White, Hugh L., electoral votes cast for, 218. Wigwam, the, 39, 40. Wilkins, William,, electoral votes cast for, 218. Williams, Samuel, electoral vote for, 224. Wilson, Henry, electoral votes cast for, 221. Wilson, Woodrow, nomination of, 97, 98; election, 123; in- auguration, 214; electoral votes cast for, 98, 123, 225. Wirt, William, electoral votes cast for, 218. Wise, Henry A., his account of Clay's rage when defeated, 23. Woodhull, Victoria, 156. Wool, American, 186, 188. Wooley, John G., electoral votes cast for, 224. Wright, Silas, nomination in 1844 declined by telegraph, 20, 21. Cl RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW DEC 05 2000 12,000(11/95) LD 2lA-60w-2 '67 (H241slO)476B General Library University of California Berkeley UO / DO saiavuan M199179 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY