A political convention is an assemblage of the voters of a party, either in person or by representatives called delegates. If the voters assemble in person, the convention is called a primary or mass meeting.
The purpose of a convention may be to select candidates for office, to send delegates to a higher convention, to adopt a declaration of principles, or to decide upon a party policy. It is common for two or more of these purposes to come before the same convention.
CALLING CONVENTIONS.--In the year of the presidential election, the national committee calls a national convention, naming the time and place, and the representation of each State. The State committee calls a State convention to send delegates to the national convention; and, if a State election is approaching, it may direct that the convention shall also select candidates for State offices. In response to this call, the county committees order county conventions in all the counties of the State to send delegates to the State convention, and perhaps to select candidates for county offices. In some States the township committees order township conventions in all townships for the purpose of sending delegates to the county conventions, and perhaps to name candidates for township offices.
It will be seen that the calling of the various conventions connected directly or indirectly with the selection of candidates for President and Vice President proceeds from the highest downward. The same order is observed in other conventions, the call always beginning with the highest committee concerned and proceeding to the lowest.
LOCAL AND STATE CONVENTIONS.--The order of holding a system of conventions, however, proceeds from the lowest to the highest. The township holds a convention and sends delegates to the county convention. The county convention sends delegates to the State convention, and the State convention sends delegates to the national convention.
DELEGATES CHOSEN BY PRIMARIES.--In many states the delegates to all conventions are elected by the members of the party at primary elections. In some states even the delegates to the national convention are chosen in this manner.
NATIONAL CONVENTION.--A national convention is an important assemblage. It contains many distinguished men, and exerts great influence on the history of the country. A national convention usually consists of more than a thousand delegates. In a Democratic convention, for instance, there are four delegates from each State, two from each congressional district, and a few from the Territories.
In the selection of delegates to the national convention, the State convention often selects four, representing the two United States senators, and the members of the convention from each congressional district select two, representing the lower house of Congress. For each delegate the State convention also selects an alternate delegate, who attends the national convention in case the regular delegate can not be present.
The national convention is called to order by the chairman of the national committee. It then elects a temporary chairman, and afterward a permanent president. The convention appoints the national committee, calling upon the delegation from each State to name its member; adopts a declaration of principles, called a platform, for the approaching campaign; nominates candidates for President and Vice President, and performs various other work connected with the party organization.
PLATFORM.--The declaration of party principles adopted and issued by a convention is called a platform, and each separate statement of a principle is popularly called a plank.