Know-Nothing Party

THE KNOW-NOTHING PARTY was a short-lived nativist party in the 19th century that was dedicated to electing American-born Protestants to government office, and a platform that limited foreign participation in the political system. The party earned its nickname because originally members were sworn to secrecy and pledged to feign ignorance when questioned about their knowledge of, or membership in, any such organization. The Know-Nothings originally operated under the cloak of secrecy by endorsing the political aspirations of nativist candidates behind closed doors. Initiates to this society referred to the group as “The Secret Order of the Star Spangled Banner,” before it took on the name of the American Party. The party grew into a hierarchically organized and cobbled-together network of nativist societies; and by the middle of the 1850s, it became the fastest growing political movement in America. However, the divisive character of the slavery issue would prove to be fatal for the young party.

Between 1846 and 1853, over three million individuals, mostly Catholics from Ireland and Germany, relocated to the United States. In some states, suffrage was extended to foreign-born individuals through relatively loose naturalization laws, thereby enfranchising foreigners at a quickly accelerating rate; in Boston, alone between 1850 and 1855, the number of naturalized citizens tripled, while the native-born potential voters grew by only 14 percent. In the great cities of the northeast, the political power of these immigrant populations was feared because of their ability to form powerful voting blocs.

Know-Nothings railed against the impact this foreign political influence had on the stability of the American political system, and they blamed the newcomers for behavior that was particularly un-American. Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment fueled the growth of the Know-Nothings as general apprehension led to a downright fear of foreigners, ignited by the public perception that this massive influx of immigrants was contributing to the spread of pauperism, crime, and public drunkenness, while driving wages down and rents up. Nativist parties sought to limit the impact of alien participation in the political process by supporting a platform that would repeal all naturalization laws and evict foreign paupers or, at the very least, increase residency requirements, enact strict literacy standards, and make [Page 351]it illegal for non-natives to hold elected offices. In New York, Know-Nothing lodges blossomed throughout the state, and chapters soon expanded into Massachusetts and the rest of the northeast before spreading south and west. Membership is estimated to have swelled to as many as 1.5 million people by 1855.

Politically, the Know-Nothings emerged at a critical point in American history, as the contentiousness of the slavery issue in the pre-Civil War United States was unraveling the Whig Party; Free-Soilers and anti-slavery factions were fueling separatist sentiment, thus threatening the stability of the Union. The Know-Nothing leadership capitalized on these divisions amongst the Whigs by remaining ambivalent about the rather fractious slavery issue, thus earning themselves the nickname, the Do-Nothings.

The political support for the group grew because the leadership focused their patriotic message on unity, brotherhood, and nationalism. And southern Whigs enlisted because they saw the party as the most formidable means by which they could challenge their Democratic foes. At the height of Know-Nothing influence in 1855, the party controlled all of the New England states except Vermont and Maine, and was the major anti-Democratic party throughout most of the middle Atlantic and southeast.

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