The Machinery of the Political Conventions

Archive Report

History

The process of nominating presidential candidates in regularly constituted national party conventions commenced, in 1832. Prior to that date candidates had been chosen in the following ways:

1789–1800 Owing to inevitability of George Washington as unanimous choice, no formal nominations were made.

1800–1824 Nominations were made by Congressional caucuses.

1824–1832 Nominations were made irregularly by State legislatures and popular meetings.

In 1832, however, the need was felt for more formal meetings and all the candidates in that year were nominated by national conventions which differed very little except in size from the ones which are held today.

Composition

The national party committees in a presidential year issue calls to the state committees for their national conventions. In these calls certain rules are laid down prescribing the number of delegates who ...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles