The Know Nothing Party in 1854 and 1856

Begun as a secret society in New York in 1849, the Know Nothings or American Party as theyappeared on national ballots in 1856, could be traced to the virulent nativist movement of the 1830s

and 1840s. Fiercely anti-immigration, Know Nothings aimed their wrath at Irish and Germanmigrants, many of whom were Roman Catholic. The Know Nothings would achieve some politicalsuccess during the mid-term elections of 1854. In the 1856 general election led by former PresidentMillard Fillmore, the party split over the Kansas-Nebraska Act but sill gained 871,731 popular votesand 8 electoral votes.

Know Nothing Success in the Mid 1850s

Paul Boller, a Professor Emeritus of History at Texas Christian University, attributes the KnowNothing name to an initial attempt at secrecy. When members of the party were asked about theorganization, they were directed to answer, I dont know As the party gained support, however, thesecrecy gave way to public awareness. America For Americans, Know Nothings chanted, demandinga twenty-one year period of naturalization and the banning of any non-native born Americans fromoffice-holding.

Irish immigrants, clustered in the larger urban centers, bore the brunt of nativist ire. Seen as charitycases dumped onto American shores by a British government willing to assist immigrants in order tolessen the pressure on poverty relief, the Irish were willing to work for lower wages in unskilledjobs, taking away work from native-born Americans. Fear of Catholicism also contributed.

German immigrants, flooding America after the failed 1848 revolutions, also attracted fear andsuspicion. Like the Irish, they were Catholic and did not keep the Sabbath the way Protestants did.And Germans brought beer, a particular evil among New Englanders that still clung to Puritanvalues. Finally, Germans were perceived as socialists, identified with the various liberal movementsin Europe.

These fears enabled the Know Nothings to achieve some success in the 1854 mid-term election. Inboth the North and the South, the party attracted former Whigs searching for new political homes.In his valuable study on 1850s American politics and the expansion of slavery, Harvard UniversityHistorian Frederick Merk (died 1977) isolates Whig strength in 1854 to New York, Pennsylvania,Missouri, and Vermont with small pockets in mid-Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, and Tennessee.

The Presidential Election of 1856

By 1856 the Know Nothing Party wasbeginning to disintegrate in the wake of theill-advised Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.Anti-Nebraska Know Nothings and Whigsbolted to support the Republican Partyscandidate, John C. Fremont. By now theAmerican Party, the Know Nothingsnominated former president MillardFillmore.

Professor Merks analysis of the 1856 electiondemonstrates a remarkable change for theparty over the two-year interval. The party hadlost ground in Missouri and the Northeast.Small pockets of Know Nothing strengthexisted in every southern state except SouthCarolina. Fillmores 8 electoral votes came fromMaryland, although his popular vote was871,731. (407)

None of the national political leaders respected the Know Nothings. Stephen Douglas, in an October6, 1855 letter to Howell Cobb, wrote that Abolitionism, Know Nothingism, and all the other isms areakin to each other and are in allianceagainst national Democracy. In several other letters Douglasequates Know Nothingism with Abolitionism.

Abraham Lincoln, quoted by University of Massachusetts Professor Stephen Oates, preferred to livein Russia if the Know Nothings ever succeeded. According to Lincoln, When the Know Nothings getcontrol, it will read all me are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics. (165)

Southern bolters from the Know Nothing Party would emerge in 1860 as the ConstitutionalUnionists, led by former pro-Union Whig John Bell. After 1856, the Know Nothings ceased as a viablepolitical party, northern supporters joining the rapidly rising Republican Party. Yet another decadeof xenophobic Americanism had come to an end, although it would not be the last time nativismdominated political extremes.

Sources:

Paul F. Boller, Jr. Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George W. Bush (OxfordUniversity Press, 2004).

Stephen A Douglas, The Letters of Stephen A Douglas, edited by Robert W. Johannsen (University ofIllinois Press, 1961).

Frederick Merk, History of the Westward Movement (Alfred A. Knopf, 1978).

Stephen B. Oates, The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Harper-Collins, 1997).

Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A Peoples History of the Ante-Bellum Years VolumeFour,(McGraw-Hill, 1981).

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