The Know Nothing was an anti-Catholic, anti-immigration, populist and xenophobic movement. It briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party. It was also a forerunner to the temperance movement in the United States. Its nativist spirit is seen in both the American Protective Association and the Ku Klux Klan.
About Know Nothing in brief
The Know Nothing was an anti-Catholic, anti-immigration, populist and xenophobic movement. It briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party. It was also a forerunner to the temperance movement in the United States and its nativist spirit is seen in both the American Protective Association and the Ku Klux Klan. The party entered a period of rapid decline after Millard Fillmore’s loss in the 1856 presidential election, and the controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford decision made by the Supreme Court of the U.S. in 1857 further galvanized opposition to slavery in the North, causing many former Know Nothings to join the Republicans. The Know Nothing movement is remembered for this theme because of fears by Protestants that Catholic priests and bishops would control a large bloc of voters. It appeared in New York City politics as early as 1843 under the banner of theAmerican Republican Party. The movement quickly spread to nearby states using that name or Native American Party or variants of it. They succeeded in a number of local and Congressional elections, notably in 1844 in Philadelphia, where theAnti-Catholic orator Lewis Charles Levin, who went on to be the first Jewish congressman, was elected Representative from Pennsylvania’s 1st district. In 1855, the Know Nothing entered the first politics under the name American Party under the label of The Nothing. The name originated in a semi-secret organization of the Know nothing. When a member was asked about his activities, he was supposed to reply “I know nothing” and the name stuck.
Outsiders derisively called them derisively “Know nothings” and name stuck to them. The group believed that Pope Pius IX had put down the failed liberal Revolutions of 1848 and that he was an opponent of religious liberty. In the early 1850s, numerous secret orders grew up. The Order of United Americans and the Order of the Star Spangled Banner were the most important. They emerged in the New York in the 1850s as a secret order that quickly spread across the North. They were lower class middlemen who were non-Catholics, particularly those who were skilled work or skilled workmen. The Party became the main alternative to the dominant Democratic Party. Many also hoped that it would stake out a middle ground between the pro-slavery positions of Democratic politicians and the radical anti-Slavery position of the rapidly emerging Republican party. The American Party nominated former President Millard. Fillmore in the1856 presidential elections, although he kept quiet about his membership, and personally refrained from supporting the Knownothing movement’s activities and ideology. Fillmore received 21. 5% of the popular vote in the 1830s and 1855 presidential election and finished behind the Democratic and Republican nominees. It became a vehicle for politicians opposed to the Democrats. In most places, the party lasted only a year or two before disintegrating due to weak and inexperienced local leaders, a lack of publicly declared national leaders, and a deep split.
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This page is based on the article Know Nothing published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
