6 the vote which Massachusetts was entitled to. The convention then proceeded to the nominations for President. Tilden had refused to become a candidate although he thought that it would be wisest for the Democratic party to nominate the 1876 ticket, and make 8 the disputed election a leading issue in the 1880 election. There were a large number of possible candidates for the nomination. The New York delegation was committed to Henry B. Paine, of Ohio, as Mr. Tilden's legatee. The South was almost evenly divided between Senator Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, and Winfield S. Hancock of 9 Pennsylvania. Ohio, California and Illinois were Senator Allan Thurman, Judge S. J. Field, and William 10 On the first ballot nineteen candidates received votes, 11 6. Proceedings, p. 25; Nation, June 24, 1880, p. 463. 8. Nation, June 24, 1880 p. 463. 9. Blaine, Twenty Years, II, p. 667. 10. Ibid., II, p. 667; Proceedings, p. 98. 11. Ibid., p. 98. 7 The convention adhered to the Democratic policy of the two-thirds rule, which required that in order to was be declared nominated the candidate/required to have 12 On the second ballot the New York delegation withdrew Paine and changed its support to Senator Samuel J. Randall but to no avail. 14 After the first ballot General William F. Smith, Hancock's personal friend, who had charge of his campaign made additional alliances with the result that the Wisconsin delegation, followed by a general stampede "bolted" to Hancock, who was nominated on the third ballot. 15 Hancock received on this ballot 705 votes, Hendricks 30, Bayard 2, and Tilden 1. William H. English of Indiana was unanimously declared the convention's nominee for Vice President. 1.6. The Republicans claimed that English secured his 12. Becker, "The Unit Rule", Amer. Hist. Rev. pp.64-65. 13. Springfield Republican, June 25, 1880. 14. Nation, July 1, 1880. p. 1. 15. New York Tribune, July 11, 1880. 16. Proceedings, p. 114. nomination because of the rather well known fact that he was wealthy, and was expected to contribute freely to the rather depleted Democratic campaign fund, which it later appears he did in Indiana. 17 English was an Indiana lawyer who had held several offices and was a member of Congress from 1852 to 1860. He was strongly Unionist during the Civil War, and had a high reputation as a financier being a firm believer in "hard money", and opposed to all inflation schemes. His nomination came rather 18 20 19. as a surprise, since he had played but a small part in party politics, since the Civil War, although in 1880 he was the chairman of the State Committee of Indiana. The Democratic platform was reported by Henry Watterson of Kentucky, and was unanimously adopted. It was, unlike the long Democratic platform of 1876, a compact and energetic statement of the Democratic beliefs, containing fourteen articles. It denounced the so called fraud of 1876 in general and indetail and upraided the party which had been successful in the issue. It declared in favor of "Home Rule" in the south, honest money consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand, the strict maintenance of the public faith, state and National, that the public land be given only to settlers, a thorough civil service reform, 17. New York Tribune, July 2, 1880; August 31, 1880. 19. Nation, July 1, 1880; New York Tribune, July. 20. Proceedings, pp. 127, 129. |