Know-Nothings

Know-Nothings, in American history, popular name of a secret political party that existed from 1849 to about 1860. The party organized in clandestine societies that discriminated against immigrants and members of the Roman Catholic church. Such societies included the Order of the Sons of America in Pennsylvania and the Order of the Star Spangled Banner in New York. The chief aims of the party were to prevent foreign-born citizens from holding political office and to check foreign influences and ideas. Between 1825 and 1855 more than 5 million foreigners, mostly Roman Catholics, entered the United States. The Know-Nothings became powerful because of popular fear that these immigrants were growing in strength. The Know-Nothing Party's name was derived from its practice of secrecy; a member questioned about the party always answered “I don't know.” In 1854 the group officially adopted the name American Party, and that same year its candidates won the governorships in Massachusetts and Delaware. The party was also successful in several state gubernatorial elections the following year. In the presidential election of 1856, however, the party attempted to straddle the slavery issue and in so doing lost a great majority of its partisans in the North and West to the aggressive Republican Party. As a result, the Know-Nothing candidate, the former president Millard Fillmore, received only 871,731 votes and carried only the state of Maryland. By 1861 the party had no representation in Congress, and soon afterward it disappeared from the political scene.