Know-nothingism

[mrbeast]

Originally Posted by Randomizer

Rather surprised by some of the responses here this being as how Know-Nothingism was a radical Republican movement from the earliest days of the Party. In 1856 a soon to be senator from Illinois, one Abraham Lincoln, wrote of the Know-Nothings of his day:

"If the Know-Nothings get control, the Declaration of Independence will read: All men are created equal except for Negroes, foreigners and Catholics."

When the movement collapsed, many Know-Nothings joined the Republican Party taking their politics with them and giving President Lincoln no end of grief as he tried to prosecute his war for the Union. I suppose that they don't teach too much American history from the pre-Civil War era anymore.

More on Know Nothingism here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to US values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854–56, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class and entirely Protestant membership fragmented over the issue of slavery. Most ended up joining the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election.[1][2]
The movement originated in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party. It spread to other states as the Native American Party and became a national party in 1845. In 1855 it renamed itself the American Party. The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing."