 During 1895 , Hanna journeyed east to meet with the political bosses there , including Pennsylvania Senator Matthew Quay and Thomas C. Platt of New York . He returned to report that the bosses were willing to assure McKinley 's nomination in exchange for a promise to give them control over patronage in their states and a promise in writing that Platt would be Treasury Secretary . McKinley was unwilling to deal , seeking a nomination without strings , and Hanna , though noting that this made his task much harder , undertook to get it . McKinley decided on a theme for his nomination campaign , " The People Against the Bosses " . With Hanna 's aid , McKinley found talented men to run the state organizations , who would in turn find locals to ensure McKinley triumphed at the series of conventions that would elect delegates to the June 1896 Republican convention in St. Louis . Notable among these appointments was Charles G. Dawes in Illinois , a young banker and entrepreneur who had recently moved to Chicago from Nebraska , where he had known Congressman Bryan . In trying to organize Illinois for McKinley , Dawes faced the enmity of the local Republican bosses , who preferred to take a delegation to St. Louis that would support Senator Cullom until the bosses made the right deal . 
