CAUCUS, a political term used in the U.S.A. of a special form of party meeting, and in Great Britain of a system of party or ganization. The word originated in Boston (Mass.), in the early part of the 18th century, when it was used as the name of a political club, the "Caucus" or "Caucas" club. Here public mat ters were discussed, and arrangements made for local elections and the choosing of candidates for offices. A contemporary ref erence to the club occurs in the diary of John Adams in 1763 ; but William Gordon (History of the Independence of the United States of America, speaks of the Caucus as having been in existence some fifty years before the time of writing (17 74) and describes the methods used for securing the election of the candi dates. The derivation of the word has been much disputed. The most plausible origin is an Algonquin word, kaw-kaw-was, mean ing to talk, Indian words and names having been popular in America as titles for societies and clubs ; cf. "Tammany." In the United States "caucus" is used strictly of a meeting either of party managers or of duty voters, as for instance, a "nominating caucus," for nominating candidates for office or for selecting delegates for a nominating convention. The caucus of the party in Congress nominated the candidates for the offices of president and vice president from 1800 till 1824, when the convention system was adopted. At the same time, the candidates for governor and lieu tenant governor were nominated by the party members of the state legislatures in what was known as the "legislative nominating caucus." Occasionally districts unrepresented in the legislature sent delegates to sit in with the members of the legislature when these nominations were made and this was termed the "mixed legislative nominating caucus." (See CONVENTION PRIMARIES.) The word is also used in the United States to denote meet ings of the members of a party in Congress or in a legisla ture or a city council, to determine matters of party policy on proposed legislation or legislative offices. "Caucus" first came into use in Great Britain in 1878 in connection with the organization of the Liberal Association of Birmingham by Mr. Joseph Cham berlain and Mr. F. Schnadhorst on strict disciplinary lines, more particularly with a view to election management and the control of voters, which became the model for other Liberal associations throughout the country. It was to this supposed imitation of the American political "machine" that Lord Beaconsfield gave the name "caucus," and the name came to be used, not in the Ameri can sense of a meeting, but of a closely disciplined system of party organization, chiefly as a stock term of abuse applied by politicians of one party to the controlling organization of its opponents.