Description
Book SynopsisOriginating about 1850 as a nativist fraternal order, the Know Nothing movement spread throughout the industrial North. This text draws on local sources in three states where the movement was especially strong to uncover its social roots and establish its relationship to public policy issues.
Trade ReviewVoss-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 2003 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 2003 Beyond Party begins a new strand of Civil War historiography, and that is a major achievement. -- Frank Towers Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2004 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 2004 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 2004 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 2004 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 2004 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
Table of ContentsContents:Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: Contexts One: Society and Economy Two: Cultures of Public LifePART II: Political Alternatives Three: Political Innovators: Roots of Insurgent Politics Four: "A Sudden and Sweeping Hostility to the Old Parties": Know Nothing Political CulturePART III: Political Continuities Five: The Many Faces of Gracchus: Know Nothing Government Six: North Americanism and the Republican AscendanceAppendix Notes Essay on Sources Index
