CHAPTER in

RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES,   1844-I852

The collapse of the Native American movement, In the fall
of 1S47, left open the field to the efforts of a new sort of organ¬
ization, the nativist secret society, the first appearance of which
had come in 1844, There were at this time a considerable
number of secret societies of various natures existing in New
York state. They were voluntary associations, whose mem¬
bers were bound together by oaths of secrecy and brotherhood
and whose proceedings were dignified by formal set cere¬
monies. Earlier in the century, during the anti-masonic
movement, public opinion had turned against secret associa¬
tions and nearly crushed them out of existence, but as the
years went by there was a gradual revival of their prestige.
Oddfellowship and freemasonry regained importance and the
tentative experiments toward new societies brought the Red
Men and Good Fellows into existence. From England came
also the Druids and the Foresters. These earlier secret socie¬
ties were mainly benevolent associations, but in the decade of
the forties, as the American genius for organization asserted
itself on this new field, the social movements of the time began
to model new secret societies after those already established
and to use them for purposes of agitation. It had become
recognized by this time that the charm of secrecy and the dis¬
cipline of the lodge-room could lend new strength to any or¬
ganization which might seek their aid. The temperance move¬
ment was the first to take up this idea, and there were founded
several societies, using the familiar machinery of the older
fraternities but devoted to the inculcation of hostility to Hquor-
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