bers of this order placed
their secret obligations above their duties as citizens and were hence
unfit for public office. The movement became impressive in Pennsylvania,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York. It served to introduce
Seward and Fillmore into politics. Even a national party was organized,
and William Wirt, of Maryland, a distinguished lawyer, was nominated for
President. He received, however, only the electoral votes of Vermont.
The excitement soon cooled, and the party disappeared.

The American or Know-Nothing party had for its slogan "America for
Americans," and was a considerable factor in certain localities,
especially in New York and the Middle States, from 1853 to 1856. The
Free Soil party, espousing the cause of slavery restriction, named
Martin Van Buren as its presidential candidate and polled enough votes
in the election of 1848 to defeat Cass, the Democratic candidate. It
did not survive the election of 1852, but its essential principle was
adopted by the Republican party.

Since the Civil War, the currency question has twice given life to
third-party movements. The Greenbacks of 1876-1884 and the Populists
of the 90's were both of the West. Both carried on for a few years a
vigorous crusade, and both were absorbed by the older parties as
the currency question assumed concrete form and became a commanding
political issue. Since 1872, the Prohibitionists have named national
tickets. Their question, which was always dodged by the dominant
parties, is now rapidly nearing a solution.

The one apparently unreconcilable element in our political life is the
socialistic or labor party. Never of great importance in any national
election, the various labor parties have been of considerable influence
in local politics. Because of its magnitude, the labor vote has always
been courted by Democrats and Republicans with equal ardor but with
varying success.

CHAPTER II. THE RISE OF THE MACHINE

Ideas or principles alone, however eloquently and insistently
proclaimed, will not make a party. There must be organization. Thus
we have two distinct practical phases of American party politics: one
regards the party as an agency of the electorate, a necessary organ of
democracy; the other, the party as an organization, an army determined
to achieve certain conquests. Every party has, therefore, two aspects,
each attracting a different kind of person: one kind allured by the
principles espoused; the oth