For almost two centuries, Americans have relied upon political conventions to provide the nation with choices for new leadership. The modern convention, a four-day, carefully choreographed, prime-time television event designed to portray the party and its candidate in the most favorable light, continues many of the traditions and rules developed during the first political conventions in the mid-nineteenth century. This study analyzes the birth of the convention process in the 1830s and follows its development over 40 years, chronicling each of the presidential elections between 1832 and 1872, the leading candidates, key issues, and memorable speeches and events on the convention floor. Other topics include back-room deal-making, ""dark horse"" candidacies, meeting halls, parades, rallies, and other accompanying hoopla. By exploring the first political conventions, this volume reveals the origins of a quintessentially American spectacle and sheds new light on an understudied era.

Nominating conventions were the highlight of presidential campaigns in the Gilded Age, an era when there were no primary elections, no candidate debates, and when presidential nominees generally did little active campaigning. Unlike modern conventions, their outcome was not predetermined. The Gilded Age has generally been viewed by historians as an era of political corruption and of a time when political bosses controlled nominating conventions and determined presidential nominees. Many of the assumed truths concerning Gilded Age conventions are inaccurate. The men nominated for president of the United States during the last quarter of the nineteenth century by the Republicans and the Democrats won their nominations over the opposition of the political bosses of their parties and, once in office, were opposed by the bosses. This analysis of the pageantry, dramatic speeches, political strategies, platform issues, deal making, and the often surprising outcomes of the presidential nominating conventions of the Gilded Age will be of interest to anyone who loves politics and American history, and will defy many of the wildly held beliefs of an era that has been much maligned.