iation for the
protection of property as well as of life, "and the individual who
contributes only one cent to the common stock ought not to have the same
power and influence in directing the property concerns of the
partnership as he who contributes his thousands."

The democratic movement affected not only the formal organization of
State Governments, but also the machinery and methods of political
parties. In the Northern States there was increasing dissatisfaction
with the practice of nominating candidates for office by legislative
caucus. The rank and file of the parties were no longer willing to
submit blindly to the dictation of leaders. In deference to party voters
in districts which were not represented by men of their political faith,
the leaders of the respective parties now found it expedient to summon
special delegates to their party conclaves, in order to give a more
truly representative character to the organization of party. The
legislative caucus, in short, gave way to the mixed caucus.

[Map: States Admitted to the Union between 1812 and 1821]

But the old vice remained. The selection of candidates for office was
still made by those who had no mandate to act for the party except in
a legislative capacity. If the voters of the party were in truth the
source of authority within the party, then a means had to be devised of
ascertaining their will. The democratic principle, in short, had to be
applied to party. In response to this feeling, mass meetings and
irregular conventions were held; but these methods of securing an
expression of party opinion were only transitional. Indeed, so long as
the means of communication were defective, popular gatherings were
necessarily poorly attended. The next step in the democratization of
party organization could only be taken when the barriers of space were
overcome by the application of the steam engine to transportation. The
nominating delegate convention waited on the development of
transportation.

Much the same popular hostility was directed against the congressional
caucus. Candidates for the presidential nomination were not blind to
this movement, and for the most part they sought other means of
promoting their chances. Monroe had hardly entered upon his second term
when state legislative caucuses began to nominate favorite sons. In
1821, the legislature of South Carolina put forward the name of William
Lowndes, and upon his death named John C. Calhoun as it