Beyond Party: Cultures of Antipartisanship in Northern Politics before the Civil War(Reconfiguring American Political History)

Captivating disgruntled voters, third parties have often complicated the American political scene. In the years before the Civil War, third-party politics took the form of the Know Nothings, who mistrusted established parties and gave voice to anti-government sentiment. Originating about 1850 as a nativist fraternal order, the Know Nothing movement soon spread throughout the industrial North. In Beyond Party, Mark Voss-Hubbard draws on local sources in three different states where the movement was especially strong to uncover its social roots and establish its relationship to actual public policy issues. Focusing on the 1852 ten hour movement in Essex County, Massachusetts, the pro-temperance and anti-Catholic agitation in and around Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and the movement to restrict immigrants' voting rights and overthrow "corrupt parties and politicians" in New London County, Connecticut, he shows that these places shared many of the social problems that occurred throughout the North—the consolidation of capitalist agriculture and industry, the arrival of Irish and German Catholic immigrants, and the changing fortunes of many established political leaders. Voss-Hubbard applies the insights of social history and social movement theory to politics in arguing that we need to understand Know Nothing rhetoric and activism as part of a wider tradition of American suspicion of "politics as usual"—even though, of course, this antipartyism served agendas that included those of self-interested figures seeking to accumulate power.

Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Contexts Chapter 1: Society and Economy Chapter 2: Cultures of Public Life Part II: Political Alternatives Chapter 3: Political Innovators: Roots of Insurgent Politics Chapter 4: "A Sudden and Sweeping Hostility to the Old Parties": Know Nothing Political Culture Part III: Political Continuities Chapter 5: The Many Faces of Gracchus: Know Nothing Government Chapter 6: North Americanism and the Republican Ascendance Appendix Notes Essay on Sources Index

About the Author :
Mark Voss-Hubbard is an assistant professor of history and graduate program coordinator at Eastern Illinois University.

Review :
Voss-Hubbard offers not only a persuasive explanation for the rise and fall of the Know-Nothings but also provides valuable insights into the political culture of the pre-Civil War North. —Keith Ian Polakoff, History: Reviews of New Books Voss-Hubbard's contribution to understanding the Know Nothings is to explore at the local level the working of that antiparty spirit among Know Nothings . . . Suggestive and interesting. —Mark E. Neely Jr., Journal of the Early Republic Voss-Hubbard argues that the antipartisanship of the Know Nothings made a major contribution to the emergence of the Republican party. This welcomed book ought to encourage further study of antebellum politics in Connecticut. —Lawrence B. Goodheart, Connecticut History Beyond Party begins a new strand of Civil War historiography, and that is a major achievement. —Frank Towers, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography A penetrating study of political culture in the mid-1850s . . . This book is the very rare historical monograph that is more than the sum of its parts. —Choice In what is the most valuable and illuminating part of his book, Voss-Hubbard follows Know-Nothing leaders into state legislatures after their political triumph to see exactly how the antiparty party dealt with governmental responsibility. —Stephen E. Maizlish, Journal of American History In this most interesting and cogent book, Mark Voss-Hubbard recognizes the pragmatic functions of much antiparty rhetoric . . . His evidence also brings new understanding of the forces underlying major political realignment, confirms the high level of popular engagement in politics at such moments, and reemphasizes the power of the partisan imperative in the mid-nineteenth century. —Donald J. Ratcliffe, American Historical Review Voss-Hubbard's meticulous attention to the Know Nothings' local roots and antiparty spirit offers intriguing insights on pre–Civil War political developments. —Vernon Volpe, Annals of Iowa Voss-Hubbard provides a detailed analysis at county level of the rapid and realigning political changes that were underway. He details with skill the culture from which they came. —Philip John Davies, Journal of American Studies