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Nativism and slavery : the northern Know Nothings and the politics of the 1850's

Author: Tyler Anbinder
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1992.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
Although 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  Read more...
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Details

Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Tyler Anbinder
ISBN: 0195072332 9780195072334
OCLC Number: 24952965
Description: xv, 330 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Contents: 1. Immigration, Nativism, and Party Crisis 3 --
2. The Rise of the Know Nothings 20 --
3. The Know Nothings Enter Politics 52 --
4. The Know Nothings and the Collapse of the Second Party System 75 --
5. "Americans Must Rule America": The Ideology of the Know Nothing Party 103 --
6. The Know Nothings in Office 127 --
7. "Our Order Must Be Nationalized": Slavery Divides the Know Nothing Party 162 --
8. "Slavery Is at the Bottom of All Our Troubles": The Decline of the Know Nothing Party 194 --
9. The Know Nothings and the Presidential Election of 1856 220 --
10. The Know Nothings and Republican Ascendancy, 1857-1860 246.
Responsibility: Tyler Anbinder.
More information:

Abstract:

Although 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 well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.

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