Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s

by Tyler G. Anbinder and Tyler Anbinder

Book Overview

Politicians have used immigrants as scapegoats for the nation's problems throughout American history. No group achieved more success with this tactic than the Know Nothing Party, which directed its attacks primarily against Catholic immigrants. Within a year of its appearance in 1854, the party had elected eight governors, over one hundred members of Congress, and thousands of local officials. Prominent politicians of every persuasion joined the organization,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195089227
• ISBN13: 9780195089226
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

"Protestantism defined American society"

A new American political party, the Know Nothing party, appeared during the 1850s. Tyler Anbinder explores this party's sudden rise and fall in the northern United States. He offers the reader a meticulously-researched, clearly written book. Anbinder's research draws primarily on original Know Nothing documents (not easily found, given the party's penchant for secrecy), local news accounts, manuscripts, and monographs on individual state Know Nothing parties. He admirably ties together the information from these sources into a coherent picture of general Know Nothing principles and an analysis of their impact on state and national politics. Know Nothingism arose as North-South sectional stress marks appeared in the two major U.S. political parties, Democrat and Whig, and as growing Catholic immigration provoked century-old religious suspicions among American Protestants. Anbinder describes how political victories first occurred when Know Nothings backed Democratic or Whig candidates who promised to follow a nativist agenda. Afterwards, Know Nothings began fielding their own candidates, often winning the elections. The party failed, however, to repeat these successes at the national level. This national-level failure, according to Anbinder, was partly a result of circumstances. Political events (the Kansas Nebraska Act, the caning of Senator Sumner and the "sack" of Lawrence, Kansas) hardened the fervently moral, anti-slavery views of many members. The anti-slavery issue began to dominate internal party politics, trumping nativism, and made compromise with more moderate and southern Know Nothings unworkable. As the Know Nothing party tried to move to the national level, its disgruntled members began to migrate to the newly-formed Republican party, which proved more adept at political maneuvering. Anbinder's discussion of Know Nothing principles makes fascinating reading. Although nativist, or anti-immigrant, sentiments motivated its founding members, Anbinder reveals that these sentiments were deeply rooted in its members' devout Protestant religious beliefs. Know Nothings believed that "Protestantism defined American society," a much narrower vision of America than that commonly expressed by some of today's politically-active Protestant figures, who only wish to exclude non-Judeo-Christian believers from high-level offices in the United States. Increased Catholic immigration, especially Irish, evoked the fervent Protestant Know Nothings' anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant views. In addition, the nineteenth-century Protestant fervor of the Know Nothings aroused their northern members to restrict voting rights for new immigrants, oppose the immorality of slavery, agitate for temperance legislation, champion political morality, demand restrictions on Catholic Church property and insist on using the King James Bible in public schools. For the Know Nothings, America was not just a Christian nation, but a Protestant one. They

Know Something about the Know Nothings

For those familiar with American history - sadly, a relatively small group - the era of the Know Nothings is usually considered little more than a semi-amusing footnote in the chronicle of antebellum America. With their silly name and their lack of any sort of substantial contribution to the political scene, the Know-Nothings deserve their minor standing, but a history of this political party does impart some lessons, both in history and in the nature of politics.The Know Nothings - a name used by both themselves and their foes - started out as a semi-secret fraternal organization in the 1850s that was distinctly anti-immigrant. In particular, an anti-Catholic sentiment united the Know Nothings, and in an era of high immigration rates, they were able to rise in popularity quickly. Outside their religious intolerance, they did hold some values that are easier to identify with, including a belief in temperance and most importantly, an opposition to slavery. With the decline of the Whigs, the Know Nothings filled a void. They were also against political corruption, which combined with their anti-slavery views (at least in the North), elevated them a number of state and federal offices in 1854 and 1855. Unfortunately, once in power, they became just as political as those they once opposed, and the anti-slavery Know Nothings began to defect to the new Republican party. In short, by 1856, they were just another political party; their presidential candidate - the deservedly obscure ex-President Millard Fillmore - carried only one state. With a lack of organization and the loss of its core ideas, the party was gone by the time of the Civil War.Even if the Know Nothings didn't directly contribute a lot in a historical sense, they do offer lessons in the difficulty of third parties in the United States. A party may be able to burst to a fad-like popularity based on the power of a single personality (such as Teddy Roosevelt with the Bull Mooses or more recently, Ross Perot with the Reform Party) or a single idea (such as the nativist Know Nothings), but eventually, like any fad, it fades away to obscurity. Sustained success requires a level of "selling out" which inevitably disillusions those drawn to the party in the first place and leads them back to a major party that may also be "sold out" but at least offers the opportunity of victory.The book itself is well-written, although the overall significance of the Know Nothings is a little overstated. With a subject that could be tedious, we instead get something that - while it may not be a beach read - is both readable and informative. Nativism and Slavery is a good book on the era leading up to the Civil War.