Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/415

* CONVENTION. 353 CONVENTION. ed States its iiipmbcrs are revered as the 'Fathers of the Constitution.' Tins convention met, jjursuant to the call of the Congress, in Philadeli)liia, on the I-lth of ]Iay, 17S7, to frame nieasuri'S for the preserva- tion of the union of the States and the estab- lishment of a stable and elheient jjoverument ; and, under the presidency of George 'ashing- ton. it completed its labors on the 17th of Sejitember. It iuehuled most of the men of au- thority and inlluenee in the country, among them such v<dl-knovn figures as Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, .James iladison, Roger Sher- man, Kobert jMorris. Elbridge Gerry, and Rufus King, and all but one (Rhode Island) of the original thirteen States were represented in its deliberations and in the final vote by which the Constitution was adopted. The Constitution (art. v.) provides for its owii amendment by the process of a convention called upon the demand of two-thirds of the States : but the greater ease and simplicity of the alternative method, of proposing amend- ments to the several States by a two-thirds vote of the two Houses of Congress, has caused the lattei' method to be preferred. See Constitu- tion OF THE United States. In the States composing the American Union, however, the convention method of amending their constitutions has usually been followed. The ordinary procedure is for the Legislature to call a convention to be chosen by vote of the electors, and providing for the submission of the results of its work to the Legislature, and then to the people for ratification. In many cases the pi-oposed amendments are submitted directly to the people, without previous reference to the Legislature, and in at least one recent case (ilis- sissippi, 1890) an amended constitution was promulgated and put into effect by the con- stitutional convention which framed it, without rafiflcation by the people or the Legislature, Doxibtlpss such amendment, by convention only, is valid, if the powers of that body are not limit- ed by the statute calling it into existence. But where the Legislature, in calling a convention, prescribes for the submission of its conclusions to the Legislature or the people, or both, for ratification, the amendments do not acquire the force of law until such ratification has been had. See .lameson. Treatise on Coiistilutional Conven- tions (4th ed., Boston, 1887). Political Con-ention. A gathering of dele- gates representing a political party for the pur- pose of placing in nomination the candidate of that iiarty for an elective office. The method of holding elections is earefully regulated by statute in all communities in which public offices are filled by popular vote, but the method of nominat- ing candidates for such offices is usually left to the initiative of the voter. Under the party system which prevails in most popular govern- ments, the process by which candidates are se- lected and placed in nomination is usually super- vised by the party organizations seeking to con- trol the election. In Great Britain candidates for Parliament are named by cnnuuittees com- posed of party leaders, and in the early history of the United Stat^^s the necessai^' leadership was supplied by party committees in Congress. Nominations for the Presidency were made in this way until 1824. At the present time, how- ever, nearly all nominations for elective offices in the United States, whether great or small, are made by the primary and convention systems. The primarj- is the meeting of the electors them- selves, at which delegates to the nominating con- ventions are chosen. In some instances, how- ever, the system is more complicated, the voters at the primaries choosing delegates lo local con- ventions, and these, in their turn, electing dele- gates t<) represent the party in State or national conventions. The enormous extension of this system is doubtless due to the ease and com- pleteness with which it lends itself to partisan control of elections, and thus of the maeliinery of government. It luis doubtless done nuich to build up the system of party domimition and the power of the great party leaders. The party organization, controlling the primaries, makes U]) a convention of its partisans and de])endents, and tlvus dictates the nominaliojis for ollice, leav- ing to the voter no choice but that of su] (port- ing or rejecting the candidate of his party. Then, when the party organization of city, county, or State, through a refinement of these metliods, becomes wholly subservient to one man, we have the "boss' system as it exists and flourishes in this country at the present time. In some of the States attempts have been made to render the primaries and conventions more truly repre- sentative of the body of the voters by statutory regulation of the nominating machinery, espe- cially in the direction of providing for inde- pendent nominations without the employment of )>rimaries and conventions, but thus far with- out much success. The political convention con- tinues, and is likely to continue, the usual and favorite method of procuring nominations for office. National conventions — for the nomination of candidates for- the Presidency and Vice-Presi- dency of the United States — were first held about seventy years ago. The Anti-llasonic Party (1828-32) was the first political party to per- fect the national-convention system, and that party held the first national convention in the Presidential campaign of 1832. Both factions of the Democratic-Republican Party had, how- ever, held nominating conventions that were not national nor systematically rejiresentative dur- ing the campaigns of 1824 and 1S28. The col- lapse of the Congressional luiminating caucus in the campaign of 1824 hastened the development of the convention system. Political conventions, like most other representative bodies, usually reach their conclusions by a majority vote of the delegates present. The national conventions of the Democratic Piirty, however, are governed by a peculiar rule, requiring a two-thirds vote for a candidate in order to secure the nomina- tion. Another practice, peculiar to the machin- ery of the Democratic Party in nominating its candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presi- dency, is the 'unit rule,' as it is called, under which certain State conventions bind the dele- gates of those States in the national convention of the party to cast the unanimous vote of the delegation according to the wishes of the major- ity of its members. Although the principal business of political conventions is the nomination of candidates for office, they have, in the course of .merican polit- ical development, become the councils of the great parties, and in and by them the principles of political action are formulated and declared.