Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850'sAlthough the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party". Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as wellas a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War. |
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User Review - TLCrawford - LibraryThingIn 2010 I started hearing the modern “Tea Party” compared to the “Know Nothing” party of history and it occurred to me that for someone with a BA in history I knew very little about the Know Nothings ... Read full review
Contents
Immigration Nativism and Party Crisis | 3 |
The Rise of the Know Nothings | 20 |
The Know Nothings Enter Politics | 52 |
The Know Nothings and the Collapse of the Second Party System | 75 |
The Know Nothings in Office | 127 |
The Know Nothings and the Presidential Election of 1856 | 220 |
The Know Nothings and Republican Ascendancy 18571860 | 246 |
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Common terms and phrases
1855 quotation Albany State Register Ameri American party anti anti-Catholicism anti-slavery ballots Banks Bigler Boston Bee Buchanan campaign candidate Catholic Catholicism Charles Cincinnati Congress Connecticut convention Council dealer defeat delegates Democratic diss election endorsed Fillmore Papers Fillmore's Fremont fusion Gardner Gienapp governor Harrisburg Herald Hartford Courant Historical Society History immigrants Indiana Irish James John July June Kansas-Nebraska Act Know Nothing leaders Know Nothing lodges Know Nothing party Know Nothingism Know Nothings believed Know Nothings Control legislative legislature maker Massachusetts Millard Fillmore Missouri Compromise Native American nativists newspaper nomination North Americans northern Know Nothings NYHS Ohio Order organization Pennsylvania Ph.D Philadelphia platform political politicians President presidential Press Protestant quoted Republi Republican Party Rochester American second party system Section Twelve Senate Sept slavery slavery issue southern Sumner SUNY-O temperance Thomas ticket tion Ullmann Papers Univ victory vote William York Express
Bibliographic information
| Title | Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850's ACLS Humanities E-Book History e-book project |
| Authors | Tyler Gregory Anbinder, Tyler Anbinder |
| Editor | Oxford University Press |
| Contributor | American Council of Learned Societies |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1992 |
| ISBN | 0195072332, 9780195072334 |
| Length | 330 pages |
| Subjects | › › Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |