The canvass had not progressed very far before it was developed that Grant was much stronger than the faction by which he was being supported.

The fight was so bitter, and the delegates to the State Convention were so evenly divided, that the result was the election of a compromise delegation which was about evenly divided between Grant and Sherman.

Bruce and Hill were among those that were elected.
The National Convention, which was held in Chicago in June of that year, was one of the most exciting and interesting in the history of the party.

It was that convention that abolished what was known as "the unit rule." Up to that time the right of a State Convention to elect all the delegates to which the State was entitled,--district as well as State,--and to instruct them as a body had never before been questioned.
New York, as well as other States, had instructed the delegates to cast the entire vote of the State for Grant.

This was the unit rule.