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The Know Nothing Movement

The Know Nothing Movement. The Know Nothing – a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. Empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants.

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The Know Nothing Movement

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  1. The Know NothingMovement

  2. The Know Nothing – a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. Empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants

  3. Originated in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party, spread to other states as the Native American Party and became a national party in 1845. In 1855 it renamed itself the American Party.

  4. Underlying issues • The increasing rate of immigration in the 1940s - religious differences between Catholics and Protestants became a political issue. • ‘Catholicism is the ally of tyranny, the opponent of material prosperity, the foe of thrift, the enemy of the railroad, the caucus, and the school.’ • Dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. Activists formed secret groups, coordinating their votes and throwing their weight behind candidates sympathetic to their cause.

  5. Rise 1854: • Robert T. Conrad - mayor of Philadelphia. • John T. Towers – mayor of Washington DC. • Stephen Palfrey Webb – mayor of San Francisco. • J. Neely Johnson – Governor of California. 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.

  6. Rise • 1854, California - Sam Roberts founded a Know-Nothing chapter in San Francisco. • spring 1855 - Levi Boone was elected Mayor of Chicago for the Know Nothings (barred all immigrants from city jobs ). • Statewide, however, was blocked by Republican Abraham Lincoln.

  7. Violence • August 6, 1855 – the Louisville riot in Kentucky. In a hotly contested race for the office of governor of that state, Know Nothings killed 22, injured many more, and destroyed property.

  8. Violence • In Baltimore the mayoral elections of 1856, 1857 and 1858 were all marred by violence. • 1851, Maine - the tarring and feathering of a Catholic priest, John Bapst • 1854, Bath - the burning of a Catholic church.

  9. Decline • The party declined rapidly in the North in 1855 and 1856. In the Election of 1856 it was bitterly divided over slavery.(Millard Fillmore – president candidate, Andrew Jackson Donelson – vice-president candidate, both lost) • Although most of the new immigrants lived in the North, resentment and anger against them was national, and the American Party initially polled well in the South, attracting the votes of many former southern Whigs. But in the 1850s, no party could ignore slavery. • 1855 - the American Party split into northern (antislavery) and southern (proslavery) wings.

  10. Legacy • The nativist spirit of the Know Nothing movement was revived in later political movements, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the American Protective Association. • George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign was said by Time to be under the "neo-Know Nothing banner". • Editor Fareed Zakaria has said that politicians who "encouraged Americans to fear foreigners" were becoming "modern incarnations of the Know-Nothings".

  11. References • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing • http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/ps-knownothing.html • http://law.jrank.org/pages/8005/Know-Nothing-Party.html

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