'Caucus' entry from Hodge's Handbook

Abstract: The 'Caucus' entry from Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.)

Author: Alexander F. Fairchild of Clark University

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Caucus. This word, defined by Bartlett (Dict. of Americanisms, 106, 1877) as "a private meeting of the leading politicians of a party, to agree upon the plans to be pursued in an approaching election," and by Norton (Polit. Americanisms, 28, 1890) as "a meeting of partisans, congressional or otherwise, to decide upon the action to be taken by the party," has now a legal signification. In Massachusetts it is defined as "any public meeting of the voters of a ward of a city, or of a town, or of a representative district, held for the nomination of a candidate for election, for the elevation of a political committee, or of delegates to a political convention." The origin of the word is not clear. Trumbull (Trans. Am. Philol. Assoc., 30, 1872) suggested a derivation from cawcawaassough, a word in the Virginian dialect of Algonquian, perhaps identical with cockarouse. It signifies 'one who advises, urges, encourages, pushes on.' Related words in other Algonquian dialects are the Abnaki kakesoman, 'to encourage, incite, arouse, speak to,' and the Chippewa gagansoma. From caucus, which is used both as a noun and a verb, are derived caucuser, caucusing , etc. (A. F. C.) 

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