TY - GEN T1 - A secret society history of the Civil War T2 - JSTOR EBA. A1 - Lause, Mark A. LA - English PP - Urbana PB - University of Illinois Press YR - 2011 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/jstor_eba_on1154814882 AB - This unique history of the Civil War considers the impact of nineteenth-century American secret societies on the path to as well as the course of the war. Beginning with the European secret societies that laid the groundwork for Freemasonry in the United States, Mark A. Lause analyzes how the Old World's traditions influenced various underground groups and movements in America, particularly George Lippard's Brotherhood of the Union, an American attempt to replicate the political secret societies that influenced the European revolutions of 1848. Lause traces the Brotherhood's various manifestations, the most conspicuous being the Knights of the Golden Circle (out of which developed the Ku Klux Klan), and the Confederate secret groups through which John Wilkes Booth and others attempted to undermine the Union. Lause profiles the key leaders of these organizations, with special focus on George Lippard, Hugh Forbes, and George Washington Lafayette Bickley._x000B__x000B_Antebellum secret societies ranged politically from those with progressive or even revolutionary agendas to those that pursued conservative or oppressive goals. This book shows how, in the years leading up to the Civil War, these clandestine organizations exacerbated existing sectional tensions in the United States. Lause's research indicates that the pervasive influence of secret societies may have played a part in key events such as the Freesoil movement, the beginning of the Republican party, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Lincoln's election, and the Southern secession process of 1860-1861._x000B__x000B_This exceptional study encompasses both white and African American secret society involvement, revealing the black fraternal experience in antebellum America as well as the clandestine operations that provided assistance to escaped slaves via the Underground Railroad. Unraveling these pervasive and extensive networks of power and influence, A Secret Society History of the Civil War demonstrates that antebellum secret societies played a greater role in affecting Civil War-era politics than has been previously acknowledged. CN - E458.8 SN - 9780252093593 SN - 0252093593 SN - 1283582791 SN - 9781283582797 SN - 9780252036552 SN - 0252036557 SN - 0252080505 SN - 9780252080500 KW - Secret societies : United States : History : 19th century. KW - Secret societies : Influence : History : 19th century. KW - Government, Resistance to : United States : History : 19th century. KW - United States : History : Civil War, 1861-1865 : Societies, etc. KW - United States : History : Civil War, 1861-1865 : Underground movements. KW - United States : Politics and government : 1861-1865. KW - Sociétés secrètes : États-Unis : Histoire : 19e siècle. KW - Sociétés secrètes : Influence : Histoire : 19e siècle. KW - Résistance au gouvernement : États-Unis : Histoire : 19e siècle. KW - États-Unis : Politique et gouvernement : 1861-1865. KW - HISTORY : United States : Civil War Period (1850-1877) KW - Government, Resistance to KW - Politics and government KW - Secret societies KW - Secret societies : Influence KW - Societies KW - War : Underground movements KW - United States KW - 1800-1899 KW - Electronic book. KW - History ER -