( CNN ) -- With Republicans gathering in Tampa , Florida , for their party 's convention , here are a few facts about the Grand Old Party 's party : . Convention timing . • 2012 marks the fifth time that the two major party conventions have been held on back-to-back weeks . This also happened in 1912 , 1916 , 1956 , and most recently in 2008 . Early convention milestones . • The first Democratic convention was held in Baltimore in 1832 . Twenty-two of the 23 states sent delegates as President Andrew Jackson was nominated for a second term . • The first Republican convention was held in Philadelphia in 1856 . Nearly 600 delegates participated , representing all of the Northern states , the border states of Maryland , Delaware , Kentucky , and Virginia ( as well as D.C. ) . There were no delegates from the Southern slave states . 8 ways faith will matter at the Republican National Convention . • At its 1832 convention , the Democratic Party established the now famous tradition of the presidential roll call vote , passing a resolution requiring that `` the majority of the delegates from each state designate the person by whom the votes for that state shall be given . '' • The Democrats issued their first party platform at their 1840 convention ( also in Baltimore ) . The platform contained fewer than 1,000 words . Noteworthy GOP convention speeches . • In 1992 , Pat Buchanan declared , `` There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America . It is a cultural war , as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself . '' The speech rallied conservatives , but is widely assumed to have alienated moderates . • At the 1960 Republican convention in Chicago , Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater proclaimed , `` Let 's grow up , conservatives . If we want to take this party back , and I think we can some day , let 's go to work . '' Four years later , Goldwater captured the Republican nomination . A few memorable convention moments . • In 1952 , Gen. Douglas MacArthur became the first war hero to deliver a major party 's keynote address . MacArthur biographer William Manchester writes that the `` delegates were babbling so much among themselves that the general could scarcely be heard . '' Notable Republican convention fights . • In 1976 , an early indication of President Gerald Ford 's eventual victory over challenger Ronald Reagan came when the Reagan forces narrowly lost a vote that would have forced Ford to name his running mate before the presidential roll call vote . • In 1952 , Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen caused an uproar when , during his speech , he charged New York Gov . Thomas E. Dewey and other moderates with taking the GOP `` down the path to defeat . '' Dewey 's ( and Dwight Eisenhower 's ) followers booed Dirksen , Dirksen 's ( and Sen. Robert Taft 's ) supporters booed Dewey , and fist fights broke out on the floor . The convention ultimately nominated Eisenhower over the more conservative Taft after a dispute over several contested Southern delegations was settled in favor of Eisenhower . John King : Convention goal is changing voters ' view of Romney . • In 1932 , a proposed platform plank calling for the repeal of Prohibition was defeated by a vote of 690- 460 . • In 1860 , Abraham Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot , surprising supporters of New York Sen. William H. Seward , who had entered the convention expecting an easy victory on the first ballot . The convention delegates were influenced by a large number of Lincoln supporters , who packed the convention hall after receiving counterfeit tickets from Lincoln 's campaign workers . CNN 's Keating Holland , Alan Silverleib and Robert Yoon contributed to this report .
2012 is the fifth time the two major conventions have come on back-to-back weeks . Democrats issued their first party platform at their 1840 convention in Baltimore . Barry Goldwater in 1960 : `` Let 's grow up , conservatives . '' In 1860 , Lincoln supporters packed the hall after receiving counterfeit tickets .