ABSTRACT
The historical perspective offers a more nuanced understanding of the direct primary's origins and impact on the American polity. To understand how the direct primary came to be and what its effects were on the political order, it is necessary to first understand how the nominating system operated at the end of the nineteenth century. Nineteenth-century political parties were solely responsible for administering their affairs. The nomination process began with an announcement from a national, state or county committee calling for a convention to meet at a given date or place. Ideally, the parties' councils were supposed to promote harmony by working up a slate of nominees that promised something for all the party's constituent parts. The quest for harmony could prove elusive. The source of discord was often the informal, decentralized, loosely administered nominating process itself.
