The Know Nothing Party is nothing new

The absurd thought process of millions of Americans who think, or, who want to think, that President Obama is a Muslim and that he is working to undermine the United States, is nothing new. History is just repeating itself, again. Fear and ignorance have been in and out of bed with each other throughout the American experiment, 1843 or 2010, no difference.

The American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, was a prominent United States political party during the late 1840s and the early 1850s.

The American Party originated in 1849. Its members strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church. The majority of white Americans followed Protestant faiths. Many of these people feared Catholics because members of this faith followed the teachings of the Pope. The Know-Nothings feared that the Catholics were more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. More radical members of the Know-Nothing Party believed that the Catholics intended to take over the United States of America. The Catholics would then place the nation under the Pope’s rule.

The Know-Nothing Party intended to prevent Catholics and immigrants from being elected to political offices. Its members also hoped to deny these people jobs in the private sector, arguing that the nation’s business owners needed to employ true Americans.

Nationally, in 1856, the American Party ran Millard Fillmore as its candidate for President of the United States. While Fillmore finished last, he still received almost 900,000 votes out of the approximately four million votes cast in the election. Although many Americans, including some Ohioans, opposed the Catholic faith and lived in fear of immigrants, slavery and its expansion was a more important issue to them. The Know-Nothing Party refused to take a stand on slavery. As a result of the party’s refusal to take a position on slavery, the Know-Nothing Party declined by the presidential election of 1860. The party did not run a candidate for president in this election, as many of its followers had joined the Republican Party.

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