The Know Nothing Party

Podcast Transcript

Within the mid-Nineteenth century, the USA started to alter.

The nation had initially been settled by individuals from England, Scotland, and the Netherlands, the overwhelming majority of whom had been Protestant.

Nevertheless, within the 1840s, there started a dramatic change within the composition of immigrants to the USA. Numerous them started coming from Eire and Germany, the overwhelming majority of whom had been Catholic.

The response to those new immigrants had an unlimited influence on American politics.

Be taught extra concerning the Native American Social gathering, aka the Know Nothing Social gathering, on this episode of All the things In all places Day by day.

Violent clashes between Protestants and Catholics had been a daily incidence in Europe ever because the Protestant Reformation.

The extraordinarily bloody Thirty Years’ Conflict, which I coated in a earlier episode, was chargeable for the deaths of just about 1 / 4 of the inhabitants in a number of nations.

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Bloodbath in France in 1572 resulted within the deaths of 1000’s of French Protestants.

There have been assaults, reprisals, and counter-reprisals between the non secular teams for hundreds of years.

Nevertheless, for probably the most half, the American colonies and the newly fashioned United States had been freed from this. Freedom of Faith was entrenched within the structure of the brand new republic. The state of Maryland was initially meant to be a sanctuary for Catholics who weren’t tolerated in colonies run by Puritans.

Whereas freedom of faith was the legislation of the land, culturally, the tolerance was principally because of the truth that protestants, notably these of English ancestry, had been the overwhelming majority within the nation. As an example the purpose, of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 55 had been protestant, and just one was Catholic, Charles Carroll of Maryland.

After independence, new generations of Individuals had been born who by no means knew anything. They primarily recognized themselves as Individuals, not as Virginians or Pennsylvanians.

Furthermore, an American cultural identification started to develop that was fully divorced from their previous as English topics.

It was on this ambiance, particularly in massive cities within the Japanese United States, that the occasions that led to the rise of the Know Nothings happened.

It started with the rise in immigration to the USA within the 1840s from Eire and Germany. Immigration to the USA was moderately small previous to this era. Between 10,000 to 100,000 individuals migrated to the US from Europe every year between 1820 and 1845.

Most of those immigrants had been Irish, however their numbers had been sufficiently small to not provoke a backlash.

Nevertheless, political instability in 1848 Germany and the Irish Potato Famine resulted in an enormous inflow of immigrants between 1845 and 1854. Nearly 3 million individuals migrated to the USA, the vast majority of whom had been Catholics from Germany and Eire.

These immigrants had little or no to name their very own and had been coming from locations that had been devastated by warfare and famine. Along with being poor, they typically introduced illnesses with them.

They turned a big a part of the inhabitants in lots of Japanese cities.

The native inhabitants who lived in these cities immediately discovered themselves to be minorities in lots of neighborhoods. They had been surrounded by Catholics, a lot of whom had been poor and spoke a distinct language.

The response to those new immigrants was typically violent. In 1844, two nativist riots shook the town of Philadelphia. From Could 6 to Could 8, rioters destroyed a number of Catholic houses and church buildings, and the riots left 14 lifeless.

In July, 15 extra individuals had been killed, with extra houses and church buildings destroyed.

The riots turned a problem within the 1844 election between the 2 main events, the Democrats and the Whigs. Nevertheless, a brand new third celebration, generally known as the Native American Social gathering, managed to win six congressional seats.

The political success of the Native American Social gathering was short-lived. In 1846, they misplaced 5 of their six seats, they remained at one member of Congress in 1848. In 1850 and 1852, they didn’t handle to get anybody elected.

Oddly sufficient, the one man who represented the Native American Social gathering throughout all the time they’d a single consultant was Lewis Charles Levin. Levin wasn’t a protestant. In reality, he was the primary Jewish member of the USA Congress. He was a number one participant within the 1844 riots in Philadelphia, and later in life was declared insane and died in an asylum.

Whereas they weren’t as profitable in politics throughout this era, it wasn’t as a result of they weren’t energetic.

Nativist, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, anti-German sentiment continued to unfold all through the nation.

Conspiracy theories started to unfold that the Catholic immigrants had been there as a part of a Papist conspiracy to subvert the freedom of the USA.

They believed that the brand new Catholic voters had been beholden to monks and bishops who had been beneath orders from the Pope in Rome, and they might vote nevertheless they had been instructed to vote.

Anti-Catholic books circulated, like these by Maria Monk, a Canadian girl who claimed to have infiltrated a convent the place she claimed there have been secret tunnels, rapes, and hidden burial pits of infants. It was later discovered that all the guide was a hoax. Nonetheless, the guide offered 300,000 copies.

This led to the creation of varied underground anti-Catholic teams, a lot of which operated in secret.

Probably the most notable of which was the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, which was created in New York Metropolis in 1849. Based by the nativist Charles B. Allen, the Order of the Star Spangled Banner was a secret society that required all of its members to take an oath.

The order began small however quickly attracted fanatical followers equivalent to William Poole, also called Invoice the Butcher. He was a gang chief, prizefighter, and butcher who lived in New York Metropolis. His gang was generally known as the Bowery Boys.

I ought to be aware that it wasn’t simply anti-immigrant sentiment that created the Order of the Star Spangled Banner. It was the truth that these new immigrants had been embraced by the elements of the Democratic Social gathering within the north, notably the Tammany Corridor political machine in New York Metropolis.

Tammany Corridor accepted Irish immigrants as members as a result of they had been an unlimited block of votes. Tammany Corridor additionally had avenue gangs that it managed and provided safety to the Irish from the Bowery Boys.

One of many defining traits of the Order of the Star Spangled Banner was that if any member was questioned concerning the group, they had been ordered to say, “I do know nothing.”

The Order of the Star Spangled Banner unfold to different massive American cities, notably within the east.

As a result of secret nature of the society, it was extremely decentralized, and native leaders ran every chapter.

The group additionally had a pure affinity with the Native American Social gathering. It was this affiliation of secret organizations just like the Order of the Star Spangled Banner with the Native American Social gathering the place the time period “Know Nothing Social gathering” got here from.

Apart from being pro-nativist, the decentralized nature of the celebration meant that it didn’t have a coherent place on many different insurance policies. Within the South, the celebration wasn’t as anti-Catholic just because few Catholics migrated to the South, and it wasn’t a lot of a problem.

Unusually sufficient, there was sturdy Know Nothing help in predominantly Catholic Louisiana. The members there rejected the anti-Catholic elements however had been additionally anti-immigrant and pro-slavery.

There have been Know Nothings who adopted progressive views that wouldn’t come to the forefront of nationwide politics till the early twentieth century. These included staff’ rights, ladies’s suffrage, regulation of trade, and the prohibition of alcohol.

The factor that thrust the Native American Social gathering into the highlight was the congressional election of 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted within the collapse of the Whig Social gathering.

In the event you keep in mind again to my episode on the six political eras In American historical past, this was the tip of the second period.

This left a gap for one more celebration to problem the dominant Democratic Social gathering, and the Native American Social gathering took benefit of the scenario.

Most anti-slavery northerners ran beneath the banner of the Opposition Social gathering and really gained 100 seats, the plurality of seats within the Home of Representatives in 1854. Technically, they had been in several events, however they’d a single aim of eradicating the Democrats from energy.

The Democrats held on to 83 seats, and the Native American “Know Nothing” Social gathering got here out of nowhere to win 51 seats.

It was the only greatest efficiency by a 3rd celebration in American historical past.

1854 additionally noticed different successes for the Know Nothings. They gained elections in Boston and virtually swept all the Massachusetts State Legislature. They gained all 40 state senate seats and 376 out of 379 State Meeting seats. Additionally they gained the Governorship of Massachusetts.

Within the spring of 1855, Levi Boone was elected because the mayor of Chicago as a Know Nothing candidate.

It was estimated that the membership of the celebration had exploded from 50,000 to 1 million within the span of just some months.

Nevertheless, that turned out to be the height of the Know Nothing motion. In March 1855, William Poole, aka Invoice the Butcher, was shot and killed in New York.

The decentralized nature of the celebration in the end labored in opposition to it. They had been no match for the organized energy of the Democrat Social gathering, which was the biggest within the nation on the time.

The anti-slavery faction within the North wasn’t notably keen on their views. Many former Whigs and abolitionist Democrats coalesced across the newly fashioned Republican celebration. Within the South, the celebration was principally supported by unionist former Whigs who had no different outlet to oppose the Democrats.

The one largest problem going through the nation at this level was slavery, and the Know Nothings actually formally didn’t take a stand on it by some means. In reality, in 1855, they explicitly rejected an anti-slavery platform, which was a perception held by most of their members within the north.

They did produce other success. They did effectively in elections in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and another cities, however 1855 was their excessive water mark.

Within the elections of 1856, the Know-Nothings ran former President Millard Fillmore as their candidate, who managed to obtain 23% of the favored vote and carried the state of Maryland.

Within the congressional elections, they misplaced the vast majority of their seats, dropping from 51 to 14.

The dearth of a coherent place on slavery, the dominant problem going through the nation, splintered the celebration and drove members to the Republicans or the Democrats.

In 1858, they dropped to only six members of the home, and by 1860, they didn’t win a single seat.

The Know Nothing Social gathering ended up being a political flash within the pan and a footnote in American historical past.

Whereas their electoral success dropped, they nonetheless remained an energetic social power in some communities.

On August 6, 1855, an occasion generally known as the “Bloody Monday” riots broke out in Louisville, Kentucky, which killed 22 individuals. The riot was principally between Know Nothings and Catholics. In Maine, they had been chargeable for the tarring and feathering of a Catholic priest and the burning of a catholic church.

Know Nothing sentiment survived though the organizations surrounding it didn’t.

The American Protecting Affiliation was an anti-Catholic group based in 1887, which discovered help within the Midwest. Just like the Know Nothings, they grew rapidly after which collapsed after the election of 1896.

The time period Know Nothing has turn out to be a pejorative in American politics. Within the late Nineteenth century, the Democrats used it in opposition to Republicans to garner German votes within the Midwest.

All through the twentieth century, the time period was utilized to these in opposition to immigration.

The temperance and prohibition motion is extensively thought-about to have gotten its begin with the Know Nothing Social gathering.

Maybe the perfect depiction of the Know Nothings was within the 2002 Martin Scorsese movie Gangs of New York. The principle character, William Cuttings, performed by Daniel Day-Lewis, was roughly primarily based on the real-life William Poole.

In the long run, the Know Nothings had been a short-term blip on the radar of American politics. As Irish and German Catholics turned ingrained in American society, the main focus finally moved to immigrants from China, Italy, and Japanese Europe within the late Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Whereas their electoral influence was minimal, the cultural influence of the Know Nothing Social gathering remained for many years.

The Government Producer of All the things In all places Day by day is Charles Daniel.

The affiliate producers are Thor Thomsen and Peter Bennett.

As we speak’s evaluate comes from listener Bismarck the cat over on Apple Podcasts in the USA. They write:

My day by day podcast fill

The podcast is nice! No beating across the bush and losing my time with senseless chit-chat; it’s proper to the purpose with bite-size data, like getting all of your day by day studying in a great-tasting capsule.

Thanks, Bismarck the cat! I want to think about this podcast as one thing extra like a small but great-tasting dessert moderately than a capsule. All of us get pleasure from dessert, however few of us get pleasure from capsules.

Bear in mind, in the event you go away a evaluate or ship me a boostagram, you can also have it learn on the present.

Source_link