When they had
settled it, they separated, and used each their particular
influence within his own circle. He and his friends would furnish
themselves with ballots, including the names of the parties fixed
upon, which they distributed on the day of election. By acting in
concert together with a careful and extensive distribution of
ballots they generally carried the elections to their own mind."
As the revolutionary propaganda increased in momentum, caucuses
assumed a more open character. They were a sort of informal town
meeting, where neighbors met and agreed on candidates and the
means of electing them. After the adoption of the Constitution,
the same methods were continued, though modified to suit the
needs of the new party alignments. In this informal manner, local
and even congressional candidates were named.
Washington was the unanimous choice of the nation. In the third
presidential election, John Adams was the tacitly accepted
candidate of the Federalists and Jefferson of the
Democratic-Republicans, and no formal nominations seem to have
been made. But from 1800 to 1824 the presidential candidates were
designated by members of Congress in caucus. It was by this means
that the Virginia Dynasty fastened itself upon the country. The
congressional caucus, which was one of the most arrogant and
compact political machines that our politics has produced,
discredited itself by nominating William H. Crawford (1824), a
machine politician, whom the public never believed to be of
presidential caliber.
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