<P> The final day of the convention usually features the formal acceptance speeches from the nominees for President and Vice President . Despite recent controversy maintaining that recent conventions were scripted from beginning to end, and that very little news (if any) comes out of the convention, the acceptance speech has always been televised by the networks, because it receives the highest ratings of the convention . In addition, the halls of the convention are packed at this time, with many party loyalists sneaking in . Afterwards, balloons are usually dropped and the delegates celebrate the nomination . </P> <P> In the early 19th century, members of Congress met within their party caucuses to select their party's nominee . Conflicts between the interests of the Eastern Congressional class and citizens in newer Western states led to the hotly contested 1824 election, in which factions of the Democratic - Republican Party rejected the caucus nominee, William H. Crawford of Georgia, and backed John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson (all of whom carried more states than Crawford in the election) instead . </P> <P> In 1831 the Anti-Masonic Party convened in Baltimore, Maryland to select a single presidential candidate agreeable to the whole party leadership in the 1832 presidential election . The National Republican and Democratic Parties soon followed suit . </P> <P> Conventions were often heated affairs, playing a vital role in deciding each party's nominee . The process remained far from democratic or transparent, however . The party convention was a scene of intrigue among political bosses, who appointed and otherwise controlled nearly all of the delegates . Winning a nomination involved intensive negotiations and multiple votes; the 1924 Democratic National Convention required a record 103 ballots to nominate John W. Davis . The term "dark horse candidate" was coined at the 1844 Democratic National Convention, at which little - known Tennessee politician James K. Polk emerged as the candidate after the failure of the leading candidates--former President Martin Van Buren and Senator Lewis Cass--to secure the necessary two - thirds majority . </P>

When did national conventions begin in american politics