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Know Nothing Party Timeline

(1849–1860)

The Know Nothing Party was a mid-19th-century American political movement that promoted nativism, opposed Catholic immigration, and sought to restrict immigrants’ political power. Originally secretive, it became publicly known as the American Party before declining over sectional conflicts about slavery. Less

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Origins and ideology

Catholic immigration reshapes American politics

1840 - 1860

The arrival of large numbers of Irish and German Catholics between 1840 and 1860 intensified religious differences between Catholics and Protestants and helped make immigration and anti-Catholicism major political issues.

Image source: History of immigration to the United States

Catholic immigration reshapes American politics

The movement emerges in New York City

1843

The movement appeared in New York City politics as early as 1843 under the banner of the American Republican Party, an early expression of organized nativism.

Image source: Know Nothing

The movement emerges in New York City

Urban crime fuels nativist fears

1846 - 1853

Rising crime in some cities reinforced nativist arguments. In Cincinnati, for example, the crime rate tripled between 1846 and 1853, while the murder rate increased sevenfold.

Anti-Catholic allegations target Pope Pius IX

1848

Protestants alleged that Pope Pius IX had helped cause the failure of the liberal Revolutions of 1848 in Europe and portrayed him as an enemy of liberty and democracy.

The Order of the Star Spangled Banner is founded

1849

Charles B. Allen founded the oath-bound secret society known as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner in New York City in 1849. It became an important organizational precursor of the Know Nothing movement.

The Ellsworth tarring and feathering occurs

1854

In Ellsworth, Maine, Know Nothings were associated with the tarring and feathering of the Jesuit priest Johannes Bapst in 1854, illustrating the movement's anti-Catholic hostility.

Image source: John Bapst

The Ellsworth tarring and feathering occurs

The San Francisco chapter opposes Chinese immigration

1854

A Know Nothing chapter was founded in San Francisco in 1854 to oppose Chinese immigration. Its members included a state supreme court judge who ruled that a Chinese person could not testify against a white person in court.

Image source: Know Nothing

The San Francisco chapter opposes Chinese immigration

Congress considers anti-immigrant bills

1855

The Know Nothings attempted to pass multiple congressional bills restricting the acceptance of certain immigrants into the United States. The measures failed as the party began to decline.

The Know Nothing platform advocates immigrant restrictions

1855

The anonymous anti-Catholic book titled Know Nothing Platform argued for restricting the political rights of Irish immigrants and expressed the movement's nativist program.

Rise and elections

The movement wins Philadelphia elections

1844

The movement succeeded in several local and congressional contests, notably in Philadelphia in 1844, when the anti-Catholic orator Lewis Charles Levin was elected representative from Pennsylvania's 1st district.

Image source: Lewis Charles Levin

The movement wins Philadelphia elections

The first Baltimore rally is held

Aug 18, 1853

The party held its first rally in Baltimore on August 18, 1853, drawing about 5,000 people. Speakers called for secular public schools, separation of church and state, freedom of speech, and regulation of immigration.

Massachusetts reformers redirect the party

1854 - 1857

Between 1854 and 1857, the traditional nativist wing declined among Massachusetts Know Nothings while abolitionists and reformers, including former Senate President Henry Wilson, sought to redirect the party.

Image source: Henry Wilson

Massachusetts reformers redirect the party

The party expands influence across several states

1854 - 1855

After the 1854 elections, the party exerted substantial influence in Maine, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California, although historians caution that secrecy and overlapping antislavery, prohibition, and nativist issues make the results difficult to assess precisely.

The party sweeps Massachusetts

1854

The Know Nothings swept Massachusetts in the fall 1854 elections, achieving their largest state-level victory and gaining almost complete control of the legislature.

The Know Nothings win Boston and Salem

1854

In the spring of 1854, Know Nothing candidates carried Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, as well as other New England cities.

Nathaniel P. Banks is elected to Congress

1854

The movement elected Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts and several other candidates in the 1854 elections. These victories helped propel the movement toward formation of the American Party.

Image source: Nathaniel P. Banks

Nathaniel P. Banks is elected to Congress

The Know Nothings win Northern state elections

1854

The Know Nothings won important Northern state elections in 1854, taking control of the Massachusetts legislature and polling about 40 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania.

The second party system collapses

1854

The collapse of the second party system, driven primarily by the demise of the Whig Party, created the political opening that enabled Know Nothing candidates to achieve major gains in 1854.

Image source: Second Party System

The second party system collapses

The American Party forms after the 1854 elections

1854

Favorable results in the 1854 elections led the previously informal movement to organize officially as the American Party. It attracted many former Whigs and a significant number of Democrats.

Massachusetts passes a reform program

1855

The Massachusetts legislature passed a series of reforms in 1855 that weakened entrenched party barriers and opened the way for a broad wave of legislative change.

The Know Nothings sweep New Hampshire

1855

The Know Nothings scored a landslide in New Hampshire in 1855 after the Whig and Free Soil parties collapsed there in 1854–55. They again swept the fall elections against the Democrats and the small Republican party.

Virginia holds a closely watched gubernatorial election

1855

Virginia attracted national attention during its tempestuous 1855 gubernatorial election, which highlighted the regional tensions surrounding Know Nothing politics.

Image source: 1855 Virginia gubernatorial election

Virginia holds a closely watched gubernatorial election

Ohio is the party's only state of growth

1855

Ohio was the only state where the American Party gained strength in 1855, even as the movement began losing momentum elsewhere.

Levi Boone becomes Chicago mayor

1855

Know Nothing candidate Levi Boone was elected mayor of Chicago in the spring of 1855. His administration barred all immigrants from city jobs.

Image source: Levi Boone

Levi Boone becomes Chicago mayor

The party challenges Democratic dominance

1855

In 1855, the American Party mounted a broad challenge to Democratic dominance, expanding its influence through state and local elections.

A Know Nothing governor wins Rhode Island

1855

The Know Nothings dominated Rhode Island politics in 1855. William W. Hoppin held the governorship, and the party received five out of every seven votes while controlling the legislature.

Image source: William W. Hoppin

A Know Nothing governor wins Rhode Island

The party enters politics under the American label

1855

In 1855, the Know Nothings first entered politics under the American Party label, formalizing the identity that increasingly replaced their earlier secretive movement structure.

The Bloody Monday riot erupts in Louisville

Aug 6, 1855

Rioting broke out in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 6, 1855, during a fiercely contested gubernatorial race. The violence became known as Bloody Monday and was part of a wider pattern of anti-Catholic Know Nothing violence.

Image source: Bloody Monday

The Bloody Monday riot erupts in Louisville

Fillmore receives 21.5 percent of the vote

1856

Millard Fillmore won 21.5 percent of the popular vote in the 1856 presidential election, finishing behind the Democratic and Republican nominees.

Image source: 1856 United States presidential election

Fillmore receives 21.5 percent of the vote

The party nominates Millard Fillmore

1856

The American Party nominated former president Millard Fillmore for president in 1856. Fillmore kept quiet about his membership and personally refrained from supporting the movement's activities and ideology.

Baltimore elections are marred by violence

1856 - 1858

Baltimore's mayoral elections in 1856, 1857, and 1858 were marked by violence and well-founded accusations that Know Nothings had rigged ballots.

Decline and Civil War

The party divides over slavery

1856

During the 1856 presidential election, the American Party became bitterly divided over slavery. The failure to adopt a clear anti-slavery position contributed to its rapid decline in the North.

The New Hampshire party system changes

1856

After the American Party collapsed and merged with the Republicans in 1856, New Hampshire developed a two-party system in which Republicans edged out Democrats.

Dred Scott accelerates the Northern collapse

1857

The Supreme Court's pro-slavery decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford further galvanized Northern opposition to slavery. Most anti-slavery Know Nothings subsequently joined the Republican Party.

Image source: Dred Scott v. Sandford

Dred Scott accelerates the Northern collapse

The American Party's Southern wing persists

1857 - 1860

The pro-slavery wing of the American Party remained strong at local and state levels in a few Southern states, but it was no longer a serious national political movement by the 1860 election.

The remnants join the Constitutional Union Party

1860

Most remaining American Party members supported the Constitutional Union Party in 1860. The remnants of the movement largely entered that coalition before disappearing during the Civil War.

Image source: Constitutional Union Party (United States)

The remnants join the Constitutional Union Party

The Know Nothing movement disappears during the Civil War

1861 - 1865

The remnants of the American Party disappeared during the American Civil War as its members moved into other political alignments, especially the Constitutional Union and Republican coalitions.

Later references

Democrats revive the Know Nothing label in Wisconsin

1890

In the late nineteenth century, Democrats called Republicans Know Nothings during Wisconsin's 1890 Bennett Law campaign in an effort to attract German voters.

Image source: Bennett Law

Democrats revive the Know Nothing label in Wisconsin

George Wallace runs under a neo-Know Nothing banner

1968

Time described George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign as operating under a neo-Know Nothing banner, using the historical movement as a comparison for its politics.

Gangs of New York depicts a fictional Know Nothing party

2002

The 2002 film Gangs of New York portrayed a fictional Confederation of American Natives party led by William Bill the Butcher Cutting, a fictionalized version of real-life Know Nothing leader William Poole.

Image source: Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York depicts a fictional Know Nothing party

William Kristol criticizes an anti-immigration GOP

2006

In a 2006 editorial in The Weekly Standard, neoconservative writer William Kristol accused populist Republicans of turning the GOP into an anti-immigration, Know-Nothing party.

Image source: Bill Kristol

William Kristol criticizes an anti-immigration GOP

The New York Times invokes the Know-Nothings

2007

A May 20, 2007, lead editorial in The New York Times referred to opponents of a proposed immigration bill as this generation's Know-Nothings.

The birther movement is compared to Know-Nothings

2010

In an August 27, 2010, New York Times editorial titled Building a Nation of Know-Nothings, Timothy Egan discussed the birther movement, which falsely claimed that Barack Obama was not a natural-born U.S. citizen.

Image source: Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories

The birther movement is compared to Know-Nothings

Donald Trump is compared to the Know-Nothings

2016

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, commentators and politicians compared Donald Trump to the Know Nothings because of his anti-immigration policies.

Image source: Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign

Donald Trump is compared to the Know-Nothings

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Key Facts

  1. The Know Nothing movement emerged from secret nativist organizations in the early 1850s, especially the Order of United Americans and the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner.
  2. Members initially answered questions about the organization by saying, “I know nothing,” giving the movement its popular name.
  3. The party opposed Catholic immigration and advocated longer naturalization periods, limits on immigrants holding office, and greater political influence for native-born Protestants.
  4. At its height in the mid-1850s, the movement became the American Party and won important elections, including control of several state governments and seats in Congress.
  5. The party weakened after 1856 because disagreements over slavery divided its members; many former Know Nothings later joined the Republican Party or other Unionist movements.

Source

This Know Nothing Party timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

We work hard to keep these timelines accurate, but mistakes do get through. If you spot one, email us at [email protected] and we'll fix it for future visitors.

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