Excerpt from The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York, 1760-1776 Under the inspiration of one of Professor Turner's illuminating suggestions, I began, while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin several years ago, to collect material for a history of the nominating convention in the United States. That great work remains still unpublished, having fined itself down to the modest essay which is now presented. Even so small a venture would have been still further delayed, or rendered impossible altogether, but for the ready assistance that has been accorded at every turn. In this connection, it is a pleasure to mention the officers and assistants of the libraries where most of the material was collected: The Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society; the Library of the New York Historical Society; the Library of Columbia University; the Lenox Library; the New York State Library at Albany. I owe much to the suggestions and criticisms of Professor Wilbur C. Abbott, formerly my colleague, now of Yale University, and of Professor Frank H. Hodder, my present colleague in the University of Kansas. But I owe most to the example of certain inspiring teachers: Frederick J. Turner, Charles H. Haskins, Victor Coffin, Herbert L. Osgood, John W. Burgess, James H. Robinson. The editor of the Political Science Quarterly has kindly permitted me to use an article printed in that journal for March, 1903. With few changes, it appears as chapter V of this essay. The editor of the American Historical Review has very generously accorded me a similar privilege with respect to articles which were printed in that journal for January and October, 1901, and October, 1903. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.