HOW AMERICA BECAME A NATION OF ORGANIZERS AND JOINERS

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HOW AMERICA BECAME A NATION OF ORGANIZERS AND
JOINERS

• Theda Skocpol
• USW31
• September 22, 2014

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The conventional wisdom about Americas civic
past is that voluntary groups were usually tiny
and purely local -- and devoted to doing things
apart from politics or government.

• Before the modern age, American life was
  characterized by both its self-containment and
  its cohesiveness. Individuals were closely bound
  to one another by strong families, tightly knit
  neighborhoods, and active voluntary and fraternal
  groups. Through these small, local, human-scale
  associations, Americans not only achieved a sense
  of belonging and connectedness but also tackled
  the full range of social and human problems that
  today have largely become the province of
  government.
• -- Michael Joyce and William Schambra,
• A New Civic Life, 1996

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But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Classic
American voluntary groups were not usually just
local.

• Popular voluntary associations developed as
  translocal networks, not just local, face-to-face
  groups.
• Voluntary membership federations were typically
  launched as national projects.
• By the late 19th century, and during the first
  two thirds of the 20th century, most locally
  present clubs, lodges, union locals, and
  veterans posts were parts of federated
  organizations.
• How do we know all of this? Data on nationally
  visible associations can be combined with data on
  groups listed in local city directories to let us
  see when groups of different sizes and types
  emerged, and how they grew. We can then use more
  qualitative information -- writings and artifacts
  -- to learn more about what associations meant
  to their members and how they affected society
  and politics.

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FOUNDINGS AND CUMULATIVE INCIDENCE OF VERY LARGE
U.S. MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS
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U.S. voluntary associations developed in close
relationship to representative government.

• The U.S. state and Constitution were themselves
  voluntary creations -- and encouraged bursts of
  association-building in the new nation.
• Early U.S. Postal Service fostered and subsidized
  communication and transportation, into even the
  most remote areas. Made it easy for political
  parties and social movements to organize.
• The Bill of Rights guaranteed citizens freedom to
  organize, and separated churches from the state.
  Religious movements had to compete to attract and
  hold followers.
• Americans could build membership associations
  organized representatively, like government, and
  inspired by moral values borrowed from religion
  -- but without fear of dominance by either a
  state bureaucracy or an official church.

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Associations often took the form of
local-state-national federations, just like the
U.S. government.
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Voluntary associations adopted the
local-state-national U.S. constitutional form of
organization for two reasons

• Federated associations could influence influence
  individuals and local communities, and also press
  the case for new legislation at the state and
  national level.
• Even associations that stayed out of politics --
  like the Odd Fellows and many other social or
  ritual groups -- discovered that imitating the
  arrangements of U.S. Constitutional government
  was a very good way to organize an ambitious,
  translocal association in a fast-expanding
  nation, with people always on the move.

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Even more than economic modernization, big wars
propelled the growth of big membership
federations -- especially the Civil War, World
War I, and World War II.

• In each great war, national authorities needed
  partnerships with voluntary organizations to
  mobilize people and material resources to fight
  the war.
• Right after the Civil War, pre-existing
  associations expanded their memberships. And
  many new associations were launched.
• In the late nineteenth century, white Northerners
  and African Americans launched most of the newly
  created groups -- and their memberships grew
  faster than white southern memberships.

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FOUNDINGS AND CUMULATIVE INCIDENCE OF VERY LARGE
U.S. MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATIONS
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World War I drew most voluntary associations into
partnerships with the federal government to
support the military draft, provide assistance to
the troops, conserve food, sell Liberty Bonds,
and encourage economic production.
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Groups closely tied to World War I efforts
flourished. The federations that worked on the
national war effort were the most likely to ride
out the Great Depression and survive to join as
partners in the next great national mobilization
for World War II.
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WHAT DIFFERENCE DID MEMBERSHIP IN FEDERATIONS
MAKE FOR ORDINARY AMERICANS?

• Opportunities for fun and recreation -- not just
  regular gatherings with neighbors and friends
  near home, but travel to district get-togethers,
  and state and national conventions.
• Local chapters often covered travel expenses --
  by the mile or the day -- to send their
  representatives to state and national meetings.
• District, state, and national meetings were
  eagerly anticipated in advance -- and discussed
  back home.

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Participation in federations brought a sense of
pride and identification with a broad community.
Millions of members of lodges, unions, and other
groups wore colorful badges to celebrate their
participation in classic voluntary federations.
Badges had the symbols and slogans of the
national group, and indicated the name and number
of the local affiliate along with the city and
state where it met. Here is a KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS
badge for Freedom Lodge Number 24 of Freedom,
Maine.

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Most badges had two sides. A front for festive
occasions, and a black and silver side on the
reverse to be worn for funerals. This is the
funeral side of the badge for the Freedom, Maine
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS, the back of the badge we just
saw on the front side.
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Union members had ribbon badges with symbols of
their trades. Here are two nice examples --
from the William Penn Lodge of the BROTHERHOOD OF
RAILROAD TRAINMEN in Reading, PA -- and from
the HOD CARRIERS Local Union in Allentown, PA.
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This ribbon badge belonged to a woman, a member
of the ROYAL NEIGHBORS OR AMERICA, Myrel Camp
Number 1644 if Terril, Iowa. This was a chapter
of an entirely female-led fraternal group,
operating in partnership with the Modern Woodmen
of America.
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This ribbon badge is from Division Number 9 of
the ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS of Newburyport,
Massachusetts. Like many ethnic badges, it
displays the U.S. flag crossed with the flag of
the country from which the immigrants came -- in
this case, Ireland.
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People proudly proclaimed their associational
memberships in death as well as life.
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Because federations were translocal as well as
local, members had a ready-made community
wherever they went -- as this sign welcoming
sojourning Odd Fellows to Muncie, Indiana shows.
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Federated associations institutionalized mutual
aid within and across communities and states. A
few of the largest fraternal groups, and many
smaller ones -- like the Knights and Ladies of
Security -- featured social insurance programs to
help breadwinners care for their families if they
died or became disabled.
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But even groups that emphasized insurance also
celebrated citizenship, fellowship, and
charitable values.
WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN THE MACCABEES Because it is
founded on the principles of good citizenship.
It teaches love of country, home and friends The
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of
man Loyalty to the flag that protects
you Faithfulness in performance of the
obligations of the home Honor in your dealings
with mankind Generosity in spirit to those less
fortunate than yourself Sympathy, kindness and
consideration for the bereaved and troubled at
heart Its beautiful ritualism inculcates the
higher ideals of life. The opportunities it
provides for association with others educate,
broaden, and refine the mind. It strives to bring
to the surface the best there is in mankind. Its
Watchwords are Fraternity and Protection. Frater
nity -- a great brotherhood engaged in a common
cause. Protection --a provision while the member
lives to care for those dependent upon him or her
when he or she is gone.
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Ritualism was certainly part of the appeal of
many classic groups. As in the Knights of the
Maccabees, members might dress in costumes and
perform ceremonies.
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Federations offered local groups stability and
connections to wider identities, values, and
ideas.
In the 1890s, a womens club leader in the state
of Nebraska explained to Jennie June Croly,
author of The History of the Womens Club
Movement in America (1898) why participation in
state and national federated bodies meant a lot
to local groups in her state There are now
seventy clubs in the Nebraska State Federation,
and applications for membership constantly
arriving. To fully understand what State
federation has done, it is well to consider that
more than two-thirds of the clubs now auxiliary
to it were coexistent with it, and would never
have been formed at all but for the permanence of
organization and wider range of thought which
union with it and the General Federation at the
national level promised. In one town of about
fifteen hundred inhabitants there had been no
literary organization of any kind for ten years
previous to the movement. The same is true of
many other towns on these prairies, each with its
quotient of intelligent, well-educated people,
transplanted from the cultured atmosphere of the
older States, who had become discouraged by the
difficulties of their environment, but who are
now developing State pride, and are
enthusiastically alive to all the privileges of
federated clubs.
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The topics covered by the women of the
Progressive Study Club in just four months of a
typical year ranged from the frivolous to the
world-historical, from the concerns of homemakers
to issues of state, national, and international
public import.
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VOLUNTARY FEDERATIONS ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE
VITALITY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE

• More than half of very large membership
  associations were directly involved in politics
  -- to shape public opinion and lobby for
  legislation.
• All federations championed values of good
  citizenship, patriotism, brotherhood and
  sisterhood, and community.

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• Local, state, and national units of voluntary
  federations required new complements of officers
  every year. Individuals moved through a
  succession of officers, but new ones got on the
  ladder each year.
• In every local club or lodge, there were about 6
  to 12 elected officers and appointed committee
  leaders. Each year, millions of Americans every
  learned skills and took leadership
  responsibilities.
• For example, 17,000 Odd Fellows lodges around
  1910 required more than 200,000 officers.
• More than 3 of U.S. adults were officers in
  just the very largest U.S. membership groups c.
  1955.

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Because they established two-way streets between
local groups and higher-level leaders,
federations could draw members into politics, and
give their members clout in state and national
affairs.
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Voluntary Associations and U.S. Social Policies

• Grand Army of the Republic
• WCTU General Federation of Womens Clubs
  National Congress of Mothers (PTA)
• Grange, Farm Bureau, and other farmers
  associations
• Trade unions
• Townsend movement Eagles
• American Legion VFW

• Civil War pensions soldiers homes
• Mothers pensions Sheppard-Towner Act
• National and state programs for farmers
• Labor laws social insurance
• Social Security
• GI Bill of 1944 and other veterans benefits

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From the 1910s on, the FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
championed public social provision -- mothers
pensions, workmens compensation, old-age
pensions and, finally, Social Security. They
mobilized members to press legislators to enact
these programs, and then supported and helped to
explain them to many citizens.
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The American Legion -- hardly a liberal
association -- led the way in drafting and
lobbying for one of the most generous pieces of
social legislation in U.S. history the GI Bill
of 1944, which offered education benefits, family
allowances, and home, business, and farm loans to
some 16 million veterans of World War II.
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In sum American voluntary membership
associations of the kind that impressed Alexis de
Tocqueville, Lord James Bryce, and many modern
observers, were NEVER primarily local,
non-political, or separate from government. They
grew and flourished in close relationship to
representative, federally organized government in
the United States -- and often cooperated with
government in times of war and peace.
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Popularly rooted voluntary federations were not
the only U.S. associations. Business and
professional groups also proliferated, especially
during the twentieth century. But popular
voluntary federations, large and small, shaped
civic life for ordinary people from the early
19th century through the 1950s and 1960s. They
also enshrined a style of leadership that
emphasized organizing large numbers of fellow
citizens and doing things WITH them.
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Next time Decline of membership based
voluntary associations after the 1960s, and rise
of professionally managed advocacy associations
and nonprofit institutions instead. What
happened, why did it happen -- and what
difference does it make for U.S. civil society
and democracy?