Caucus

A caucus is a meeting or grouping of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting of members of a political party to nominate candidates, plan policy, etc., in the United States Congress, or other similar representative organs of government. It has spread to certain Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, where it generally refers to a regular meeting of all members of Parliament (MPs) who belong to a parliamentary party: in such a context, a party caucus can be quite powerful, as it has the ability to elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The term was used historically in the United Kingdom to refer to the Liberal Party's internal system of management and control. The word caucus first came into use in the British colonies of North America – specifically in Boston – in reference to clubs or private meetings at which political matters were discussed. There are three main theories for its origins: Native American James Hammond Trumbull suggested to the American Philological Association that the word comes from an Algonquian word for "counsel", cau ́-cau-as ́u. It might also derive from the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker, or orator. This explanation was favored by Charles Dudley Warner.[ The Story of Pocahontas"], Project Gutenberg Drinking associations The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that the word possibly derives from medieval Latin caucus, meaning "drinking vessel", such as might have been used for the flip drunk at Caucus Club of Boston (see John Adams quotation below). The appearance of the term coincides with the spreading in England – and therefore also in America – of the inns called cocues because they were places to drink the new cheap liquor called "gin" or "cuckoo liquor" since it was obtained from the distillation of so-called "cuckoo barley", namely barley sown very late in the spring and therefore unsuitable for the distillation of beer.