Directory of Know-Nothings Resources

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The "Know-Nothings" is a name applied to an anti-Catholic, nativist movement of the mid-nineteenth century United States. Early groups were often formed as secret societies; when asked about their activities, members would reply only "I know nothing," lending them the nickname. The movement's chief public face was the American Party, the result of the merging and reorganization of smaller regional parties. At its height the American Party assumed a number of state and local offices and worked in occasional coalition with the Whigs, notably Millard Fillmore. However, immigration ultimately proved less compelling an issue than slavery, the party disintegrated when Southern delegates submitted a resolution calling for the maintenance of slavery, and the American Party ceased as a national force after the election of 1856.

Subcategories

• Fillmore, Millard
• Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

Resources in This Category

• A Defence of the American Policy

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&idno=AHM4910.0001.001
  1856 book by Thomas R. Whitney seeks to warn native-born Americans of the danger of Roman Catholic influence. Chronicles the rise of the Know-Nothings, particularly in New York. Page images.

• A Know-Nothing Legislature

  http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=AFJ3026-0022-4
  At a distance of four decades, George H. Haynes looks back on the Massachusetts state legislature of 1855, in which a secret political organization had won more than 90 percent of the seats. Searchable page images. [The New England Magazine]

• A Voice to America

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AHM3965
  1855 book by Thomas Bangs Thorpe is an apologia for the American Party. Searchable page images.

• Americanism Contrasted with Foreignism, Romanism, and Bogus Democracy

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&idno=ABT7662.0001.001
  William Gannaway Brownlow's book tries to stir native voters to the cause of the American Party in the election year 1856. Searchable page images.

• Examiner's Questions for Admittance to the American (or Know-Nothing) Party

  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mcc:@field(DOCID+@lit(mcc/062))
  Image of handwritten ritual for swearing in a new member. Also some background information on the party.

• Handbook of Texas: American Party

  http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/waa01
  Article on the Know-Nothings in Texas.

• I Know Nothing!

  http://www.aquinas-multimedia.com/stjoseph/knownothings.html
  Article on the Know-Nothings, some of their prominent members, and their fear that the Vatican planned to take Cincinnati by military force.

• Know-Nothing Party, 1850s

  http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/americavotes/know-nothing.html
  Image of handwritten four-point party platform.

• Know-Nothing People

  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web08/segment5.html
  An explanation for older kids of why some Americans in the nineteenth century started the Know-Nothing Party.

• Know-Nothingism

  http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=AGD1642-0037-94
  Lengthy critical article on the allure of the Know-Nothings. Searchable page images. [The United States Democratic Review]

• Knownothingism

  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08677a.htm
  Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia on the 1850s anti-immigrant movement.

• Startling Facts for Native Americans Called "Know-Nothings"

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AEY0515.0001.001
  1855 book warns of a foreign Catholic conspiracy to eradicate American liberty. Searchable page images.

• The Cloven Foot

  http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=AGD1642-0037-27
  Although the Know-Nothings may seem at first glance to be entirely novel, this article seeks out the political lineage of the dark-lantern organization. Searchable page images. [The United States Democratic Review]

• The Legacy of the Know-Nothings

  http://www.ustrek.org/odyssey/semester1/111100/111100daphknow.html
  For teens. Although this political party didn't last for even ten years, its story can show something about America today.

• Tricks of the Enemy!

  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/rbpebib:@field(TITLE+@od1(Tricks+of+the+enemy!++Know+nothing++Falsehoods!!+It+is+reported+throughout+this+city,+and+published+on+the+street+corners,+that++Arch+Bishop+Hughes+of+N++Y+,+is+in+this+city+for+the+purpose+of+controlling+the+Catholic+and+foreign+vote+of+Washington+++This+statement+is+false+++++Voters;+beware+of+election+falsehoods+++++[Signed++Vigilence++[Washington,+June+3rd+1854+++))
  Broadside posted in 1854 in Washington, D.C., to combat the rumor that Archbishop Hughes (of New York) was in town to control foreign and Catholic votes.

• Wide-Awake! Romanism: Its Aims and Tendencies

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&idno=AJG4436.0001.001
  1854 booklet by Know-Nothing L.W. Granger urges Americans to preserve the Protestant character of the public schools and to safeguard the ballot box from control by foreigners. Searchable page images.

• Wikipedia: Know-Nothing

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing
  Encyclopedia-style article on this nativist movement. Includes the platform of the American Party.

 

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