IN Baltimore on the night of May 26th, 1844, it was as if a
political Pandora's box had just been opened. Henry Gilpin
was rooming with Benjamin Butler. He wrote hastily to Van
Buren, describing Butler's anxiety, and his own. Baltimore,
he testified, was harboring "the most desperate system of
political intrigue that I have ever witnessed." ¹ Throughout this
chapter it should be remembered that in 1844 a national convention was a
very new phenomenon in American politics, and many of the modern trim-
mings and techniques were totally unknown. This was the first convention
where rival candidates competed for the nomination; previous gatherings had
been mere formalities, to select a predetermined candidate.

Only four weeks earlier, the Whigs had met in this city,
and with complete harmony had nominated Henry Clay. The
present picture of the Democracy afforded a striking contrast
to the "sublime moral spectacle" which Philip Hone had seen
in the united Whigs. ² Many men, like Gilpin, despaired of
hope that any nomination could now be made.

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