Progress Illinois

The Democratic National Convention opened in Denver, Colorado with a prayer from the Reverend James J. Keane reminding participants that "the security of a people [...] depends more on high virtue than in strength of arms." The anti-war sentiment was appreciated by those Democrats who opposed the ongoing U.S. involvement in a military conflict across the globe.

Of course, that war was in the Philippines and the speech took place 100 years ago. It was the last time Democrats (then called the National Democracy Party) gathered in Denver to choose a presidential candidate.

In the lead up to this summer's conventions, Chicago-based presidential historian Craig Sautter has posted the histories of the last Democratic convention in Denver (1908) and the last Republican Convention in Minneapolis (1892). Both are worth a read, illuminating how much the parties and the nation have (or have not) evolved in the intervening century. One Democratic speaker, for example, reminded the Denver crowd of the threat of unchecked corporate power on American democracy, observing that the U.S. had "one set of morality for individuals, another less exacting standard of morals for corporations." Telecom immunity, anyone?

Still, many things have gotten better. An eight-hour work day was included in the Democratic platform the last time we went to Denver. It took another eight years to get it passed for railroad workers at the federal level.   Twenty-two years after that came the Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing a minimum wage and 40-hour work week.  It's one we can all be proud of.

NOTE: The final paragraph has been updated to provide more specific information about federal legislation establishing an eight-hour work day.