Know Nothing

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1850s. It grew up as a popular reaction to fears that corruption was overcoming the major cities because of the political activity of Irish Catholic immigrants. It was a short-lived movement mainly active 1854-56; it demanded reform measures but few were passed. There were few prominent leaders, and the membership, mostly middle class and Protestant, apparently was soon absorbed by the Republican Party in the North.

The official name of the movement was the American Party. The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply "I know nothing."

History

Many active Protestants feared that the Pope planned to undermine American democracy by creating a political network, controlled by him through his bishops and priests. Some Protestants argued that the strong allegiance of Roman Catholics to the Pope and priests ran counter to the values of independent voters that was required by republicanism. Pope Pius IX was increasingly a leader after the failed liberal Revolutions of 1848 of intransigent European reaction and opposition to liberty, democracy and Protestantism. These concerns encouraged conspiracy theories regarding the Pope's purported plans to subjugate the United States through a continuing influx of obedient Catholics controlled by Irish priests and by bishops personally selected by and responsible directly to the Pope. Despite the loss of most of the Papal States to Italy in 1860, Pius ruled Rome until 1870 with an iron hand. In 1849, an oath-bound secret society, The Order of the Star Spangled Banner, was created by Charles Allen in New York City. It became the nucleus of some units of the American Party.

The growing sentiment against Irish Americans led to a dissatisfaction with the dominant party, the Democrats, who were closely allied to Irish politicians in most major cities. Thus activists formed secret groups, coordinating their votes and throwing their weight behind candidates sympathetic to their cause. When asked about these secret organizations, members supposedly were to reply "I know nothing," which led to their popularly being called Know-Nothings. This movement won elections in major cities from Chicago to Boston in 1855, and carried the Massachusetts legislature and governorship.

In spring 1854 they carried Boston, Salem, and other New England cities. They swept the state of Massachusetts in the fall 1854 elections--their biggest victory. The Whig candidate in Philadelphia was editor Robert Conrad, soon revealed as a Know-Nothing; he promised to crack down on crime, close saloons on Sundays, and to appoint only native-born Americans to office. He won by a landslide. In New York, in a four-way race the Know Nothing candidate ran third with 26%. After the fall 1854 elections they claimed to have exerted decisive influence in Maine, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California, but historians are unsure because of the secrecy, because all parties were in turmoil, and because the anti-slavery and prohibition issues overlapped with nativism in complex and confusing ways. They did elect the Mayor of San Francisco. They were still an unofficial movement with no centralized organization. The results of the 1854 elections were so favorable to the Know-Nothings that they formed officially as a political party, called the American Party, and swallowed many members of the now nearly-defunct Whig party, as well as a significant number of Democrats and prohibitionists. Membership in the American Party increased dramatically: from 50,000 to over one million in a matter of months in that year, it is estimated. The same member might also split tickets to vote for Democrats or Republicans, for party loyalty was in confusion. Simultaneously the new Republican party emerged as a dominant power in many northern states. Very few prominent politicians joined the party, and very few party leaders had a subsequent career in politics. The major exceptions were Schuyler Colfax in Indiana and Henry Wilson in Massachusetts, both of whom became Republicans and were elected Vice President. The leading historian of the party concludes: p 95

The key to Know Nothing success in 1854 was the collapse of the second party system, brought about primarily by the demise of the Whig party. The Whig party, weakened for years by internal dissent and chronic factionalism, was nearly destroyed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Growing anti-party sentiment, fueled by anti-slavery as well as temperance and nativism, also contributed to the disintegration of the party system. The collapsing second party system gave the Know Nothings a much larger pool of potential converts than was available to previous nativist organizations, allowing the Order to succeed where older nativist groups had failed.

In 1854 alleged members of the American Party stole and destroyed the block of granite contributed by Pope Pius IX for the Washington Monument. They also took over the monument's building society and controlled it for four years. What little progress occurred in their tenure had to be undone and remade. For the full story, see Washington Monument: History.

In spring 1855, Levi Boone was elected Mayor of Chicago for the Know-Nothings. He barred all immigrants from city jobs. Statewide, however, Republican Abraham Lincoln blocked the party from any successes. Ohio was the only state where the party gained strength in 1855. Their Ohio success seems to have come from winning over immigrants, especially German Lutherans and Scottish Presbyterians who feared Catholicism. In Alabama, the Know-Nothings were a mix of former Whigs, malcontented Democrats, and other political misfits who favored state aid to build more railroads. In the tempestuous 1855 campaign, the Democrats convinced state voters that Alabama Know-Nothings could not protect slavery from Northern abolitionists.

The party declined rapidly in the North in 1855-56. In the Election of 1856, it was bitterly divided over slavery; one faction supported Millard Fillmore who won 22% of the popular vote and Maryland's 8 electoral votes. He did not win enough votes in Pennsylvania to block Democrat James Buchanan from the White House. Most of the anti-slavery members of the American Party joined the Republican Party. The pro-slavery wing of the American Party remained strong on the local and state levels in a few southern states, but by the Election of 1860, they were no longer a serious national political movement.

Some historians argue that in the South the Know-Nothings were fundamentally different from their northern counterparts, and were motivated less by nativism or anti-Catholicism than by conservative Unionism; southern Know-Nothings were mostly old Whigs who were worried about both the pro-slavery extremism of the Democrats and the emergence of the anti-slavery Republican party in the North. In Louisiana and Maryland the Know-Nothings enlisted Catholics. Historian Michael F. Holt, however, argues, "Know Nothingism originally grew in the South for the same reasons it spread in the North--nativism, anti-Catholicism, and animosity toward unresponsive politicos--not because of conservative Unionism." He quotes ex-Governor William B. Campbell of Tennessee, who wrote in January 1855, "I have been astonished at the widespread feeling in favor of their principles--to wit, Native Americanism & anti-Catholicism--it takes everywhere." Holt The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, p. 856.

Usage of term

The term "Know Nothing" is better remembered than the party itself. In the late 19th century Democrats would damn the Republicans as "Know Nothings" in order to secure the votes of Catholics. Since the early 20th century the term has been a provocative slur, suggesting the opponent is both nativist and ignorant. Thus in 2006 an editorial in the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard by William Kristol attacked populist Republicans for not recognizing the danger of "turning the GOP into an anti-immigration, Know-Nothing party." by Craig Shirley, "How the GOP Lost Its Way" Washington Post April 22, 2006; Page A21in

Platform

The platform of the American Party called for, among other things:

Severe limits on immigration, especially from Catholic countries.
Restricting political office to native-born Americans
Mandating a wait of 21 years before an immigrant could gain citizenship.
Restricting public school teachers to Protestants.
Mandating daily Bible readings in public schools (from the Protestant version of the Bible).
Restricting the sale of liquor.

Legacy

The American Party was represented in the 2002 film Gangs of New York, led by Daniel Day Lewis as William Cutting, aka Bill The Butcher, the fictionalized version of real-life Know-Nothing leader William Poole. The Know Nothings also play a prominent role in the historical novel "Shaman" by Noah Gordon.

Notes

Lind, Michael Free Press (Reprint)

References

Anbinder; Tyler. Nativism and Slavery : the northern Know Nothings and the politics of the 1850's (1992). Online at ACLS History e-Book
Baum, Dale. "Know-Nothingism and the Republican Majority in Massachusetts: The Political Realignment of the 1850s." Journal of American History 64 (1977-78): 959-86. **also in The Civil War Party System: The Case of Massachusetts, 1848-1876 (1984)
Ray A. Billington, The Protestant Crusade, 1800-1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism (1938)
Bladek, John David. "'Virginia Is Middle Ground': the Know Nothing Party and the Virginia Gubernatorial Election of 1855." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1998 106(1): 35-70. Issn: 0042-6636
Cheathem, Mark R. "'I Shall Persevere in the Cause of Truth': Andrew Jackson Donelson and the Election of 1856". Tennessee Historical Quarterly 2003 62(3): 218-237. Issn: 0040-3261 Donelson was Andrew Jackson's nephew and K-N nominee for Vice President
Dash, Mark. "New Light on the Dark Lantern: the Initiation Rites and Ceremonies of a Know-nothing Lodge in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2003 127(1): 89-100. Issn: 0031-4587
Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (1978)
Clifford S. Griffin; Their Brothers' Keepers: Moral Stewardship in the United States, 1800-1865 Rutgers University Press. 1960
Michael Holt. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party (1999)
Levine, Bruce. "Conservatism, Nativism, and Slavery: Thomas R. Whitney and the Origins of the Know-nothing Party" Journal of American History 2001 88(2): 455-488. Issn: 0021-8723
Melton, Tracy Matthew. Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854-1860 (2005)
Nevins, Allan. The Ordeal of the Union (1947) v 2
Overdyke, W. Darrell The Know-Nothing Party in the South (1950)
Voss-Hubbard, Mark. Beyond Party: Cultures of Antipartisanship in Northern Politics before the Civil War Johns Hopkins U. Press 2002.

External links

Know-Nothing Party | Know-Nothingpartiet | Knownothings

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