Why are national political conventions held?
The processes of the political national conventions have evolved over more than a century, but the purpose has remained the same — to nominate presidential candidates and lay out goals and party priorities. The first political convention was held in 1831 when the Anti-Mason party met in a Baltimore saloon to choose candidates and write a platform on which they would run. The next year, the Democrats met in the same saloon to select their nominees. Since then, the major parties and most minor parties have held national nominating conventions, attended by state delegates, to choose their presidential and vice presidential candidates and to agree on policy positions. In conventions held during the 19th century and most of the 20th, the national conventions, even though attended by many of the party faithful, were controlled by state party leaders. These political “bosses” had used their influence to hand pick their state’s convention delegates who would help select the presidential nomin
