The Rise and Fall of the Know-Nothing Party

The Order of the Star Spangled Banner (OSSB) was a nativist, oath-bound secret society created by Charles B. Allen in 1849. In order to join the Order, a man would have to be at least 21-years-old, Protestant (anti-Catholic), and willing to obey and never betray the Order. If asked anything about the OSSB or its existence, the members always responded with, "I know nothing." Hence, their name became the Know-Nothings.

The Know-Nothing Party called for restrictions on immigration, deportation of foreign beggars and criminals, mandatory Bible reading in schools, and the elimination of foreign-born and Catholics from voting or holding public office. 

One of the most prominent leaders of the party was Thomas R. Whitney, who wrote the magnum opus of the Know-Nothings, A Defense of the American Policy. He argued that only those of proper qualification (male, property-owning, Protestant, native-born, white) deserved full rights, and that women, Catholics, and immigrants undermined national stability and the old social order that the Founding Fathers had established. From 1845 to 1854, 2.9 million Irish and German immigrants poured into the United States, a majority of them being Catholic. The cultural clash between the immigrant and native white populations led to the growing prominence of the Know-Nothing Party.

William “Bill the Butcher” Poole was a revered party member and also the Know-Nothings' first martyr. On Saturday, February 24, 1855, Poole was drinking in a saloon and came into conflict with an Irish boxer named John Morrissey. They both pulled out guns, but before anyone could shoot, the police arrived and separated the two. Later that evening, Poole returned to the same saloon with an intent to kill Morrissey, only to be shot in the chest by Lewis Baker, one of Morrissey's men. Poole died two weeks later.

It didn't matter that Poole had been armed or that it was a mutual conflict; on the day of Poole’s funeral, 6,000 OSSB mourners walked through the streets of New York, and approximately 250,000 people traveled to Manhattan to pay their respects to Poole.

Although it seemed that the Know-Nothing Party would continue to rise, it collapsed under the pressure of having to take a stance on the issue the slavery. What made the party different from the Federalist and the Democrat-Republican parties in the first place was that it chose to ignore slavery and focus on the question of immigration and the economic concerns of native-born Americans. The key defining aspect of the Know-Nothing Party ultimately became its downfall. Still, its legacy and the nativism it instilled into American society never left. Fast forward to 2016, Donald Trump is running on an anti-immigrant platform.

Today, there is significant dislocation of native-born Americans and foreign competition due to immigration, and some people feel that it would just be better to go back to an era where a majority of the population was native-born. People like Trump take advantage of these feelings, but it is important to remember that everyone who immigrated here came to find better lives for themselves and their progeny, and often faced terrible oppression or persecution in their former countries. It should be our responsibility to maintain our status as a diverse country for everyone—a place where people can seek refuge and safety, and a place where everyone has equal opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/immigrants-conspiracies-and-secret-society-launched-american-nativism-180961915/ 
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Know-Nothing-party 
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2016/09/trump-throwback-know-nothing-party-1850s/