The Know-Nothing Party

Photograph

By: Anonymous

Date: 1844Source: © David J. & Janice L. Frent Collection/ Corbis.

About the Photographer: This photograph is part of the collection of the Corbis Corporation, headquartered in Seattle. Corbis maintains a worldwide archive of more than seventy million images.

INTRODUCTION

Reflecting a long American tradition of anti-Catholicism, the Know Nothings began in New York City in the 1840s to oppose "Romanism" and immigration. Members of the secretive organization had to prove that they were born in the United States and pledged to oppose Catholics by removing them from public office whenever possible. By 1854, the Know Nothing Party held several seats in Congress and seemed on the verge of becoming a dominant force in American politics.

Resentment and hostility toward Roman Catholics predated the establishment of the American colonies. Following the Protestant Reformation, European nations frequently waged war, pitting Catholics against Protestants for political and economic control. British settlers brought their anti-Catholic prejudices to American shores; however, the numbers of Catholics in the colonies remained fairly small. In the early nineteenth century, significant numbers of immigrants from Ireland and Germany sparked conflict between native-born Protestants and the Catholic newcomers. In the 1830s, vigilantes attacked convents, burning a few to the ground. In 1844, a request by Philadelphia Catholics to permit Catholic students to read from Catholic translations of the Bible rather than the Protestant King James version prompted several months of rioting by nativists that destroyed Catholic schools, churches, and homes.

Partly as a result of the support given to anti-Catholicism, nativists in New York City organized a secretive group known as "The Order of the Star Spangled Banner." During these early days the groups members claimed to "know nothing" about the secretive organization, giving rise to its nickname. By the 1850s, the order had grown substantially in popularity and its members organized into a substantial political presence. Its official name was the American Party. Its political candidates proposed long waiting periods before immigrants could receive American citizenship, restricting officeholding and voting rights to the native born, and strict limitations on immigration.

PRIMARY SOURCE

See primary source image.

SIGNIFICANCE

While the Know Nothings enjoyed political success, the organization's time in the spotlight was short. The American Party disintegrated over the issue of slavery, which seemed to many citizens to be more pressing than immigration. The nativist movement lost considerable ground to the Democratic and Republican parties by the elections of 1858. By 1860, the Know Nothings had effectively ceased to exist.

Anti-Catholicism and nativistic thinking proved remarkably long-lived in American history. The Civil War provided a brief hiatus from anti-Catholicism and many Catholics hoped that their wartime service would illustrate their patriotism. Yet, shortly after Reconstruction, anti-Catholic sentiment rebounded. The American Protective Association, among the more notable of the new nativist groups, followed the same rhetoric and tone of its Know Nothing fore-bears. Anti-Catholic sentiment in American society remained an issue until John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, demonstrating that a Catholic could be elected president. While some voters feared that Kennedy was part of a papal plot aimed at subjecting Americans to Roman Catholic rule from Vatican City, such views no longer formed the mainstream.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Anbinder, Tyler. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Mulkern, John R. The Know-Nothing Party in Massachusetts: The Rise and Fall of the People's Movement. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1990.

Voss-Hubbard, Mark. Beyond Party: Cultures of Antipartisan-ship in Northern Politics before the Civil War. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.