6.  As soon as practicable after the district call is announced, the several county committees issue their call for county conventions, to be held shortly before the district convention.

7.  Lastly, the local committees issue their calls, usually giving a week or ten days’ notice.  The local convention is called a “caucus.”

8.  Then in succession the local, county, district, state, and national conventions are held.  The caucuses send representatives to the county conventions, which in turn choose the deputations to the district and state conventions, and these finally select the delegates to the national convention.  An equal number of “alternates” are chosen at the same time.  The state convention also names the presidential electors to be supported by the party.

Thus the national convention is the first to be called and the last to be held, while the caucuses are the last to be called and the first to be held.  The caucuses are the real battling-place for the people.

The delegates from each convention receive certificates of election signed by the chairman and secretary thereof.  These “credentials” are given to prevent fraud, and constitute the delegates’ title to seats in the convention to which they are sent.

The first step taken in the national convention, after securing a “temporary organization,” is the appointment of a committee on credentials and another on permanent organization, by the temporary chairman.  When the former committee reports, it is known who are entitled to participate in the proceedings; and when the latter committee reports, the convention almost invariably adopts the report and thereby perfects its organization.  A committee on rules and one on platform are then appointed.

The states are then called in alphabetical order, and each one that cares to, presents to the convention the name of her “favorite son.”  Thus in the republican convention of 1860, when Illinois was called, the name of Abraham Lincoln was presented; and when New York was called, the name of William H. Seward was presented, and so on.

When the “roll of the states” is completed, the balloting begins.  In the republican convention, nomination is by majority vote; in the democratic, it takes a two-thirds vote to nominate.

The vice-president is then nominated in a similar manner.

After adopting a platform the convention adjourns.

HOW CONGRESS IS ORGANIZED. [Footnote:  See also Among the Lawmakers, chapter III. ]

Though the senate is quite a permanent body, two-thirds of its members holding over from one congress to another, its committees are reorganized at the beginning of each congress.

The terms of all members of the house of representatives expire March 4 of the odd-numbered years, and, though many of the old members are re-elected, the house must be reorganized at the beginning of each congress.  The mode of organizing the house is briefly as follows: