AUBURN — Politics during the decade before the Civil War sparked lively debates and hotly contested elections, according to local historian and author Douglas Hodgkin.

He will describe the era at a meeting of the Androscoggin Historical Society on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at the society’s headquarters, on the third floor of the County Courthouse at 2 Turner St.

As professor emeritus of political science at Bates College, Hodgkin specializes in American political parties and has written about the local party system in his book, “Frontier to Industrial City: Lewiston Town Politics, 1768-1863.”

He notes that during the 1850s, the issues of nativism, temperance and slavery caused shifting alignments of voters and strategic difficulties for politicians nationwide. “The Know-Nothing Party, the Liberty Party and the Free Soil Party each disrupted the two-party system composed of Democrats and Whigs,” he said. “Finally, the Republican Party succeeded in displacing the Whig Party in the mid-1850s. This led to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the secession of the South and the Civil War.”

Hodgkin’s talk will describe fluctuations in the electorate in Androscoggin County as a whole as well as in selected towns. The parties maneuvered for advantage as they sometimes chose to nominate their own slate of candidates and at other times entered into coalitions. The careers of selected individual local politicians will illustrate the machinations.

The meeting is open to the public without charge; donations will be accepted. An elevator is available.