152 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
1828, giving them power to call such meetings as they saw fit, 
a definite program was decided upon. Three men were nom¬ 
inated 15 for Congress on an independent ticket, 16 and specific 
plans laid 17 for capturing the vote in the November election. 
The chairman was Henry I. Wycoff 18 and the secretaries, Rich¬ 
ard E. Mount, a manufacturer, 19 and George H. Stanton. Reso¬ 
lutions were drawn up which embodied the ideas of the earlier 
reports of the committee, and appeal made to “every honorable 
merchant and good citizen” to unite in a cordial and simul¬ 
taneous effort to check its (auction’s) operation.” In addition, 
a tax of 10 per cent was asked for until the system was “so far 
changed as no longer to oppress the fair and regular trader.” 20 
The committee maintained that the sentiment against the system 
was practically unanimous; that the movement would be pur¬ 
sued without the slightest reference to tariff opinions or party 
politics; 21 that the merchants were the classes most affected, 
etc. 22 The last point is clearly enunciated in the speeches which 
followed the adoption of the committee’s report. 23 However, 
appeal is made to the “great and influential body of mechanics” 
whose interests “are closely bound up with ours” (the mer¬ 
chants.) 24 
The three men first chosen as candidates for congress were 
Messrs. Walter Browne, David Bi. Ogden, and Campbell P, 
White. Browne and White declined the nomination, because it 
is Niles says, Vol. 35, p. 147, that it was the mechanics who did the 
nominating. This, I think, is an error. 
16 The ticket is “totally aloof from party distinctions and composed 
of men who have pledged themselves to pursue all honorable means to 
remove and abolish a monopoly—etc.” Anti-Auctioneer, Nov. 1 /28, p. 2. 
17 Their earlier reports had been circulated throughout the Atlantic 
States. 
is Afterwards prominent in the Loco-Foco Party: Hist. Loco F. Party, 
p. 15. 
is N. Y. City Directory, 1828-1829. 
20 N. Y. Evening Post, Oct. 14, 1828, p. 1, col. 5. 
21 “We have no party, no political creed, and no party man will get 
our votes unless he opposes the continuance of the present auction 
system.” N. Y. Evening Post. 10/21 /28, p. 2, col. 2. 
22 ibid. It would be folly to send men to congress, so that it would 
make it possible for “our opponents to say that we do not represent 
the opinion of the mercantile men of the city of N. Y.” 
23 ibid. 
24 ibid. 
