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POLITICAL FATIVISM IF NEW YORK
STATE
STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW
EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Volume XIII] [Number 2
POLITICAL :t^ATIVISM
nr
NEW YORK STATE
BY
LOUIS DOW SCISCO, Ph.D.
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, AGENTS
London : P. S. King & Son
19OI
PREFACE
This work is intended to be a contribution to the history of
partisan politics in the United States. Its primary purpose is
to deal with the machinery and methods used by a certain
great political organization which has played a part in Amer-
can history. The issues upon which that movement based
itself are also treated, but it has not been the purpose of the
writer either to advocate, defend or condemn them. They are
dealt with just to the extent that seems necessary to make in-
telligible the story of the organization that worked in their
name.
The partisan system of the American people is the link be-
tween the people and the government which both rules and
serves them. It is a mechanism that has grown up from the
needs of the nation, altering from time to time as conditions
change. Its duty is to respond to public sentiment on vital
questions of the hour, to test the strength of such sentiment
at the polls, and to enact the sentiment into law or admin-
istration if the people so express themselves. There have
been times in American history when the partisan system
failed to meet its duty squarely, and those are times of politi-
cal confusion and re-arrangement. It was in one of these per-
iods that the nativist movement came into state and national
politics. Its experience is full of suggestion for those who like
to trace the reasons of political changes. The story of the
brief and stormy career .of the Know-Nothing movement
shows how an issue rejected by the regular parties can strug-
gle into power despite them and to their hurt. It shows how
public sentiment can cast aside an old political organization
and build a new fabric when needs require. The issue of
203] S
6 PREFACE [204
nativism wrecked the older party structures and was itself
wrecked in turn by a stronger issue.
In tracing the evolution and fate of this interesting political
experiment there have been many difficulties resulting from
the peculiar nature of the organizations which sprang up from
time to time to voice the sentiment of nativism. One of the
features which has been especially productive of confusion in
the pages of writers on political history has been the fact that
there have been two classes of political organizations in
American politics. One class is that with which the public is
most familiar to-day. It is an organization whose extent is
national, and whose aims include that of securing control of
the national government. An organization of this sort culti-
vates exclusiveness in the control of voters. It seeks to make
itself distinct from other political organizations and to make
the division clear-cut between its adherents and those of simi-
lar organizations. We call it a political party. The second
class of organizations are less familiar to-day than they were
fifty years ago. They are of the type which Mayor Harper of
New York city, in 1844, called "a political organization distinct
from party." Usually an organization of this sort has no na-
tional scheme of effort, but plays its part in state or local poli-
tics. The special characteristic of this class, however, is not
the area which it covers but the nature of the allegiance which
it demands from its members. It is not exclusive in its claims.
It permits its members to belong to other political organiza-
tions and to act openly with them. This type of organization
the writer has preferred to call a " movement " rather than a
" party." It was these " movements," which sprang up to
represent the issues which the organizations of the regular
parties refused to assume, that caused the extraordinary con-
fusion of American politics in the decade of the fifties. The
rise of nativism, as well as man)' other phenomena in Ameri-
can history are best understood when the real nature of a
*' movement " is kept in mind.
CONTENTS
PACE
Preface 5
CHAPTER I
BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM, 1807-I843
Definition of nativism 16
Special importance of nativism in New York 16
Inherited American distrust of the Catholic church 17
First Catholic congregation in New York in 1786 17
The Christmas riot of 1806 18
Social position of Irish immigrants 18
Growth of the Irish element in New York 19
First definite grievances against the Irish 20
English ami- Catholicism echoes in 1829 21
The Brutus letters of 1834 21
Catholics break up an anti-Catholic meeting in 1835 ^3
Nativists organize politically in 1835 ^3
Naiivist ideas formulated by mass-meeting , 25
Native American Democrats organize for city politics 26
First nativist ticket for New York city in 1835 27
Political nativism spreads to other counties 27
Morse nominated for mayor but defeated in 1836 28
Nativists present a ticket for the fall election 29
Clark nominated for mayor and endorsed by Whigs in 1837 3°
Political nativism absorbed by Whig Party 3*^
Native American Association exists in 1838 and 1839 3^^
Governor Seward's message of 1840 32
Catholics demand school-money in New York city 3^
Morse nominated for mayor and defeated in 184 1 33
American Protestant Union organized 34
Catholic and aiiti- Catholic tickets nominated 35
Whig general committee oppose school law in 1842 36
Riot against Irish at spring election 36
Nativism persists in 1842 and 1843 37
205] 7
g CONTENTS [206
FA.GB
CHAPTER II
THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS, 1 843- 1 847
American Republicans organize for local work in 1843 39
Their rapid growth in numbers 40
Formulation of doctrine . 41
Unexpected poll of votes at the fall election 43
City reform issue taken up in 1844 44
Harper nominated for mayor 45
"Whig managers support Harper and elect him . \ 46
Excitement over Philadelphia riots 47
First nativist state convention held at Utica 48
Bargain to throw nativist support to Henry Clay 49
Whigs fail to profit by the bargain 50
Split threatened in Whig Party 51
Seward Whigs cut loose from the nativists in 1845 5^
Harper renominated for mayor 53
Whig managers labor to overthrow nativism 53
Nativist national convention at Philadelphia 55
National organization of Native Americans formed 55
New York city campaign for the fall election 56
Political nativism on the wane 57
The spring election of 1846 57
Formation of a nativist state organization . . . ^ 59
The fall campaign of 1846 60
The spring campaign of 1847 60
Political nativism in New York ends with 1847 ... - 61
Native American national convention at Pittsburg 61
CHAPTER III
RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES, I844-I852
Earlier secret societies in New York 62
Social movements take up the secret society forms 62
Application of the secret society model to politics 63
The Native Sons of America 64
The American Brotherhood 64
The United Daughters of America 64
The Order of United American Mechanics . 65
The Order of the Star-Spangled Banner 65
The Order of Sons of America 67
The Benevolent Order of Bereans 68
The American Protestant Association 68
207]
CONTENTS
PAGH
The Order of United Americans 69
Expansion of the O. U. A 71
Re organization of the O. U. A. in 1848 71
The O. U. A. touches politics in 1850 72
The continued growth of the O. U. A. . . . 73
The decadence of the O. U. A 74
The results of the nativist societies' work 75
> American interest in the European uprisings of 1848 76
The O. U. A. Executive Convention begins in 1S50 77
Secret political methods adopted in 1 85 1 78
The political machinery of the O. U. A 78
Effort to affect presidential politics in 1852 81
Nativism in the local fall campaign of 1852 81
CHAPTER IV
RISE OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER, 1853-I854
Anti Catholic feeling at the close of 1852 84
Gavazzi agitates against the Catholic church in 1853 85
Abortive effort to form an American Party 85
Organized nativism shows itself in the fall campaign 86
The Star-Spangled Banner Order forms tickets 87
Special effort to defeat Blunt for office 88
Nickname of " Know-Nothings " imposed on the society 88
The Know-Nothiiig state ticket of 1853 88
Election canvass shows growth of political nativism 89
Expansion of the Know-Nothing society 91
Arrest of Parsons and the free speech mass-meeting 92
Popular sympathy with nativist ideas 93
Appearance of the Wide- Awakes in 1854 94
Lynch summarizes the grievances against the Irish 95
Popular curiosity about the Know-Nothings 96
Consolidation of the Know-Nothing Order in New York 98
Creation of the National Grand Council 98
Grand- president Barker forces expansion 99
The Know-Nothing mechanism of 1854 described 100
-' The three degrees of the Know-Nothing Order 100
The nature of a Know-Nothing council loi
The nature of the Grand Council loi
The nature of the National Council 102
The secret ceremonies and signs 103
The nominating methods of the Know-Nothings 104
The executive system of marshalling votes 104
lO CONTENTS [208
PAGB
Means used to control votes 105
The strength and weakness of the system 106
CHAPTER V
THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1 854
Confusion of state politics in the spring of 1854 108
The temperance political issue 109
The anti- slavery political issue no
The entry of nativism into state politics no
Kiiow-Nothing mystery attracts voters to the order ... 1 12
Uncertainty of political outlook , 1 13
Early state conventions declare their platforms 1 14
Nativist enmity toward Seward's leadership 115
Seward men hold control of Whig convention 115
Know-Nothing delegates help to nominate Clark 116
Unusual increase of Know-Nothing councils 117
Naiivists plan for separate state ticket Il8
The Grand Council nominates a slate ticket 1 19
The Know-Nothing state ticket of 1854 I2i
Dissatisfaction over the Council's action 122
Uiica Know-Nothings organize a secession 122
Appearance of nick-name of " Hindoos " 123
Rival Grand Council formed 124
The November election makes Clark governor 125
Delay m learning results of election 125
The Know-Nothing vote by counties 126
Creation of a Know-Nothing state committee 127
Creation of the test 128
Plans to defeat Seward for senator 129
The struggle in the legislature at Albany in 1855 130
Seward's re-election 131
CHAPTER VI
THE INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE, 1854-I855
Nativism and anti slavery as national issues 133
The Cincinnati session of the National Council 134
Text of the Know-Nothing oaths of 1854 135
Dislike of the new oaths shown 138
Break down of the older parties in New York state 139
Grand Council at Syracuse in 1855 140
2oq] contents 1 1
FAGB
Nativist legislation put aside by legislature 141
Barker reports close of expansion in New York State , . . . , 142
Declaration of principles adopted 143
National Council meets at Philadelphia 144
Southern men dominate the Council 145
Pro-slavery platform passed by the Council 146
Anti-Southern delegates bolt the Council session 146
New York has presidential aspirants 147
Reasons of friendship for the South 148
Break-up of the Know- Nothing system in other states 149
New York Grand Council meets at Binghamton 150
It refuses to accept pro-slavery position ' 150
Text of the Binghamton Platform 151
Anti-slavery shown to be stronger than nativism 152
CHAPTER VII
THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1 85 5
New York political conditions in spring of 1855 153
Real significance of the state campaign 155
The Barker clique consolidates its forces in New York city ,. 156
The building of a Seward coalition 157
The Choclaws and Know Somethings 159
Expected alliance of Know-Nothings and Democrats 160
Expansion of the Republican organization . . . . , 161
The" turning-point of the nativist movement 161
Know-Nothing state ticket of 1855 formed by convention 163
Name of American Party used 163
The personnel of the state ticket 164
Whig Party merges with Republicans 164
Arguments of the campaign 166
Nativism carries the state election 167
The Know-Nothing vote by counties 168
The speakership contest at Washington 169
The speakership contest at Albany 170
National Council at Philadelphia in February, 1856 172
Council abandons pro-slavery position 172
National Convention continues Council work 173
Fillmore and Donelson ticket selected 173
The nativist movement becomes a national party 174
State grand councils allowed to abolish secrecy 174
New York Grand Council throws off Barker's control , 174
Biography of Jaities W. Barker , 175
12 CONTENTS [210
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 85 6 IN NEW YORK
Grand Council of February, 1856 177
Prominence of the slavery issue in politics 178
Anti-Fillmore men begin to organize 179
National Council ceases to be a secret body . iSi
Anti-Fillmore national convention at New York . . 182
Know- Nothing Party struggles against an exodus 184
North Americans split off from the Order 185
American state convention nominates a state ticket 187
Fillmore loses heavily in New York State 189
Republicans carry the state in November 190
The Know-Nothing vote by counties 190
Proposals of change postponed by the Grand Council 192
The Troy Platform 193
National Council dissolves finally in 1857 , . . 193
Grand Council abolishes secrecy in New York 194
Significance of the abolition of secrecy 195
The origin of the secret system characterized 196
The expansion of the secret system explained 196
The alleged dangerous character of the secret system 198
Alleged oppression of voters by the secret system 199
Actual results of the secret system 200
Possibility of success by secret organizations 201
CHAPTER IX
LOCAL NATIVISM IN NEW YORK CITY, 1854-1860
Confusion of local politics in spring of 1854 203
Nativism strongly organized for effort 204
Older parties adopt nativist policy 206
Barker nominated for mayor 207
Sources of Barker's support 208
Defeat of Barker and alleged frauds 210
Consolidation of the nativist vote in 1855 ^^^
The slavery issue in local politics 213
Revolt against the Barker clique 214
Know-Nothing Order loses its mystery 216
Cohesion of parties disappears . 217
Local aspects of presidential politics 2x8
Efforts to defeat Wood for mayor in 1856 219
Nativist strength reaches its climax in the city 220
21 1] CONTENTS I^
PAGB
Break-up of the nativist secret societies in 1857 221
Combination made with Republicans on ticket 222
Fusion made again for election of 1858 223
Fusion repeated in 1859 224
End of the American Party in i860 225
Revival of Nativism in 1866 225
CHAPTER X
THE LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, 1 857-1860
American state ticket nominated in 1857 227
Text of the platform of 1857 227
Lifeless campaign for fall election 229
Shrinkage of the nativist vote 230
Fusion of Americans and Republicans mooted in 1858 231
Attempt to unite the two forces at Syracuse 232
Failure of the scheme to make a coalitiori 233
American vote held together by its leaders 234
Americans adopt balance-of power policy in 1859 236
Objections to the name of Dorsheimer 237
The last success of political nativism 238
American leaders take sides on national issues in i860 238
The last Grand Council held at Schenectady 239
The split in the Grand Council 240
CHAPTER XI
ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM
Contradictory character of nativist doctrines 242
The nativist theory of papal hostility to America 244
Nativist effort to put lay trustees in power 245
Attitude of nativism on the school question 245
Nativist proscription of Catholic office-seekers 246
Nativism not inconsistent with religious liberty 248
y^Nativist hostility to the foreign element 248
^^^Nativist ideas as to naturalization . 249
Nativist efforts to reform election abuses 250
^ ^x^he nativist idea of barring foreigners from office 251
/Nativist reforms in immigration laws 25 1
The real nature of the nativist movement 252
The question of its rightfulness 253
The real mission of nativism 254
Sources 255
CHAPTER I
BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM, 1807-1843
Among the many political issues which have at one time or
another claimed the attention of the American people that of
nativism has its place in history. It meant hostility to every
non-American influence that could clash with the settled habits
of the American community. In the field of national politics
it first appeared in organized form in 1845 as the Native
American Party, but it shortly disappeared after a brief exhibi-
tion of activity. In 1854 it suddenly came into the field again,
this time upheld by the Know-Nothing Order, and again
collapsed after a short life of three years, shattered by the
impact of a rival issue. Since then nativism has been absent
from national politics, but it has flashed up from time to time
in the politics of the commonwealths, and there is no cer-
tainty that it may not again, sometime, astonish the nation by
a new stride to the front. The Native American movement of
1845 was too weak and too unsuccessful to leave any real im-
press upon the political memories of the nation. The Know-
Nothing Order, on the contrary, was strong for a time and
startling in the changes that it wrought. It brought before
the people new ideas and new methods. It roused earnest
enthusiasm and bitter hatred that endured long years after the
Order itself had passed away. But yet its career was too brief
to permit it to be really understood then or since. It has re-
mained a curious political memory, whose origin and aims
and sources of strength are obscure topics in the annals of po-
litical change.
The doctrine set forth by these two national organizations
213] 15
1 6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [214
was practically the same in both cases. In the earlier move-
ment it was often called " Native-Americanism," and in the
later movement " Know-Nothingism," but the word " nativ-
ism " proved to be equally descriptive and far more convenient.
\ The basic idea of nativism was that a person whose primal
■' sympathies or interest lay outside of the American body-
politic could not be in real sympathy with the American sys-
tem, and must, therefore, be a danger to that system. When
the idea of nativism was applied more specifically, it took two
chief forms. It declared, first, that any person of foreign
birth was unfitted for citizenship until time had obliterated his
active interest in the mother-land from whence he came, and,
second, that any person in the Roman Catholic church was
unfitted for citizenship, because obedient to an extra-territorial
ruler. All through the struggle of nativism for recognition
these twin sentiments went side by side as associates, backed
I by a single political propaganda and seldom clearly differenti-
|_ated. Wherever the political movement raised itself it was
founded upon these two ideas. The sincerity of their advo-
cates was often doubtful, for in some states the nativist move-
ment was a mere cloak for local issues or political intrigue,
but whatever was the real fact, the movement everywhere
affected a belief in the twin doctrines of nativism. In every
state it was ostensibly hostile to aliens. In almost every state
it was frankly anti-Catholic.
The study of nativism in the politics of New York is pe-
fculiarly interesting, because New York city was a great center
' ot organized nativism. The sentiment of nativism was ever
strongest, it may be said, in those cities of the sea-board and
of the great West which were depots of immigration. It was
in New York city that the impulse began which developed
into the Native American Party of 1845. It was here, also,
that the nativist system of secret politics was begun. It was
here, too, that the Know-Nothing Order was founded and
built up. It was in New York and Philadelphia that nativism
215] BEGINNINGS OF NA TI VISM I j
was most typical and genuine as a sentiment. The charac-
ter of popular nativism was everywhere shaped by local condi-
tions and local prejudices. In New York city and through-
out New York state it was particularly directed against the
Irish-Catholic element of the population. Nativism was not
merely a political theory here. It was a feeling based upon
deep-rooted antipathies of the past, upon glaring abuses of the
present, and upon earnest anxieties for the future. How well
founded these feelings were it is not necessary now to say.
They existed, and political nativism drew its strength from I
them.
In tracing the antecedents of the nativist movement in New
York state the mind naturally harks back to those occasional
appearances of anti-Catholic feeling under the colonial estab-
lishment. In the eighteenth century men of English blood
and English speech still vaguely feared the heavy hand of the
Roman church. The new American commonwealth, which
was born of the old province of New York in 1776, was
largely English in blood, and much more largely English in
thought. To its people there came as a heritage from their
English past a fear and a hatred of Rome. In the State Conven-
tion of 1777 the debates over the proposed constitution showed
this old inherited fear, and, though the constitution itself was
spared the blemish of open anti-Catholicism, the official oaths
then put in force were such as to bar conscientious Catholics
from office.^ At this time there was not a single Catholic con-
gregation in the state to alarm the constitution-makers. Their
hostility to the Roman church was based only on theory.
It was not long before the Catholic church made its appear-
ance in the state. First a mission was established, and then
in 1786 the first congregation came into existence by the con-
secration of St. Peter's church in New York city. The chief
city of the state began to grow steadily as soon as it was re-
leased from the danger of war. The steady flow of trans- At-
' Shea, ii, p. 158.
1 8 POLITICAL NATIVISM [2 1 6
lantic immigration set in, bringing over English and Irish peo-
ple in greater numbers year by year. Many of the Irish were
probably Protestants in faith, but the Catholic element was
large, and much of it was gathered into the congregation of
St. Peter's. The Irish population massed itself, too, on cer-
[tain streets, making its separateness in the community more
noticeable. Finally, in 1806, came the earliest notable exhi-
bition of native hostility to this foreign element, growing out
of the inherited feelings of the community. On Christmas Eve
a crowd of non-Catholics gathered in front of St. Peter's
church to interrupt the services, but were disappointed to find
none in progress. The news of the incident spread. By
Christmas night a crowd of Irishmen rallied to the scene and
a street fight began. The city watchmen interfered, and one
of them was killed by a knife-thrust from an Irishman. The
non-Catholics now gathered in force, the Irish were put to
flight, and except for the hurried arrival of Mayor Dewitt Clin-
ton, their homes would have been sacked by the victors.^
This isolated incident shows how early there existed antag-
1 onism directed against the Irish-Catholic population. Their
I separateness in life and habits invited it.
Probably the most important element in this antipathy was
rthe pure contempt which men usually feel for those whose
standards of life seem inferior. This feeling was felt toward
all immigrants of the poorer class, irrespective of their race.
To the mind of the average American the typical immigrant
was a being uncleanly in habits, uncouth in speech, lax in the
moralities, ignorant in mind and unskilled in labor. This atti-
tude of mind is reflected in the gibes and comments of the
press when it had occasion to refer to the new-come peoples.
The immigrant bore a stamp of social inequality, not to be
overlooked while it existed, and suggesting an impersonal
sort of antipathy on the part of the native-born. In addition
to this, so far as the Irish were concerned, there was the
' American Register ^ i, p. 14.
217] BE G INNINGS OF NA TI VI SM j O
primal fact of racial difference between them and Americans.
The English immigrant easily settled down among men of his
own blood and tradition, was understood by them, and soon
accepted as a fellow. The Irish immigrant, of another blood
^and another thought, stood somewhat apart in character. He
was not so well understood, nor so easily accepted by men of
English blood and American birth. The same was true of the
other non-English nationalities, but being weaker in numbers,
they were quickly absorbed, while the thousands of Irish held
clannishly together, and prevented absorption. It may also be
true that the traditional English dislike for the Irish people |
had a certain vague response in the American branch of the J
race.
At the time of the Christmas riot of 1806 the Irish popula-
tion of New York City numbered several thousand souls, and
was beginning to be a factor in local politics. The first ap-
pearance of political nativism followed closely upon the riot.
In the spring of 1807, when assemblymen were to be chosen,
some of the local Federalists put forward an "American
ticket," and supported it by inveighing against the growing
power of the foreign vote.^ The ticket failed to enlist enough
support to be successful, and from that time there seems to
have been no important appearance of nativism in politics for
many years. Year by year the Irish element continued to
grow. In 1808 the congregation of St. Peter's was roughly
reckoned at 14,000 souls, mostly Irish. In 1 8 10 the Irish-
American press began with The Shamrocks Instead of beingH
Americanized, the Irish element steadily maintained its own
separateness as years passed. It had its own region of settle-
ment, its own church and its own press. Its influence on
elections also grew. In 181 2, as an instance, the Democratic
Party in the city appealed especially to the Irish for aid against J
the Federalists.3 An estimate made by the Catholic bishop in
1815 reckoned 13,000 souls in his diocese, of whom 1 1,000, he
1 Smith, p. 10. ^ Kehoe, ii, p. 686. » Smith, p. 10.
POLITICAL NATIVISM
[218
thoDg-ht, were Irish.^ A continuous stream of immigration
flowed into the country through the port of New York after
the war with England closed in 181 5. The stream left a resi-
duum in the city as it passed through to the interior. From this
stream the Irish-Catholic community was constantly recruited.
The digging of the Erie canal employed an army of Irish
laborers in the interior counties, and small groups became per-
manent settlers at various points. By 1826 a new bishop was
^ble to estimate the Catholic population at 25,000 in New
(York city alone, and 150,000 in the whole New York diocese.'*
New Catholic congregations came into existence in various
parts of the state as a result of the work on the Erie canal.
In 1829 there were eight churches in the interior and five in
New York city and Brooklyn.3
During this growth of the Irish population the attention of
f native Americans was called to them in ways often unfavora-
ble. A burden of pauperism and crime was laid upon the
American public by the growth of foreign immigration, and
^ the Irish attained an unenviable reputation for their own con-
I tribution to the burden. Since 18 17 the city of New York
nad been obliged to give public aid to the foreign poor, and
when alien population reached the interior a cry for relief was
heard. In 1830 an effort to shift the burden of the counties
upon New York city met a protest. The city complained
that it was itself overburdened with expense, and that the cost
of its almshouse, bridewell and penitentiary was more than
half caused by the foreign element.'^ The lawlessness and pau-
fperism of the Irish were the first real and definite grievances
held against them by the natives of the soil. Their clannish-
ness caused them to be looked upon as people who not only
were strangers to American society, but were determined
to remain so. Their social life and thought were centered
around their church, and that church resolutely held itself
1 Shea, ii, 196. '^Ibid. '^Ibid.
♦N. Y. Assembly Docs., 1830, No. 260.
219] ^^ G INNINGS OF NA TIVISM 3 1
aloof from the ideas of the New World. It began to be felt
by Americans, consciously or unconsciously, that a church
which showed no inclination to put itself in touch with Amer-
ican ideas was one to be viewed with distrust. About 1829
the attention of Americans seems to have been drawn more
closely to the Roman Catholic church as a consequence of the K
flurry in England over the subject of Catholic emancipation. J
The hostility to the Roman church which was awakened in
English pulpit and press by the emancipation idea found an
echo in the United States, and political anti- Catholicism came
fairly upon the scene at last. The warning was raised by the
religious press against danger from papal power. It met very
little response indeed from the people, but it at least reinforced
the distrust which had been growing against the Irish Catho-
lics and the church to which they belonged. The idea was
broached here and there that the presence of Catholics in an
American community might be a political danger, on account
of the obedience that they owed to the Pope. The essential!
features of nativism had been brought before the people of
New York by 1830 as a natural result of the social conditions
of the time. The Irish-Catholic element had become disliked
because it exemplified the most objectionable features of alien
manners and an alien church. The dislike only needed formu-J
lation and a theory to become open and active nativism.
The vague antagonism against the foreign Catholics which
had gradually grown up in New York city out of existing
conditions finally reached the point of organization in 1835.
The impulse which brought this about was the publication by
the New York Observer, early in 1834, of a series of twelve
letters signed by " Brutus," under which pseudonym was con-
cealed the personality of Samuel F. B. Morse, afterward
famous as inventor of the telegraph. Morse wrote these let-
ters immediately after a visit to Europe. While at Vienna he
had learned of the existence of the Leopold Foundation, a
Catholic organization intended to aid church expansion in
22 POLITICAL NAT I VI SM [220
America. This society seemed to him designed to subvert
American liberty, and when he returned to New York he em-
bodied his knowledge and his views in the Brutus letters.
His thesis was that the Holy Alliance and the Papacy had
organized the Leopold Society to build up Catholic power in
America ; that the American Catholic hierarchy was to gain
control of American politics and society, and to shape them
as ordered by its absolutist masters ; that the work had actu-
ally been begun and must be checked. He suggested as pro-
tective measures the denial of the electoral franchise to future
immigrants and the demand by public opinion that the Catho-
lic clergy make public its administrative work as the Protest-
ant churches were accustomed to do.' These letters of Brutus
formulated an anti-Catholic argument for Americans. They
attracted a great deal of attention all over the country by their
evident sincerity, and the directness of their accusations. The
existence of an un-American foreign element was raised to the
dfgnity of a national problem. In New York city, where
Morse was known personally, the Brutus letters gave great
impetus to the idea of taking definite measures against the
very evident growth of foreign influence. Nativism could
henceforth surround itself with the sanctity of patriotic profes-
sions.
During the year 1834 the seed sown by Morse was taking
root. One of its results was the formation of the New York
•i Protestant Association, whose object, according to an official
statement, was " to spread the knowledge of gospel truth
and to show wherein it is inconsistent with the tenets
aud dogmas of popery." It was not a political body, but it
seems to have used political arguments against the Catholic
church. The denunciations of Catholicism, which were uttered
regularly at its meetings, exasperated the Catholic element,
until finally the irritation broke forth into violence. On March
13, 1835, one of the association meetings was held at Broad-
1 Foreign Conspiracy, a reprint of the Brutus letters.
\'"
22 1] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVJSM 23
way Hall to discuss the question " Is popery compatible with
civil liberty ?" In the midst of the proceedings a crowd of { vv
visitors were seen forcing their way through the audience and ^^.^^
beginning a disturbance that straightway turned into a free
fight. The presiding clergy hurriedly fled, and amid the
crash of breaking lamps and benches, the discussion ended/
The intruders at this meeting were Irish- Catholics, and
though the Catholic clergy hastened to disavow the act and toj
express regret, the mischief was done. In the presence of
this object-lesson of Catholic aggressiveness the Brutus letters
took on new meaning as a warning to Americans.
Just two weeks after the affair at Broadway Hall political na-
tivism launched itself into local politics. On March 27, 1 835, a
caucus of American-born citizens of the Fourteenth Ward met
to nominate a distinct ward ticket." At least one other ward
followed this example at once. The Democratic press gave
the movement notice by denouncing it as a Whig device and
implying insincerity in its effort^ On the latter point the
press was probably wrong, but the reference to Whig approval
was entirely correct. The Whig press encouraged nativism"!
softly and Whig caucuses endorsed its nominees for office. J
It is owing to this latter fact that the identity of the movement
was completely lost and that the poll of votes gives no hint of
its strength except to show that Whigs and nativists together
could not carry the wards in which nativists were organized.
The nativist and Whig alliance which showed itself in the cityj
election of 1835 is a fact to be noted. All through the
quarter-century that nativism played a political part in New
York there was close relation between the two. It had the i»^
appearance of a natural affinity, but it was due to the fact that
Democratic leaders steadily refused to ally themselves to a
movement which would lose them the confidence of the Irish-
^ Courier- Enquirer , 1835, March 19. * Courier-Enquirer, 1835, April 3.
• Post, 1835, March 30.
24 POLITICAL NATIVISM [222
Catholic vote. Whig leaders, on the other hand, could do so
readily,and did not hesitate to join hands with nativism when
to their interest. The election of 1835 ^s also notable as
showing American protest against foreign interference at the
polls.^ This was one of the grievances of nativism. From a
very early period the loafer and bully had been features of
election work in New York city, seizing every opportunity for
violence and fraud that would favor the tickets for which they
worked. This sort of thing was objectionable enough when
carried on by natives of the soil, but it was unbearable when
taken up by aliens. When ward leaders aggravated the abuse
by organizing the despised foreign element into gangs to carry
on the old work of assault and brow-beating there arose a note
I of protest. The social inequality between assaulters and
assaulted was too apparent.
The nativist movement of 1835 was too weak at its beginning
to create at once a general city organization, but after the spring
election was past it was enabled to supply the need. In the
Common Council which met after election there occurred the
incident of a foreign-born member rising to move the dismissal
of an office-holder who happened to have served in the Revo-
lution.^ It was a very convenient event for the nativist lead-
ers, and they at once took advantage of it. A public meeting
was called by them " to take into consideration means to
counteract the undue influence which foreigners now possess
over our elections, and also to consider the propriety of for-
eigners holding offices which can be filled by native citizens.'"
Here, nearly twenty years before the Know-Nothing move-
ment, was the announcement of one of the ideas for which
that movement stood, namely, the exclusion of foreigners from
public office. It is to be noticed that although the nativist
I movement of 1835 had its start in suspicion of foreigners as
^ Courier-Enquirer y 1835, April 15.
' Courier- Enquirer^ 1835, J""® ^°- ' ^''•^A 1835, J^'^^ 9-
223] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM 25
Catholics, yet it did not base itself on any religious issue. It
placed itself before the people as an exponent of good citizen-
ship only. It may properly be said here, as throwing light on
all that comes after, that nativism in New York city from first
to last was mainly an expression of antagonism toward the
clannishness of Irishmen and Irish ways. Nativism at times \^
worked on a theory of good citizenship, and attracted an >1^
element to whom that idea appealed. At other times it
worked upon a theory of religious effort, and received support
from people whose sympathies were enlisted on the side of
religion. Whatever were its professions, however, nativism
always drew its vitality from the half- instinctive feeling of
racial antagonism between Anglo-American and Celtic bloodj
The public meeting that was called by the nativist leaders
took place June 10, 1835. Its resolutions form one of the
earliest documents of political nativism in New York. They
eulogized the services of Revolutionary veterans, protested
against their removal from office by foreigners, condemned the
holding of office by aliens, and ordered a general organization
of nativists in the city. The most important of them was
this:
Resolved, That we as Americans will never consent to allow the government
established by our Revolutionary forefathers to pass into the hands of foreigners, and
that while we open the door to the oppressed of every nation and offer a home and
an asylum, we reserve to ourselves the right of administering the government in
conformity with the principles laid down by those who have committed it to our
care.
The meeting of June lOth was a preliminary to general or-
ganization. James Watson Webb, editor of the Courier and
Enquirer y took great interest in the movement and put his press
at its service. In later years, he took to himself the credit of
its existence.^ On June 27th he began to urge citizens to or-
ganize as nativists for political action. The field of local poli-
tics was, of course, already occupied by the two great national
' Courier- Enquirer, 1855, June 7.
26 POLITICAL NATIVISM [224
parties at this time, but the new movement was not planned to
be antagonistic to either. It was to be a local organization
which voters might join without casting aside their regular
party affiliations. A mass-convention, called for by the meet-
ing of June loth, seems to have taken place early in July and
to have organized the new movement under the name of the
Native American democratic Association. An executive com-
mittee was appointed with power to issue a declaration of prin-
ciples, that is to say, a platform. On July loth, the declaration
was issued ^ and the new movement was then fairly under way
as a factor in the politics of the city at large. Its official organ
was a little paper called the Spirit of 'y6. The official head of
the movement was James O. Pond, chairman of the general
executive committee.^
The principles of the movement, as declared in its platform,
were opposition to office-holding by foreigners, opposition to
pauper and criminal immigration and opposition to the Catho-
lic church. Its opposition to the church was placed on the
ground that the church was a political engine. The platform
further declared that the movement was not a part of the Whig
Party, but that it stood outside of party lines. Through the
summer of 1835, the work of organizing different wards was
pushed with some success, aided by the steady preaching of
• the nativist press: All the latent antipathy toward Irishmen
found an outlet as the nativist movement got on its feet.
Although the movement was professedly anti-foreign in a
broad sense, yet the utterances of the time always singled out
the Irish for denunciation. Specific causes of offense were
eagerly sought for by the nativist press, although the real
offense was not specific at all. An anonymous writer to
/the press touched on the truth when he complained of the
Irish Catholics that ** they are men who, having professed to
1 Courier- Enquirer, 1835, J^^X ^4-
' Courier- Enquirer, 1835, October 9.
225] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM 27
become Americans by accepting ou. terms of naturalization, do
yet, in direct contradiction to their professions, clan together
as a separate interest and retain th,vMr foreign appellation." *
No better statement of nativist con^plaint could have been \
made.
The managers of the new movement, held their organization
firmly to local politics, even repudiating their official organ
because it declared its presidential preferences.^ The policy
was made necessary by the bi-partisavt character of the organ-
ization. At the same time the undercurrents of politics were
drawing the nativist organization int'o close touch with the
local Whig Party. At this period political nominations were
usually made by co-operation of committees and mass-meet-
ings. It was customary to hold a mai s-convention of voters
to appoint a committee on nominations This committee was
expected to make out a ticket and pres-ent it before a second
mass-convention for acceptance. It wa&^a clumsy method and
New York city was soon to outgrow it, but by this system
the first nativist local tickets was made in October, 1835. It
was headed with the name of James Mouroe, nephew of the
president of that name and a prominent cit zen of the city. At
the announcement of this ticket the local Whig leaders de-
cided to throw their influence in its favoi.- This was done,
not by formal endorsement but by mere omission to name any
Whig nominees. This act left the local cont<,st one between
nativists and Democrats. I
The rise of nativism in New York city witf^ its suggestion
of suppressing foreign influence had meanwhilt^^ touched a re-
sponsive chord in other places where the foreigi^ element was
known. In Kings county a nativist movement nominated an
assemblyman and the local Whig organization stepped aside
1 Imminent Dangers. ^ Courier- Enquirer, 1835, October 9.
• Congress, James Monroe. Assembly, Orlando Waller, James O. Pond, Anson
Willis, Frederick A. Tallmadge, Adrastus Doolittle, Isaac P. Whitehead, John
Monat, Charles Weeks, Jr., Clarkson Crolius, Jr., Robert B. Ruggles, Abel Decker.
28 POLITICAL NATIVISM [226
to give it the field. In Albany county the Whigs engrafted
nativism upon their local platform. Wherever the nativist
movement showed itself the Whig leaders turned to it hope-
fully as an influence that was necessarily arrayed against the
Democracy. The latter party took heed. In New York city
the Democratic leader^ temporarily put aside their foreign
friends as a sop to the new sentiment and made their local
ticket as purely American as the nativist ticket itself.^ The
extraordinary growth of the new movement was a surprise.
At the November election it nevertheless failed of success. In
Brooklyn it elected John Dikeman to the Assembly, but in New
York, even with Whig support, it cast only forty per cent, of
the total vote. At the same time it was a very encouraging
thing for the nativist le iders to find so hearty a response as
had been given to theii^ doctrine. It indicated better success
at future elections.
The nativist movement maintained its organization through
the winter after the dampaign of 1835. The ward associations
of this period were ir the nature of political clubs permanently
organized. Nativism busied itself in circulating petitions ask-
ing for change of naturalization laws.* When presented to
Congress in June^' llowing they formed a roll of 5000 names.
As the spring e^e'gction of 1836 drew near, the nativist exec-
utive committee, railed the usual conventions and ward cau-
cuses. On April 7th the name of Samuel F. B. Morse was
accepted as a n? civist nomination to the mayoralty .3 No more
typical and tho-ough nativist could have been chosen than the
author of the i^rutus letters, yet in one respect the selection
was unfortunate. He was a Van Buren Democrat on national
issues and on the eve of a presidential election the Whig lead-
ers refused to lend support to a recognized Democrat.^ The
Whig Party in New York city was called together to make a
^ Courier Enquirer, 1835, November 2. ^ Courier- Enquirer , 1836, March 12.
• Courier- Enquirer, 1836, April 8. * Courier- Enquirer, 1836, April il.
227] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM 20
separate nomination, and by this action Morse lost all chance
of election. On ward tickets, however, the nativists and
Whigs effected a fusion. There is little to say of the brief
local campaign. The vote on mayor ^ stood as follows :
Democratic Party about 15,950 votes.
Whig Party about 6,130 votes.
Equal-Rights movement.^ about 2,710 votes.
Nativist movement about 1,490 votes.
On the ward tickets the fusion vote won control of the Com-
mon Council and was able to dictate a distribution of city pat-
ronage on nativist principles. This was a gain of some im-
portance for nativism. Nevertheless this did not conceal the
inability of nativism to make political headway as an inde-
pendent movement.
A presidential campaign followed the spring elections, and
the attention of the public was turned away from the issues
which the nativist movement sought to present. Still the or-
ganization persisted. In October another nativist ticket ' was
made up, and the Whig leaders again gave it their support,
bringing it before a Whig mass-convention, and endorsing
every nominee but one.* The pohtical press of New York
city was too busy with weightier matters to pay much heed to
local politics in this campaign, and nativism received little
notice. The movement still held to life in Brooklyn with
much the same relations to the Whig Party that it had in New
York. It was beginning to be viewed by the public as an
annex to the Whig organization. From the vote of Novem-
1 Valentine Manual, 1854.
'The Equal-Rights organization took its name from its opposition to the crea-
tion of monopolies.
» Congress, Edward Curtis, Ogden Hoffman, Ira B. Wheeler, James Monroe.
Senator, Frederick A. Tallmadge. Register, James Gulick. Assemblymen, none.
* Courier- Enquirer y 1836, November i.
)
30 POLITICAL NATIVISM [228
ber, 1836, the strength^ of the poHtical groups in New York
city seems to have been as follows : '^
Democratic Party about 15,520 votes.
Whig Party about 15,130 votes.
Nativist movement about 1,610 votes.
Equal-Rights movement about 960 votes.
Nativism had apparently gained slightly in political strength
owing to the popularity of Colonel Monroe, who was again
on its ticket this year.
Again political nativism appeared before the public in the
spring of 1837, as the city election approached. On March
13th its convention nominated Aaron Clark for the mayor-
alty, and drew up an address' vigorously denouncing the
Irish as an element which deliberately kept separate from the
American people, and followed clerical dictation in mat-
ters political. As was expected, the Whigs endorsed the can-
didacy of Clark, and this time the fusion was successful in
carrying the city. Clark was elected by 3300 plurality, with a
common council of the same politics. In this campaign the
I nativist movement cannot be estimated apart from the Whig
Party. The constant alliance of nativists with Whigs had
brought about the practical absorption of the weaker organiza-
tion. The fusion was complete. The daily press treated the
election as a Whig victory solely, and neither in the struggle
_, itself, nor in the political gossip that followed the struggle, was
Inativism referred to as a distinct element. The nativist
^ In this work the strength of split tickets has been figured in the following
way : First is figured the median vote of each political group, that is to say, that
vote in each group which, when applied to the various combinations on split
tickets, will give the least variation from the actual poll of the several nominees.
Second, the poll of each nominee who represents more than one group is
divided among those groups in proportion to the median vote of each group.
Third, an average of the poll assigned to each group is made, and represents the
strength of the ticket of that group.
' Commercial Advertiser, 1836, November 12. ^Herald, 1837, March 14.
220] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM ^I
movement, in fact, ended with this election, absorbed in its
hour of triumph. When the new Common Council took con-
trol the leaders of nativism took office and were henceforth
Whigs. It is possible that the Native American Association
may have continued in life as a non-pohtical body, but facts are
obscure as to its fate.
It was four years before nativism in New York city again
declared itself as an organized political movement, but chance
references here and there show the existence of non-political
societies during that interval whose work was more or less
along nativist lines. Their presence bridges over a gap in
which the old antagonisms, though existent, played a very
insignificant part. One of these societies is revealed by a peti-
tion presented to the state Senate on March 5, 1838.^ It was
from a Native American Association in New York city, of
which H. Hunt was president, with Abm. Tappen, J. P. Whit-
ticar, Alexander Hamilton and John Bancker as vice-presi-
dents.^ It explains that ** the vote of a native American, who
has much at stake, with a better knowledge of our institutions^
and a greater ability to decide upon the merits of candidates
for office, is borne down and rendered nugatory by ignorant
and lawless aliens, who, having little to gain and nothing to
lose, are indifferent alike to the purity and permanence of our
social and political institutions ; " wherefore the association
asks for a registry of voters. In April, 1838, a petition \.o\
Congress from citizens of New York city asked a change in
naturalization laws, and in May following certain citizens of
Kings county asked ' specifically for a law requiring aliens to
reside twenty-one years before naturalization. This idea of
twenty- one years' residence was destined to play a prominent
part later as an idea of the Know-Nothing movement, l
During 1839 organized nativism showed itself again under
the title of the Native American Association of New York
City, which may or may not be the same body as that which
'^ Senate Journ lit 183.S. ^Original in State Library. ^ Jour. Confess.
32 POLITICAL NATIVISM [230
existed in 1838. In May, 1839, this association petitioned
the state Senate ^ for a registry law to prevent election frauds in
New York city. Despite the disappearance of political nativ-
ism, then, there remained nativist societies for at least two
years longer, earnestly antagonistic to the foreign element.
At the same time the anti-Catholic feeling aroused during
the movement also persisted in the community, kept alive
chiefly by the Protestant clergy.
Early in 1840 came the impulse which was to arouse nativ-
ism into new activity. Governor William H. Seward, being
openly friendly toward the foreign element in New York state,
saw fit to incorporate in his annual message* of January,
1840, a brief paragraph about education. In this paragraph
he stated that children of foreigners were often without the
advantages of public education in consequence of racial or re-
ligious prejudice against them, and therefore he would recom-
mend " the establishment of schools in which they may be
instructed by teachers speaking the same language with them-
selves and professing the same faith." In New York city at
<^ this time there was a Catholic population of about 70,000 3,
supporting several schools without public aid. The public
schools of the city were under the management of a
society decidedly Protestant in its membership and ideas.
In immediate response to Governor Seward's suggestion, the
Catholics of New York city demanded a share of the school
moneys for their own schools *> and were at once opposed in
the demand by the officers of the Public School Society.
Twice during 1840 the Catholic request came before a Demo-
cratic common council and twice the application was re-
jected, but only after long debate and active canvasses that
aroused bitter antagonism. Nativism again asserted itself in
connection with the question. Anti -foreign and anti-Catholic
^Senate Journal^ 1838. ^ Senate Docs., 1840.
' Kehoe, ii, pp. 459, 685. * Proc, Bd. Assts., 1840, February 17.
231] BE G INNINGS OF NA TI VI SM 3 3
sentiment rallied behind the Public School Society as repre-
senting American ideas of undenominational education. It
was a logical outcome of the struggle that political nativism
should take on organization anew.
Directly after the fall election of 1840 a new paper of nativ*-
ist character appeared, copying the name of its predecessor,
the Spirit of 'y6^ A meeting of native Americans also took
place,'' but whether or not they succeeded in getting them-
selves organized is not clear. The movement was a feeble
one and the daily press barely noticed it. With the early
months of 1841 the Catholics carried their cause before the
legislature at Albany and their former antagonists continued
the contest in this new field. The struggle was still in
progress when the New York city election of April came
round and nativists were encouraged to build up a new nativ-
ist movement as an expression of public sentiment. This
effort of theirs is very obscure. It was embodied in a Demo-
cratic American Association which nominated Samuel F. B.
Morse for the mayoralty.3 In former years, when the NewT
York city Whigs were a political minority, their leaders wel-
comed nativism as a force that would cripple the Democracy,
but in 1 84 1 the Whigs were strong and nativism was a menace]
to the local party. The dissension which sprang up in the
new movement was said to have been fomented by Whig
leaders.-* One faction of nativists repudiated Morse's nomina-
tion as irregular, while another faction vigorously confirmed
its regularity. On the morning of election day a forged letter
of withdrawal with Morse's signature appeared in the news-
papers and when the polls closed he had received only 77
votes. The trick had scattered his friends.s It seems hardly
possible that the movement of 1841 could have been at all
strong either in numbers or in organization.
1 New Yorker, 1840, November 14. ' Herald, 1840, November 10.
^American, 1841, April 12. * Post, 1841, April 14. * Ibid.
34 POLITICAL NATIVISM [-232
Separately from the Democratic American Association, an
entirely different organization was planned in the spring of
1 84 1 and brought into existence after the city campaign was
past. Its object, as it declared, was to unite all those who were
" opposed to the perversion ot the common school fund to sec-
tarian purposes." The determined fight made by the Catholics
seemed likely to continue for some time, although the legis-
lature put aside their plea indefinitely in May. This new
organization was intended to be the nucleus of opposition to
Catholic plans. Organized on May 30, 184 1, under the name
of American Protestant Union,^ it chose as its president that
well-tried nativist, Samuel F. B. Morse. Although semi-
religious in nature, the Union was yet a legitimate part of
political nativism. Its formally- adopted principles evidence
this in these words :
Resolved^ That we form ourselves into a national defensive society, and call
on Protestants of all and every denomination of Christians, together with the
friends of our institutions generally, to aid, assist and confirm us in this confedera.
tion for our common welfare.
Resolved^ That this association shall be styled and known by the name of the
American Protestant Union, the object of which shall be to preserve for ourselves
and secure to posterity the religious, civil and political principles of our country,
according to the spirit of our ancestors, as embodied and set forth in the Declara-
tion of Independence and the federal Constitution.
The work for which the Union was organized came to hand
when the local political parties took steps to present tickets for
the fall election. New York city would choose at the Novem-
ber election two state senators and thirteen assemblymen, and
the fate of Catholic requests would in large measure rest with
these men. The Union accordingly roused itself, and began
in October to ascertain the views of candidates. A consid-
Terable nativist sentiment in both of the great parties was in-
clined to lend aid to the opponents of Catholic wishes. In the
Democratic Party the nominating committee drew upon itself
the denunciation of an Irish-Catholic mass-meeting by favoring
^Observer, 1841, June I2.
233] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM 35
the friends of the Public School Society.^ In the Whig Party
the anti-Catholic feeling was strong enough to force a certain
pro-Catholic aspirant off the ticket^ and to place in the local
platform a declaration against sectarian schools.^ The trend
of events was toward nullifying Irish-Catholic influence just at
the moment when it was most desirous of asserting itself In
this emergency Bishop Hughes, as leader of the Irish-Catholic
element, took an unexpected step by causing the nomination of a
separate ticket by an Irish-Catholic mass-meeting.'* This was
the '* Carroll Hall ticket," so often referred to in later years.
Apparently the bishop's purpose was to rebuke the Democratic
leaders by showing that the Catholics held the balance of
power in the politics .of New York city. This at least was
the interpretation put upon his act. The sequel was the imme-
diate announcement, on November 1st, of a " Union ticket,"
made up on the bi-partisan principle. This ticket s was selected
by a committee of members of the Democratic American or-
ganization, acting under the auspices of the Protestant Union.^
It was hoped to unite the anti-Catholic sentiment upon the
Union ticket and balance the Carroll Hall ticket. The brief
campaign that followed these nominations was spirited. The
daily press, without exception, condemned the Catholic bishop
for the action he had taken, but he held firmly to his course,
protesting that he had not meddled with politics.^ On election
day the strength of the several tickets was as follows : *
Whig Party about 15,980 votes.
Democratic Party about 15,690 votes.
Catholic movement about 2,200 votes.
Anti-Catholic movement about 470 votes.
Anti -slavery movement about 120 votes.
» Post, 1 84 1, October 27. « Tribune, 1841, October 25, 28.
« Tribune, 1841, October 30. * Ibid.
* Senators: Isaac L. Varian, Morris Franklin. Assemblymen : Horace St. John,
David D. Field, Joseph Tucker, Edward Sanford, Linus W. Stevens, George G.
Glasier, William Jones, David F. R. Jones, Elbridge G. Baldwin, William B.
Maclay, Charles M. Graham, Jr., Solomon Townsend, Nathaniel G. Bradford.
^Jour. Commeree, 1841, November 3.
'Kehoe, i, 666, ' Tribune, 1841, November 12.
26 POLITICAL NATIVISM [234
The vote seemed to prove that the Catholics held the Demo-
cratic organization at their mercy, for those nominees who had
not received Catholic endorsement were defeated. The Union
ticket received very inadequate support. Many nativists pre-
ferred to vote for the Whig nominees, who were known to
favor the Public School Society.
The school question came up again before the next legis-
lature and dragged along into the spring of 1842. The feel-
ing against the Catholics still existed in New York city and
showed itself in the political work and school-bill agitation
that preceded the April election. No organized nativist move-
ment showed itself, however, even when the Catholics again
made a nomination of their own. The Protestant Union and
Democratic American organizations were both invisible. Na-
/tivists looked for aid to the local Whig Party rather than to
* independent action, and they were not disappointed. On the
very day that the Whig governor signed a new school bill, as
^ asked by the Catholic leaders, the Whig general committees
of New York city officially declared their opposition to its
I provisions.^ The time had come, they said, to "manfully re-
sist the misguided spirit of sectarian dictation which has sac-
rilegiously invaded our legislative halls." The local Whig
(Organization became representative of nativism by this step.
In the Democratic organization the leaders gave no recogni-
tion to nativist sentiment, but in several of the wards the De-
mocracy split into two factions,'' one dominated by Irish-Catho-
( lies and the other by native-born voters. The old antipathies
became outspoken and bitter while these changes went on.
The excitement of election aggravated the feeling. After the
polls were closed on election night the city streets were filled
with a mob which drove before it the hated Irish, and stoned
the windows of the Catholic bishop.^ Mayor Morris placed
1 Com. Advertiser, 1842, April ii. ^Herald, 1842, April 14.
' Comm. Advertiser, 1842, April 13.
235] BEGINNINGS OF NATIVISM 37
militiamen on duty to guard the Catholic churches from vio-
lence.
The riot of April, 1842, was a final ebullition. Governor
Seward had permitted the defeat of the Public School Society,
and however bitterly nativists might resent his act, the new
school law must be accepted. Henceforth the public schools
of New York city were to be controlled by an elective board
chosen in each successive June. At the first elections held in
June, 1842, the opponents of Catholic ideas generally united
in each ward on union tickets, regardless of old party lines.
Organized nativism in this form scored a victory by capturing
the school board. Nativism was now, as a result of the
school struggle, a fixed sentiment in the community. In the
fall of 1842 the Whig managers appealed to it for aid and
met a willing response that seriously affected the Democratic
ticket on election day.^ In the spring campaign of 1843, a
published notice called upon all Americans to strike the
names of foreigners from their ward tickets." The same
notice nominated Stephen Reed for mayor, but the ofificial
canvass of votes fails to mention him. The nativists were
probably yet unorganized. The school board elections of
June, 1843, showed a continued use of union tickets whereon
Whigs and Democrats in single wards could co-operate
against Catholic nominees.
The story of nativism in New York city has now been
brought down to the summer of 1843, when a new political
movement began, gaining strength from past experience and
new conditions. It has been shown that nativism in New
York was a complex sentiment based on underlying natural
antipathies. Whenever this sentiment was affronted it rose
into temporary self-assertion, but it found great difficulty
in creating for its expression a political organization that
could endure. Over and over again the movement was ab-
^ Argus, 1842, November 16. ' Sun, 1843, April 11.
V _
OF
38 POLITICAL N ATI V ISM [236
sorbed or checked by the timely interposition of the local
leaders of the Whig Party. The constant effort of nativism to
assert itself nevertheless developed the ideas for which it stood
into definiteness, and taught Whig and Democratic voters to
co-operate in their support. By its failures nativism had pre-
pared the way for a real Native American party.
CHAPTER II
THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS, 1 843- 1 84/
In the summer of 1 843 the voters of New York city saw the^
beginning of a petty movement of nativism which gave no '
greater promise of vitality than had its predecessors in the
field, but which nevertheless was destined to rise within two
short years to the dignity of a national political party. The ,,
movement originated in the general disgust over the use made tf*^
of political patronage by the local Democratic Party. Political qi^
nativism was dead in the spring of 1843, ^"^ when a new Dem- »^
ocratic common council took power after the April election 0?"^
it showed its gratitude for foreign support by unusual favors
in the way of market licenses and petty offices. This move
created discontent.' Heretofore the markets had been under
American control. Now the American meat-sellers found
themselves provided with Irish competitors and subject to .
oversight by Irish clerks, weighers and watchmen. Nativism j
at once sprang into new life in the markets.
In June a political movement began. The first impulse
toward it, so a later story ^ ran, was a chance meeting of men
in a blacksmith-shop and a comparison of grievances that
brought about an agreement to organize. The association of
the Eleventh ward, organized June 13, 1843, was the first body
to be formed under the new impulse, but it soon had compan-
ion associations in other wards of the city and on July 15th a
new paper, the American Citizen, appeared 3 to voice the new
designs. By August the several ward bodies had chosen del-
'^Jour. Commerce, 1843, October 23; Tribune, 1844, April 15, August 24.
* Carroll, p. 264. ' Tribune, 1843, J^^y ^T*
237] 39
40 POLITICAL NATIVISM [238
egates to create a central organization for the movement. This
whole process of development is an interesting example o^
American political work. When the delegates convened ^ they
adopted the name of American Republican Party and created
a partisan machinery which was copied from that of the older
parties. The control of the movement was vested in a general
committee composed of delegates from the ward associations.
The whole plan of party organization was embodied in a writ-
ten constitution of nineteen articles.' Partisan constitutions
of the written sort are rare in American politics. This partic-
ular one was probably formulated to secure proper powers to
the general committee. On August 26th the movement an-
nounced itself by an address to the voters.
All this work of organization, carried on quietly as it was,
attracted so little attention that the daily press gave it no
notice. The movement at first had really little of promise.
Its opportunity came, however, in October, when a faction of
Democrats opposed to Van Buren's leadership lost control of
their party conventions and became openly disaffected.3 The
nativist movement soon gained new members and experienced
leaders. There began a rapid growth toward importance,
marked interestingly by an increase of the nativist press.
Meanwhile, the older parties looked on doubtfully, unable to
judge from which of the greater organizations the new move-
ment was drawing most heavily. As a rule the partisan press
of the city preferred to say very little either in approval or dis-
approval of the movement until events made its nature clearer.
The nativism of the American Republicans was frank and
open. The party was very popular among the market-men.
When it began to seek candidates it settled upon a pledge to
be affirmed by each nominee who might be chosen. This
pledge ^ bound the nominee to four lines of effort if elected to
1 Citizen^ 1844, February 23.
' Full text in Amer. Republic, 1844, July 1 1.
* Herald, 1843, October 4. * Jour. Commerce, 1843, October 23.
239] '^^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 41
office, namely: to secure a law requiring twenty-one years
residence for voters, to repeal the New York city school law,
to oppose selection of foreigners for office, to accept no nomi-
nation from any other party. The last pledge was evidently
intended to guard the movement from absorption by its rivals.
At this campaign the work of nativism was done with aid of
public meetings and political processions. It is worth while,
perhaps to reproduce one of the party's campaign documents.
It is the report' of the committee on resolutions presented at a
great mass-meeting in November, 1843. The doctrines ex-
pressed in it are substantially the same as those which after-
ward were put forth by the Know-Nothings.
Your Committee would respectfully report that the following are the principles
and objects of the American Republican Party :
First. As to its organization, it is composed of members of both the political
parties, irrespective of mere party considerations.
Second. That it is not intended, and will not be permitted, to discuss the merits
of any of the candidates for the Presidency, and that with president-making, as a
party, it has nothing to do. On the contrary, no person, by voting for the ticket
offered by this party, is required or expected to go for any of the presidential can-
didates.
Third. That as a party it will discuss fearlessly the acts of all men and all part-
ies that have in any way pursued such a system of policy as is deemed to be sub-
versive of the fundamental principles of our government and destructive of public
or private morality.
Fourth. That in the opinion of this party, based upon what appears to be very
alarming fact, papal power is directly opposed in its end and aim to a repubUcan
form of government, inasmuch as the papist owes allegiance and fidelity to a power
outside of our government — that is, to the Pope of Rome — and that power has
been exercised in this city to such an extent that our common school system, by
party subserviency, has been bartered away as a price for the votes of the organ-
ized followers of Bishop Hughes.
That through this school law there has been a pre-conceived determination, fol-
lowed up by iin actual attempt in the Fourth Ward, to put out of our schools the
Protestant Bible, and to put down the whole Protestant religion as being sectarian.
That in addition to this the large majority of the offices in this city are in the
hands and under the control of this dangerous influence, and consequently our city
government in its detail is conducted by persons many of whom were but lately
naturalized ; all of which is contrary to every principle of justice and propriety,
^ Jour. Commerce, 1843, November 4.
42 POLITICAL NATIVISM [240
and tends to the destruction of our schools, our religion, and our form of govern,
ment.
That from the vast number of foreigners who are constantly coming to this
country, it has become absolutely necessary to fix a longer period of residence be-
fore they shall be permitted to vote ; that it is not intended to prevent any adopted
citizen from voting who is now entitled to vote. If such abuse their trusts, it is
their crime and our misfortune. All such are citizens, and of course no modifica-
tion of the naturalization laws can affect them. It is deemed just and right that
those foreigners who shall come here at a future period shall be permitted in tak-
ing the oath of allegiance, etc., to hold and convey real estate, and, in short, be cit-
izens in all respects, saving and excepting the right of voting, and for this they shall
remain 21 years. In this it is supposed every correct judging adopted citizen wir
cheerfully concur, as the only object proposed by it is that those who were not born
in the United States, or who do not speak our language, or who do not read and
cannot understand our laws and institutions, should not control by their votes the
action of our government until they can vote understandingly. As it now is, those
deluded men are, in a majority of cases, the mere instruments and dupes of de-
signing politicians, who use them for their and our destruction.
In short, that in permitting the present connection between politics and religion
and the constant courting and buying the votes of these men to settle our elections,
our city taxes have unnecessarily increased, until at the same time it is the fruitful
source of many grades of crime. To bring about a reform in these enormous and
constantly growing abuses is the sole object of this party. Therefore,
Resolved, That we cordially approve of the objects proposed, and that we will
sustain the ticket nominated for this purpose, headed Mangle M. Quackenboss for
Senator.
Resolved, That we are in favor of a repeal of the present school law, which was
forced from our legislature under the dictation of papal influence. And that both
the manner in which this law was passed and the objects intended to be gained by
it, should meet with the united disapprobation of every good citizen.
Resolved, That we are in favor of a thorough and radical reform of the mon-
strous abuses that have obtained in our city government, and that we prefer to
have our offices filled by American born citizens.
Resolved, That we are in favor of a modification of the present naturalization
laws, so that 21 years residence shall be required of the future adopted citizens
before giving them the right to vote.
Resolved, That in every particular, and throughout all time, we are in favor of
an entire separation of religion and politics, and that we will put down the attempt
that is making to unite them.
Resolved, That we call upon all good citizens to act as Americans, and to save
themselves, their families and their country from impending destruction.
This report, besides declaring principles, gives a fairly good
idea of the sort of organization which the nativists were trying
24 1 ] THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 43
to create. It was to be local in aims, leaving its members to
remain Whigs or Democrats on national issues. A feature not
noted in the report was the fixed rule adopted by the new
movement of distributing all nominations and appointments on
the bi-partisan principle. In October, the movement took the
American Citizen to be its official organ.'^ Daniel F. Tiemann,
as chairman of the city committee, was official head of the
organization.*" Skillfully guided by experienced politicians,
the movement met extraordinary success in organizing voters.
The result was unexpected and startling to the managers of
the older parties. Its ticket,^ though largely made up of new
men, polled a splendid vote. Said the New York Tribune some
months later, " The election came on, and to our utter amaze-
ment, this new party, which we supposed limited to a i^vj dis-
appointed office-seekers and their personal friends, polled 8,500
votes out of a moderate aggregate poll." *> The actual party
averages s were as follows ;
Democratic Party about 14,410 votes.
"Whig Party about 14,000 votes.
Nativist movement about 8,690 votes.
Walsh Democrats about 320 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about 70 votes.
The movement did not, of course, elect any of its nominees,
but the casting of such a large vote was a triumph in itself.
The sudden rise of organized nativism was a general surprise.
It was a phenomenal thing for a political movement to spring
from nowhere and in five short months to build up party ma-
chinery that could organize voters by thousands. It was evi-
* your. Commerce, 1843, November 3. ' Ibid.
* Senator, Mangle M. Quackenboss ; Sheriff, Charles Henry Hall ; Clerk,
Horace Loofborrow ; Coroner, James C. Forrester ; Assemblymen, "William Tay-
lor, Charles B. Childs, John Culver, Thomas H. Oakley, Uzziah Wenman,
Charles Alden, Richard Reed, Valentine Silcocks, Jesse C. VV^ood, Jacob L. Fenn,
Philo L, Mills, John B. Haring, Andrew McGown.
* Tribune, 1 844, August 24. * Jour. Commerce, 1843, November 22.
44 POLITICAL NATIVISM [242
dent that its issues were viewed with responsive interest among
the native voters of the city. In its personnel the movement
was bi-partisan. It had apparently drawn upon the strength of
the Democracy somewhat more heavily than upon that of the
Whigs, but it left the relative positions of the two old parties
the same as before its advent. A little more growth would
_give it control of the city. The Whig editor of the Tribune
I discussed the significance of the phenomenon. He was an
uncompromising foe to anything that looked like political or
social discrimination against the foreign element, but he ad-
mitted that there were real grievances to be redressed. As
such he cited the naturalization frauds, the appeals to the Irish
and German vote, the violence done by foreigners at the polls
and the greediness of foreigners for office.^ These had stirred
I nativism into life.
The managers of the new American Republican organization
did not permit it to lapse into apathy after the fall election. They
proposed to contest the city election of the following spring.
The city com mittee was renewed, Alexander Copeland being
made chairman and as such being official head of the move-
ment. The ward associations were spurred into new activity
and used to circulate petitions for naturalization reform. Stim-
ulated by this enthusiasm the movement spread beyond the
state. Before the close of 1843 it was established in New Jer-
sey and, early in 1844, in Pennsylvania.* In preparation for
the city election of 1844 a new issue was taken up. Reform
was needed in the city administration at this particular time.
Charges of extravagance, carelessness and inefficiency made
against Democratic officials w ere generally believed true. It
was a taking issue for the nativist leaders and lay ready to
their hand. When the nativists began to nominate ward
F tickets they accordingly pledged their nominees to both of
their issues.3 Each nominee promised specifically to appoint
^ Tribune, 1 844, January ii.
' Citizen, 1844, February 2. ' Tribune, 1844, April 4.
243] -^^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 45
no foreigner to office, to make city appointments on a bi-par-
tisan plan, to reform the police system and to reduce city ex ^
penses. The cry for city reform was made very prominent. \
The leaders had difficulty in settling on a mayoralty candidate
who would be acceptable to all the diverse elements of their
movement, but the mayoralty convention held repeated sessions
on the matter and finally made a fortunate choice. On March
1 1, 1844, James Harper was nominated. He was a well-known
business man, resident in the city for over thirty years, Amer-
ican by birth and descent, and interested in popular reforms
generally. Though nominally a Whig he had not been closely
enough connected with party to be objectionable to Demo-
cratic nativists. A mass-convention promptly ratified the nom-
ination. With this act the period of campaign preparation
gave way to that of campaign work.
To those who guided their votes by the issues of the hour
the prospect of nativism and reform in the city government
gave promise of lighter taxes and better government. Har-
per's candidacy took well with such voters. Another source
of strength was its pledge of bi-partisan appointments to office.
Party workers on the Whig side could readily see a better
prospect for themselves in the new party than in the old, and
pressure was brought to bear upon Morris Franklin, the Whig
nominee, to induce his withdrawal from the contest.^ Against
this was exerted the influence of Seward and other leaders of
the Whig state organization. The politics of presidential am-
bitions touched here upon the local issues of New York city.
Among the state leaders of the Whigs were those who favored
the ambitions of Henry Clay and who realized that an openly
shown weakness of the Whig organization in New York city
would be used as an argument by those opposed to the nomi-
nation of Clay for president.* The situation was an interesting
evidence of the solidarity of American politics. A compromise
was eventually reached between the city politicians and those
1 Tribune, 1844, April 5. * Argus, 1844, April 10.
46 POLITICAL NATIVISM [244
of the state that made a way out of the difficulty. The Whig
nominee remained before the people with the Whig organiza-
tion nominally at his back. Coincidently the Whig press,
either openly or tacitly, favored Harper's candidacy. This
arrangement secured success for the nativist nominee. The
opposition of the Democracy to Harper was vigorous. The
need of city reform was candidly admitted by the party and
promise of amendment made, but to nativism there was less
concession. The foreign element was irritated by the enmity
shown against it. Occasional petty street-fights took place
between natives and Irish, and threats were made. Just before
election the nativist city committee thought best to advise its
voters to be unaggressive but yet ** to maintain their legal
rights at all hazards." ^ By good fortune, however, the day
passed without riot. The following vote was polled : "
( Nativist movement about 24,510 votes.
S Democratic Party about 20,540 votes.
^ Whig Party about 5,300 votes.
The nativists elected their mayor and the greater part of
each branch of the Common Council.. For the coming year
they would have entire control of the city government. Their
victory could not be questioned. The sources of the vote for
I Harper were discussed by party men with interest. An esti-
mate by one of the daily papers figured its components at
, 14,100 Whigs, 9,700 Democrats and 600 new voters.3 The
estimate was probably a fair one. A Democratic paper added
the significant information that every Englishman and every
I Orangeman of the city voted the nativist ticket.-*
Hardly had nativism in New York city reaped the fruits of
its own good professions, when its prestige was rudely shaken
by events in another state. The American Republican move-
ment had taken root at Philadelphia and had grown on the
^ Citizen, 1844, April 6. ^ Amer. Repub., 1844, April 26.
' Jour. Commerce, 1844, April 12. * Plebeian, 1844, April.
245] ^-^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS ^j
usual racial antipathies. Early in May, 1844, the entire coun-
try was shocked by news from the latter city that Americans
and Irish had come into conflict, that Americans had been
murdered, and that a frenzied mob had hunted Irishmen by
the light of burning homes and churches. A wave of excite-
ment swept over New York city, where foreigners and natives
eyed each other with open and intense distrust. Mutterings
of riot voiced themselves. The conservative leaders hastily
took the initiative in action. The nativist organization started
a committee for Philadelphia, and called upon its voters to be
calm until the truth were known. Bishop Hughes exerted his
authority to quell the restless Irish. Mayor Harper arranged
for suppression of riot at its first appearance. In a few days
the crisis was past and the public settled down with evident
relief. The Philadelphia riots nevertheless lost much sympa-
thy to the cause of nativism and their occurrence was deeply
regretted. So far as the repute of local nativism was concerned,
its leaders had no cause for shame. The men whom the new
movement carried into office were honest and sincere. The
pledges of nativism were carried out, and foreigners disappeared
from the city pay-rolls along with the politicians who had put
them there.
The nativist movement had by this time extended itself
into the rural counties near New York city, more especially
those where the foreign element had found a lodgment.
Aided by disaffected politicians and stimulated by nativist and
anti-Catholic literature the movement was quite promising.
By March, 1844, it existed in nearly all the south-eastern
counties and at Albany as well. In Brooklyn the nativists nom-
inated a mayor and polled twenty- six per cent, of the total vote.
In Ulster county there was a nativist paper. It was all in
natural sequence, then, when the general committee of New
York city issued a call on June 21st for a state convention
of nativist delegates.' The plans of the nativist leaders
^ Amir. Repub., i?44, June 26.
48 POLITICAL NATIVISM ["246
had now assumed a wider scope. They would create a
state organization. The relation of their action to the
presidential campaign is, unfortunately, not at all clear. The
city committee at New York, once committed to the policy of
a state party, made earnest efforts to carry it out. In August
it sent out official organizers into the counties. There were
protests made to it against nominations for Congress on the
ground that nativist nominees could not preserve that neutral-
ity on national issues which the organization had thus far
maintained.' All arguments were overruled. The first nativ-
ist state convention met at Utica on September 10, 1844, in
response to the committee's call.^ The great question which
filled the time of this body was that of naming an American
Republican state ticket. The idea had its friends and its
opponents, both eagerly interested. At the session of Septem-
ber loth the question was deferred to a later convention at
New York city on September 23d and on the latter date
nominations were defeated.^ Reports of the convention ses-
sions say nothing of the appointment of a state committee.
The effort in 1844 to expand political nativism into a state
party was only a partial success. In Kings and Richmond
counties there seem to have been nativist county organiza-
tions. In Ulster county there was one which absorbed the
Whig Party entirely .'^ Yet, taken all in all, the expansion
movement up to the November election had the aspect of a
failure.
In New York city the political work of 1 844 was more suc-
cessful. Out in the state at large political nativism was a
mirage, but in the metropolis it was a concrete fact. The effect
of Harper's election in April, 1844, by a combination of nativ-
ists and Whigs, had been to resurrect the old alliance which
had proven fatal to nativism in the movement of 1835. The
affinity between the local nativist movement and the local
^Amer. Repub., 1844, August 9. "^ Amer. Repiib.y 1844, September.
* Ibid. ^Tribune, 1844, November 13.
247] '^^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS ^
Whig Party again stood revealed as the presidential campaign
of 1844 began. The state leaders of the Whig Party had no
approval for nativism. Seward vigorously denounced the
movement by speech and letter. Despite all this, there was a
drawing together of interests in the city. In September a new
general committee took control of the American Republican
movement and John Lloyd was chosen to succeed Copeland
as official head of the party.^ The regular conventions were
duly held and nominations made.'' Behind this routine of
party work the secret work of political intrigue went on. The
Whig organization also made its customary nominations, but
its leaders joined in negotiations with the nativists, of which
the end was an understanding that the Whig managers should
throw Whig support to the nativist local ticket, while the
nativist managers should aid the Clay presidential ticket.^ The
agreement was at once made apparent by the action of the
Whig press. All the Whig papers, with one exception, lent
friendly aid to the nativist canvass henceforth. The Demo-
cratic press was quick to make capital of the new alliance. In
New York city the Democratic nativists were ceaselessly told
that the American Republican movement was a Whig annex,
from which all real Democrats should break loose. In the^
interior counties the foreign-born Whigs were assured that the f
Whig Party had adopted nativism and was secretly their en-
emy.-* Those Whigs whose interests were linked with those
of Seward and Weed, chafed under the infliction, but condi-
tions could not be changed in New York city. The terms ofj
alliance must be carried out. Nativism, in its part, went on its
way happily. At mass-meeting and in party press the now
^ Apier. Repud., 1844, September 21.
' Senator, George Folsom; Assemblymen, Abraham G. Thompson, Jr., John
Culver, James Jarvis, William S. Ross, Severn D. Moulton, Eli C. Blake, Harvey
Hunt, Thomas H. Oakley, Jacob L. Fenn, David E. Wheeler, Frederick E^
Mather, Roderick N. Morrison, John J. R. Depuy.
' Tribune^ 1 846, August 27.
* Tribune, 1844, November II ; 1846, October 10.
50 POLITICAL NATIVISM [248
familiar anti-foreign and anti- Catholic arguments were urged
upon the people with a careful avoidance of national issues/
The work of political nativism was becoming systematic. The
movement was now conscious of holding strength.
The agreement between political leaders in regard to the
presidential vote in the metropolis was carried out by the man-
agers of nativism so far as they were able, but the movement
ivas not wholly under their personal control. The Democratic
wing of the organization had no friendship for Henry Clay.
As election approached there were hints of action by the
friends of Polk and hints were translated into actuality by a
mass- meeting of Democratic nativists, on October 31st, to
endorse Polk's candidacy against Clay.' Eventually the day
of election came. The Whig city committee, faithful to its
bargain, printed nativist ballots and distributed them to Whig
voters through the regular party workers at the polls.' Every-
where in the city the Whig strength went to aid the American
Republican nominees. Horace Greeley of the Tribune, though
an avowed and steadfast enemy to nativism, cast a nativist
ballot as evidence of his loyalty to party policy. The hopes
of Whigs for Clay's success were blasted, however, when the
returns from the state came in. New York state had gone
Democratic. In New York city, where the Whig and nativist
alliance had done its work, the votes of Whigs had carried the
nativist local ticket to victory, but 2000 Democratic nativists
had voted for Polk, and carried the city for him against the
Clay ticket. The party averages on assembly ticket were as
follows : *
Nativist movement about 27,440 votes.
Democratic Party about 26,230 votes.
Whig Party about 950 votes.
Agrarian movement * about 90 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about 70 votes.
^Oliicial Address in Amtr, Re^ub., 1844, September 6.
■*your. Commerce, 1844, November i. ^ Tribuni, 1846, April 6, Auyuu 27.
* Tribune y 1844, November 25.
249] '^^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 5 1
Nativism was gaining new force with each successive elec-
tion. Its vote was greater at this occasion than it had ever
been before. A state senator and fifteen assemblymen would
represent nativism in the next state legislature, and four con-
gressmen would present its issues before the next Congress, all
as a result of the campaign of 1844. Usually in a presidential
year it was the fate of lesser political organizations to be
crushed between the two great national parties, but the Amer-
ican Republican movement had reaped only profit from ad-
verse conditions.
If the result of the campaign was pleasant to nativist leaders |
it was the exact reverse to the Whig managers. In city and
in state the campaign was a Whig disaster. In New York,
Kings and Ulster counties the party had been absorbed by the
organized movement of nativism. All over the state as soon
as the pressure of presidential politics was removed there were
evidences of Whig friendliness for nativism. Whig papers in
Albany, Rochester and Buffalo commented with favor upon it.
These hints of approval came more especially, perhaps, from
that element of the party which opposed the political leader- \
ship of Seward and Weed.^ Upon the surface of affairs it
looked for a time as if the Whig Party in New York state
would be weakened by a wholesale secession from its ranks
toward the new American Republican Party .^ The Seward
wing of the party now made an onslaught against the hostile
influence. The popularity of Henry Clay made his loss of
New York state by a small margin a source of chagrin for the
Whig masses, for the vote of New York would have been de-
cisive. It was possible to ascribe this loss with equal plausi-
bility either to the anti-slavery movement in the counties or to
the nativist movement in the metropolis. The Seward men
preferred to ascribe it to the latter, and the New York Tribune
explained to its readers that the Whig Party had lost most se-
'^ Argusy 1844, December 20.
^ Argus, 1844, November 30.
^2 POLITICAL NATIVISM [250
verely in those localities where the foreign element had gath-
ered, and where foreign-born Whigs had been frightened away
from Clay by the fear of nativism.^ It was only grudgingly
acknowledged that the Clay ticket gained heavily in New York
city as a result of nativist aid/ When opportunity permitted,
the attack upon nativism took another form. The Whig city
committee at New York was usually renewed at the beginning
of each year. In the primaries after the presidential election
the Seward men secured control of the city committee, and the
machinery of the party was, from that time on, used to crush
out political nativism. The organization of the Whig com-
mittee for 1845 was the turning-point in the fortunes of
the nativist party in New York state. On February 11, 1845,
there was issued a declaration of policy by the Whig com-
mittee.' Of the fifteen resolutions, nearly half were more or
less in condemnation of the policy of alliance which previous
city committees had followed. The new committee declared
emphatically that it recognized no distinctions between citi-
zens on the score of religious faith or place of nativity. The
committee's declaration was a formal notice to the public that
the old alliance was broken, and that the erstwhile allies
would henceforth go their separate ways.
The American Republican organization now faced a contest
where it must rely upon itself alone. The elections of April,
1845, would be a test of its ability to control the city by un-
aided effort. The outlook was by no means discouraging.
Nativism had made a record of honest city government. It
had control of the city patronage, and it was backed by a vig-
orous anti-foreign sentiment. The local Whig Party was
divided, and a goodly portion of it, which was nativist in sym-
pathies, 'could be relied upon to support nativist nominees.
The organ of the Whig city committee was the Tribtme, In
its columns Whigs were urged to rally round the party name,
J Tribune, 1844, November il. ^ Tribune, 1846, October 10.
^ Tribune, 1845, February 13.
2^1] THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 5^
regardless of the question of success at the polls. The local
Whig organization took its position most frankly. It put aside
for the time all expectations of carrying the election, in order
to wage a desperate struggle for continued existence as a
party. It was willing to put the Democracy in control rather
than see the city patronage go to the nativists for another year.^
In the party convention the anti-nativist managers had to
struggle to maintain their policy, but they succeeded. The
re-nomination of Harper for the mayoralty by the nativists on
February i8th preceded the Whig city convention, and when
the latter body met there was a strong feeling for the endorse-
ment of Harper's candidacy.^ Such action would, of course,
have revived the old alliance which the Seward men had
broken. The effort was foiled, and Dudley Selden was set up
as the regular nominee of the party. The Whig organization
went before the people with a nominee whom it could not
elect, and with no motive except that of giving a death-blow
to political nativism. The action was followed by open dis-
affection on the part of the minority faction.
The city campaign, as might be expected, was a warmly
contested battle. Several of the Whig newspapers bolted the
regular nominee and declared for Harper. It was not for-
gotten that Selden was very recently a professed Democrat,
while Harper had been a life-long Whig. The columns 01
the Tribune went straight to the point of the real issue. All
over the state, they said, the local leaders of the Whig Party
were watching the fight, and the continuance of the party in
the state would hinge on the result in New York city .3 The \
Whig members of the legislature, it was said at another
time, " deeply feel that the overthrow of the native party is
essential to a renewal of the struggle for Whig ascendency in_)
our state with any hope of success." *> A great deal was said
during the city campaign in regard to the success of nativist
^ Tribune, 1845, February 18. » Post, 1845, February 22.
' Tribune, 1845, March 15. * Tribune, 1845, March 31.
54 POLITICAL NATIVISM I 252
efforts at economy in city administration, but the real question
of the day was the ability of political nativism to resist the
crushing attack which was being made upon it by both of the
older parties. The April election finally ended the contest.
The vote stood as follows : ^
Democratic Party about 24,210 votes,
Nativist movement about 17,480 votes.
Whig Party about 7,030 votes.
Agrarian movement about 120 votes.
Anti slavery movement about 70 votes.
The Democracy elected the mayor and common council.
The Whigs secured some seats in the common council. The
nativists succeeded in electing, out of the whole array of city
and ward nominations, only one man, a ward constable.'' It
was as complete an overthrow as the most bitter Whig could
have hoped. At the same time the size of the nativist vote
showed that its defeat was by no means conclusive. The
movement had received a set-back, but it was not crushed.
While the nativist leaders in New York city had been
carrying on their local campaign they were also connecting
themselves with efforts to organize a national political party
devoted to the nativist issue. The American Republican
movement, after spreading into New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
had assumed in those states the name of Native American
Party. During 1844 the movement spread from New York
into South Carolina,^ Massachusetts '^ and Connecticut, while
from Philadelphia it spread into Delaware, Maryland and
some of the states farther west. By the end of 1844 an agita-
tion had begun for a national convention and in time one was
called to meet at Philadelphia on July 4, 1845. In April,
1845, the nativists estimated their own strength to include
48,000 in New York, 42,000 in Pennsylvania, 14,000 in Massa-
1 Valentine Manual, 1845-46.
' Courier- Enquirer, 1845, April 9.
^ Amer. Repub., 1844, June 7, July 13. * Ibid.
253] THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 55
chusetts, 3,000 in New Jersey, 1,000 in Delaware and 2,000 in
other states, making a total of 1 10,000 votes.^ Its strength in
New York state was reckoned at 18,000 in the city and 30,000
outside the city. The American Republican associations of
New York city viewed the new idea of national organization
with approval, notwithstanding that it ran counter to their
previous plan of avoiding national issues. In June, 1845, dele-
gates were chosen to the national n meeting at Philadelphia.
The existence of the national Native American Party began
with the convention of July 4, 1845. There were present 141
delegates, representing fourteen states.^ One of the vice-
presidents, Loring D. Chapin, and two of its secretaries, were
taken from the New York delegation. It was the hope of the
New York men to fix upon the new party the name of Ameri-
can Republican, under which the nativist movement still
worked in New York state ; but they were outvoted by those
states where the name of Native American was in use.3 Be-
sides adopting a name for the new national party, the Philadel-
phia convention issued a platform and address. The question
of a presidential ticket was also discussed at the session.
Altogether the Philadelphia gathering evolved an ambitious
programme for the new party. Though now very weak in-
deed as a party, yet only a span of two years lay between the
gossip of the smithy, where the movement started, and the con-
vention work of 1845. Two years more might bring an equal
advance. The work of the convention was promptly ratified
by the New York nativists at a mass-convention of July 18,
1845.'* In giving its adhesion to the national party, the New
York organization was obliged to assume the new party name,
but some of the ward associations kept the old name of Ameri-
can Republicans.
^ Quoted from Philadelphia Sun by Roch. Amer., 1845, April 26.
2 Convention accounts in Orr, also Lee, also your. Commerce, 1845, J^^Y 7-
* Argus, 1845, July 9.
* Jour. Commerce, 1845, J'^^Y ^9*
56 POLITICAL NATIVISM [254
It was in New York city alone that political nativism could
really pose as a leading issue, and here, as the fall election of
1845 came on, its leaders again prepared to contest the field
with the older parties. They had suffered a blow by the
drawing away of Whig support, but their heavy vote at the
spring election in the very face of that withdrawal was an evi-
dence of endurance fit to base strong hopes upon. Late in
September the nativists held their usual conventions to place
nominees in the field. The new general committee chose Wil-
liam L. Prall as chairman. On the Whig side a harmonizing
of the local factions brought all the Whig press back to the
support of the regular ticket, restoring the apparent unity of
the party. Then followed a quiet but active effort on both
sides to secure for nativist nominees ^ the vacillating vote of
Whigs who sympathized with nativism. Just before election
a temperance ticket appeared, made up of Whig and nativist
nominees. It was said to be a device to meet the needs of
those whose sympathies were divided,"" but if so it found little
favor. In general, the line of separation between Whig and
nativist forces was well-defined. Partisan Whigs turned back
to the regular organization and left nativism to its own natural
strength. The party averages on the assembly ticket were as
follows : 3
Democratic Party about 16,550 votes.
Whig Party about 11,280 votes.
Nativist movement about 8,750 votes.
Agrarian movement about 530 votes.
Temperance movement about 320 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about ? votes.*
^ Senator, Elias H. Ely ; Register, Joseph Hufty ; Assemblymen, William S.
Ross, James Stokes, Abraham G. Thompson, Jr., Thomas H. Oakley, Harvey
Hunt, Nehemiah Miller, William Marks, John A. King, Alonzo A. Alvord, Harris
Wilson, Henry Meigs, Alfred S. Livingston, Peter Doig.
' Herald^ 1845, November 4. ' Tribune, 1845, November 7.
* The anti-slavery men had a ticket before the people but their small vote was
ignored by the press reports of election.
255] THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 5^
The election showed the important fact that the actual j
strength of nativism in the past two years had not been gain-
ing. Its apparent gains had been caused by the aid of voters
whose attachment to the Whig Party could not be made sec-
ondary. The election cast a shadow over the movement.
From this time onward the nativist party in New York was j
recognized as on the wane.
In due time the spring campaign of 1846 came. The na-
tivist mayoralty convention offered their nomination to Robert
Taylor, who refused it.^ Thereupon a small section of the
party split off as a city-reform movement ^ and obtained an
acceptance from Taylor. Behind this affair can be dimly seen
the features of a scheme to combine again the issues of reform
and nativism as had been done in 1844. Had the nativists
followed with an endorsement of Taylor, the plan might have
had a trial, but the nativist leaders negatived it by announcing
a distinct ticket, with William B. Cozzens for mayor.3 At the
city convention this year the usual long party platform did not
appear. The resolutions as adopted merely approved the idea
of municipal reform and declared the motive of the nomina-
tions.'^ On this latter point the resolution was significant :
Resolved, That we are further impelled to place our candidates before the peo-
ple by a desire to preserve our distinct political organization, conscious that we
look in vain to the old parties for any effective aid in carrying out the great prin-
ciples of the Native American Party. It becomes our duty to present ourselves at
every election before the people, confident that in the frequent discussion of our
principles, which are eternal as Truth itself, the truth will ultimately prevail.
This resolution was an acknowledgment that nativism was
no longer a political power. Those who believed in its prin-
ciples, nevertheless, voted its ticket at the regular election.
The city- reform group which had split off from the party to
nominate Taylor was absorbed by the Whig Party when the
1 Herald, 1846, April 13. ' Herald, 1846, March 23.
'Mayor, William B. Cozzens ; Almshouse Comm'r, Abraham B. Rich.
^Herald, 1846, March 27.
58 POLITICAL NATIVISM [256
Whig convention took Taylor as its nominee. The party vote
on the mayoralty was as follows :
Democratic Party about 22,240 votes.
Whig Party about 15,260 votes.
Nativist movement about 8,370 votes.
Agrarian movement , about 710 votes.
The next trial of nativism was at the election held in May,
1846, to choose delegates to a constitutional convention for
the state. Each political organization of the day had its pet
schemes of reform to be advanced, and the nativist organiza-
tion with the rest. The Native Americans nominated a full
ticket of delegates,^ and four of its nominees were taken up by
the Whigs. At the election a very light vote was cast, and the
Democracy was able to carry the field. The only result of
the election, for nativism, was a further exposure of its growing
weakness. The averages on the various tickets were as fol-
lows : '^
Democratic Party about 17,630 votes.
Vvhig Party about 8,610 votes.
Nativist movement about 4,600 votes.
Independent movement about 1,480 votes.
Agrarian movement about 700 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about ? votes.
The decline of the Native American Party in New York was
probably retarded by the knowledge that the party was acquir-
ing a strong position in Pennsylvania, where it had developed
a state organization. Encouraged possibly by this, the nativ-
ists of New York also endeavored in 1846 to create a state or-
ganization. The city committee of New York led the work by
calling a state convention/ and sending an organizer into
' Delegates : Ogden Edwards, Shepherd Knapp, Hiram Ketchum, Elias H.
Ely, John Leveridge, Lora Nash, David E. Wheeler, Burtis Skidmore, Harris
Wilson, William L. Prall, John Lloyd, Jacob Townsend, Nicholas Schureman,
Minard Lefevre, William S. Ross, William Pratt.
^Trj^MW^, 1846, May II.
' Poughkeepsie Amer., 1846, February 14.
2^7] THE AMERICAN REPUBLICANS 5^
the counties. On August 19, 1846, delegates from a number
of points in the state met at Utica to organize the convention/
This was the year for election of a governor. The convention
accordingly nominated a state ticket and created a state com-
mittee. The head of their ticket was Edward C. Delevan, of
Saratoga, who was widely known for his temperance views,
but had not been identified with the nativist movement. Del-
evan declined the place,^ and the nativist ticket remained head-
less until early in October, when the state committee filled the
vacancy. In its final form the state ticket of 1846 was as fol-
lows :
Governor Ogden Edwards of Kings.
Lieut. Governor George Folsom of New York.
Canal Coramiss'r Robert C. Russell of Albany.
Canal Commiss'r James Silsbee of Steuben.
The executive work of the campaign fell into the control of
the new state committee, composed as follows : ^ William L.
Prall, Lora Nash, Minard Lefevre, Andrew Thompson, Calvin
Pollard, all .of New York ; Robert H. Shannon and Daniel
Talmage, of Kings ; Jacob Y. Lansing and Robert C. Russell,
of Albany ; Henry I. Seaman, of Richmond ; Edward Prime,
of Westchester ; Albert G. Travis, of Putnam ; Augustus T.
Cowman, of Dutchess ; J. Young, of Ulster ; Andrew Hanna,
of Oneida. The effort of the Native Americans to pose as
a state party was so futile that they received very little atten-
tion in the campaign. Their strength lay almost entirely in
New York, Kings and Dutchess, and even here they could
do little beyond announce themselves. The entire vote on the
state ticket in the fall of 1846 was less than two per cent, of
the state aggregate. It averaged 6170 votes.*
* Poughkeepsie Amer., 1846, August 29.
' Tribune, 1846, August 26.
' Poughkeepsie Amer., 1846, September 12.
* Tribune, 1846, December 5.
6o POLITICAL NATIVISM [258
In New York city the regular fall campaign for the Native
American ticket ^ brought dissension and cross-purposes
among the leaders. An arrangement was made to exchange
support with the Whigs on certain offices, but an outcry
against it upset the arrangement after it had been completed.*
Even those who had so far remained faithful to the movement
dropped away when charges of double-dealing became rife.
The poll at the November election showed a serious loss of
strength. Following were the averages : 3
Democratic Party about 20,970 votes.
Whig Party . about 18,270 votes.
Nativist movement about 4,210 votes.
Agrarian movement about 210 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about ? votes.
^ The nativist party was now near its end. As the spring
\ election of 1847 drew near the party made its last stand. In
March a city convention named a ticket.'^ In several wards
there were also nativist nominees to the common council. The
April election resulted in the success of the Whig city ticket
by a narrow plurality, and it was claimed with apparent truth
that the victory was owed partly to nativist votes.s Whig
support of nativist ward tickets had been accepted in exchange
for nativist support of the Whig city ticket. In actual num-
bers the Native Americans were still dwindling. The poll on
the mayoralty in April, 1847, was as follows :
Whig Party about 21,310 votes.
Democratic Party about 19,680 votes.
Nativist movement about 2,080 votes.
Agrarian movement about 300 votes.
1 Sheriff, Charles Devoe; Clerk, Willis Hall; Coroner, John B. Helme ; As-
semblymen: Uzziah Wenman, Thomas H. Oakley, Joseph W. Kellogg, Edward
Prince, William S. Ross, James B. Demarest, Thomas R. Whitney, Edward A.
Frazer, Cornwell S. Roe, Philip Jordan, John D. Westlake, William R. Taylor,
Charles E. Freeman, Joel Kelly, Benjamin Sherwood, Charles Roberts.
' Tribune, 1846, November 3. ' Tribune, 1846, November 24.
* Mayor, Elias G. Drake ; Almshouse Comm'r, John Lloyd.
^Herald, 1847, April 18.
259] ^-^^ AMERICAN REPUBLICANS gj
After the election the organized nativist party went out of
existence in New York. The general city committee existed
as late as September 13, 1847, still headed by William L. Prall.'
In the natural course of events a new committee would have
been formed at this time, but probably none was named. The
official organ of the movement announced its own death in
September. Before the organization had passed away its lead-
ers had opportunity to take part in the second national con-
vention of political nativism. That body met first on May 4,
1847, ^^ Pittsburgh and soon adjourned to a second session on
September loth at Philadelphia. Of the eleven state delega-
tions which appeared the largest was that of New York with its
thirty-nine members. The work of the convention consisted in
making a platform and recommending names for the national
offices. It so recommended Zachary Taylor for the presidency
and Henry Dearborn for the vice-presidency, but its work
ended there. It did not organize a separate national campaign.
In New York state the American Republican or Native^
American movement cannot be called at all successful.^ Such ^
triumphs as it won in the chief city were built on the votes of
men who were not nativists in sympathy. Unimportant in
itself as it is, the movement of 1843-47 is yet to be noticed as
preparing the way for the rise of the nativist secret societies
by diffiising nativist feeling through the community. It de-
veloped also a political precedent for the more successful
movement of a few years later. Before political nativism
reached its passing eclipse in 1847 the Order of United Amer-
icans, with 2000 members claimed, was on the scene as a social
force with political leanings. It was the mission of this Order
to shelter the upgrowth of the mysterious society of the Know-
Nothings and to carry nativism in New York over the gap
that lay between the eclipse of effort in 18^7 and the revival of I
effort in 1852. "
1 Gazette-Times, 1847, September 13.
« General sketches of this movement are in Herald, 1854, May 29, June 20.
CHAPTER III
RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES, 1844-1852
The collapse of the Native American movement, in the fall
\ of 1847, left open the field to the efforts of a new sort of organ-
ization, the nativist secret society, the first appearance of which
had come in 1844. There were at this time a considerable
number of secret societies of various natures existing in New
York state. They were voluntary associations, whose mem-
bers were bound together by oaths of secrecy and brotherhood
and whose proceedings were dignified by formal set cere-
I monies. Earlier in the century, during the anti-masonic
movement, public opinion had turned against secret associa-
tions and nearly crushed them out of existence, but as the
years went by there was a gradual revival of their prestige.
Oddfellowship and freemasonry regained importance and the
tentative experiments toward new societies brought the Red
Men and Good Fellows into existence. From England came
also the Druids and the Foresters. These earlier secret socie-
ties were mainly benevolent associations, but in the decade of
the forties, as the American genius for organization asserted
itself on this new field, the social movements of the time began
to model new secret societies after those already established
and to use them for purposes of agitation. It had become
recognized by this time that the charm of secrecy and the dis-
cipline of the lodge-room could lend new strength to any or-
ganization which might seek their aid. The temperance move-
ment was the first to take up this idea, and there were founded
several societies, using the familiar machinery of the older
fraternities but devoted to the inculcation of hostility to liquor-
62 [260
26 1 ] RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES 6^
drinking. The nativist sentiment seems to have been second
to seize upon secret society methods, and it, too, was shortly-
embodied in a number of organizations, separate in identity
but with the common idea of hostility to foreign influence.
After nativism, other social ideas took up the secret society
model, bringing a swarm of new associations before the public
eye. There was nothing abnormal, then, in the mere fact that
secret societies came into existence with nativist principles at
their basis. After a time, nevertheless, the nativist societies
developed a feature which their older models had not ventured
upon. They began to use their secret machinery to organize'^
political effort. This might fairly be called an abnormal step. (
None of the other secret organizations had pretended to do
more than agitate and mould public opinion, but nativist bodies
advanced to the point of marshaling voters in support of the
ideas for which the societies were working. This was not
intended by the founders of that society which first developed
the system, but the peculiar semi-political character of nativ-
ism itself brought about the change. Point by point the evo-
lution of secret political work may be traced in the history of
the two great secret organizations, which were types of politi-
cal nativism in action. The earlier of the two was the Order v
of United Americans, which created the system of secret poli-
tics. The second was the so-called Know-Nothing Order, v
which took up and further developed the system into a great
national organization. Not all the nativist societies were polit-
ical in action, however. Several held them.selves strictly to the
mere inculcation of principles. The importance of these non-
political bodies in relation to political nativism lies in the fact
that they helped to shape that sentiment which turned to poli-
tics as a mode of making its ideas felt in the community. The
lessons heard in the lodge-room were remembered at the polls.
The growth of nativism, in the city of New York especially,
during the rise of the Know-Nothing movement, cannot be
properly understood without reference to the existence and
workings of these secret bodies, political and non-political.
64 POLITICAL NATIVISM [262
The Native Sons of America seems to have been the first of
the nativist social societies in New York state, but it may not
have been a secret one. It was organized in New York city,
December 18, 1844, with James Webb as president.^ There
appears to be no further reference to it in the press and it was
probably short-lived.
The American Brotherhood was organized ^ in New York
city on December 21, 1844. Its founder was Russell C.
Root. The annals of the society tell of an informal meeting
for discussion on December i6th and of a formal one for
organization on December 21st. Of the thirteen or fourteen
men who did the work nearly all had taken some part in
American Republican politics. The new society therefore
took its impulse from the political nativism of 1844 and in-
herited some of its traditions. On December 28th, when
officers were installed, John Harper became official head of
the society. A week later the name of the society was
changed to that of the Order of United Americans, and as
such its growth went on. The character of the Brotherhood
may be seen from its formal resolution of organization, worded
as follows : 3
Resolved^ That this meeting form themselves into an association to be called
the American Brotherhood, for the purpose of mutual aid and assistance, and to
oppose foreign influence in our institutions or government in any shape in which
it may be presented to us.
The United Daughters of America was a patriotic society of
women which was organized in New York city on November
27, 1845.^ Nominally it was independent of other societies,
but in effect it was an auxiliary to the Order of United Amer-
icans. It could not, of course, be political, but it may be
reckoned as one of the aids in the maintenance of nativist
sentiment. At its best period it included about ten chapters
^ Amer. Repub.^ 1844, December 20.
» O. U. A., 1848, November 18; also Whitney, p. 261 ; also Carroll, p. 252.
» Baldwin Coll. *Idid
263] ^^^^ OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES 65
organized under the supervision of a grand-chancery. When
the failure of the nativist political movement in 1857 brought
a reaction against nativist societies this one suffered, but a
nominal existence of its grand-chancery was kept as late as
1861.^
The Order of United American Mechanics originated itt
Pennsylvania and was at first a benefit society for working-
men. Introduced into New York state by the creation .of a
council in Brooklyn on July 8, 1848,"* it slowly extended to
other cities. The organization of a state-council followed and
under its supervision the number of councils in the state rose
to about thirty. Few of these were in the metropolis. The
strength of the society lay chiefly in the towns of the Hudson
valley where the nativist political movement had prepared the
way for it. Membership was restricted to Americans-born
and the conditions of the time brought it into the current of
nativist feeling. It was never, perhaps, engaged in political
effort, but its teachings lay in the direction of maintaining
American traditions and its councils were accustomed to ap-
pear on public occasions in company with bodies of more
pronounced nativist aims. With the downfall of the Know-
Nothing movement the society lost its strength and its state-
council disbanded. In later years it again secured a foothold
and still exists.
The Order of the Star-Spangled Banner was founded 3 in '^^
New York city in the spring of 1850, but it may possibly not
have borne this name in its earlier years. It seems also to
1 N. Y. City Directory, 1861.
' Date supplied by State Secretary.
' On the origin of the society the best account seems to be in iV[ K Herald^
1854, December 20, p. i; See also Whitney, p, 280. Various other acccums,
unreliable as a whole, yet give additional facts, <?. g., N. Y. Tribune, 1855, ■May
29, p. 5. Allen is referred to as founder in N. Y. Tribune, 1854, November 27,
p. 4, and in N. Y. Times, 1855, May 29, p. i, October 18, p. 8. For scattered
facts, see N. Y. Times, 1854, October 10, p. 2; N. Y. Tribune, 1855, J"'"'^ 4'P.
5 ; iV. K Herald, 1855, July 29, p. 4; Carroll, p. 267.
(£ POLITICAL NATIVISM {^(iA,
have taken to itself the name of Order of the Sons of the Sires
of ''j6. Its founder was Charles B. Allen, of whom, since he
was not in politics, the contemporary press says little in per-
sonal reference. Drawing together a few friends he organized
them under a pledge of secrecy into a nativist society. A
journeyman printer, William L. Bradbury, was first president
of the group, but died in office after a few months. The
founder himself then became official head. In its aims the new
/organization was wholly political and in its principles strongly
^ nativist. Its policy was to influence local politics by concerted
action of its members in favor of such nominees as might be
selected from the tickets of political parties, such nominees
being Protestant and American-born. Along this line the little
group acted at successive elections, but so small was its mem-
bership that its influence was unnoticeable. The business ses-
sions of the society were held here and there at the homes of
its members during this period. It seems to have lacked en-
ergetic management and its membership was almost stationary.
For two years, nevertheless, it kept a feeble existence. In
1852 a few active spirits from the Order of United Americans
found their way into the society. At the time of their advent
it had only forty-three members all told, still meeting as a single
body.^ There seems now to have been a revolution within the
society the details of which are unrecorded. The society was
reorganized, the founder was displaced and new men took con-
trol.'' The new president was an energetic nativist who had
formerly been a Methodist preacher. This reorganization
probably occurred April 4, 1852.3 Under the new leaders the
society began to expand. As its membership grew larger the
meetings in private houses ceased and sessions were held in-
1 Whitney, p. 280.
2 These changes are very obscure. See Herald, 1854, December 20, p. i;
Trih^ne, 1855, May 29, p. 5, also Can oil, p. ^69.
» "Whitney, p. 384.
265] R^^^ OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES ^y
stead in various lodge-rooms hired for the purpose when
needed. The society was divided up into several ward-
councils or wigwams under the supervision of the eldest body,
the president of which was ex-officio head of the whole society.
There was disapproval, however, of the control of the men who
had grasped power. Disaffection showed itself and culminated
in a secession, either in 1852 or 1853, of a minority group led
by Allen, the founder.^ The malcontents formed a grand
council of their own and made a new ritual of three degrees.
The society thus broke into two parts each one claiming iden-
tity with the original unity. All this time its existence was
unknown to the general public. During 1852 the society was
rapidly recruited in membership. The politically-inclined ele-
ment of the Order of United Americans was especially attracted
to it. Its councils grew so large in some wards that meetings
had to be held in large halls, but the element of deepest secrecy
was carefully preserved. Its members did not speak of its ex-
istence to those not initiated. The society probably co-oper-
ated with the Order of United Americans in the political ef-
forts of the fall of 1852. In the fall of 1853 it was able to
make a still more decided stand in politics, and then for the
first time its existence began to be generally known. In de- ,^
fault of a better name it was dubbed the " Know-Nothing ^
Order" by an interested public, and under that name the
Order of the Star-Spangled Banner thenceforth pursued its
career.
The Order of Sons of America was organized in Philadel-
phia late in 1844 and had a history in Pennsylvania much the
same as that of the Order of United Americans in New York
state. Several efforts were made to secure a union of the two
orders. One of these went so far as to organize a camp of the
Sons of America in New York city in 1852 under the auspices
^Herald, 1S54, December 20, p. i ; 1855, July 29, p. 4; *lso Tribune, 1S55,
May 29, p. 5, June 4, p. 5 ; also Carroll, p. 269.
68 POLITICAL NATIVISM [266
of the United Americans/ This body was kept alive at
least two years ^ but the contemplated union did not come
about and the camp was allowed to die.
The Benevolent Order of Bereans, unlike the preceding so-
[cieties, was made up largely of foreign-born citizens. Refer-
ence has been made to the antipathy that existed between
Protestant and Catholic Irishmen. The former were usually
called " Orangemen," although the Orange Institution was not
then organized in America. The Berean Order drew its mem-
bership from this class.3 It was organized in New York city
in 1844 or 1845 in bodies called assemblies which were fede-
rated under a grand council. The anti- Catholic ideas of the
order made its members earnest allies of nativism despite their
foreign birth, and they became strong upholders of American
ideas. In 1853 the order had at least eight assemblies,'» but in
LI 8 54 it disappeared and was probably absorbed by the Amer-
ican Protestant Association.
The American Protestant Association was founded in Penn-
f sylvania as a secret beneficial society, and became established
in New York by 1850. Its membership was very largely
% Protestant Irish ,5 and they were enthusiastic supporters of
nativism, although not using their secret machinery for politi-
cal work. The society was secret, with ritual and grand lodge
organization. The New York grand lodge was organized in
1853 by the nine lodges then existing.^ In the fall of 1854, it
claimed nineteen lodges with 2,800 members,^ and by 1855,
there were about thirty lodges, mostly in New York city and
Brooklyn. The names of " Washington," '* Jefferson," "Bun-
ker Hill " and " Valley Forge " are typical names borne by the
lodges and are significant of their attitude toward American
ideas. Like other societies, the Association lost heavily after
1 Baldwin Coll. 2 n. Y. Directory, 1854.
'Baldwin Coll. *N. Y. Directory, 1853.
^Herald, 1855, July 24, p. i. « Times, 1853, May 31, p. i.
■^ Courier- Enquirer, 1854, November 2, p. 2.
26/] R^^^ O^ ^^^ SECRET SOCIETIES ^
1856 by the collapse of the nativist party, but it kept an exist-
ence in New York city for over thirty years before the last of /
its lodges died out.
The Order of United Americans, derived from the American ^
Brotherhood, was in no respect later in date than those here f
listed, but its story is taken up last because it was the most
important of the nativist societies until it was overshadowed
by the still greater importance of the Know-Nothing Order.
In many respects it was a model on which the Know-Nothing
society was built up and the source from which the Know-
Nothing society drew its best recruits. Its history is very
different, however, from that of the latter organization. The
United American society was not primarily political in charac-
ter. It aimed more at social prestige and its political work
was a side-issue forced upon the Order by the conditions which ,
it met. The main features of the Order were not political, j
When the little society of the American Brotherhood first
assumed its new name, on January 4, 1845, its members had
an ambitious dream of a great secret federation. On January
27th they declared their little group to be Alpha Chapter No.
I, and also declared themselves to be the Arch- Chancery or
governing body of the Order.^ Their plan contemplated an
evolution into a general system of organized groups. Each
group was to be called a chapter and was to have its own con-
stitution and self-chosen officers. The chapters in each state
were to be federated under the supervision of a grand-body
called Arch-Chancery, composed of delegates from the chap-
ters. The several arch-chanceries were to be federated under
one Grand- Arch- Chancery with a jurisdiction of national ex-
tent.^" This dream began at once to take shape in reality.
The leaders of the new society were in part nativist political
workers who knew how to build up organizations. A second
chapter was formed on March 31st, under the auspices of
Arch-Chancery, and others followed until, on September 8th,
1 O. U. A., 1848, November 18.
yo POLITICAL NATIVISM r268
there were five chapters, whose delegates met to organize
Arch- Chancery in new form and do away with the temporary
expedient of putting power in the hands of the members of the
eldest chapter/ As re-organized, Arch-Chancery consisted of
three delegates, called chancellors, from each chapter. This
body elected its own officers, of which the chief one was the
grand-sachem. This was a distinct land-mark in the growth
of the society.
The organization was usually known from its initials as
" the O. U. A.," conveniently abbreviating its somewhat clumsy
name. It was a social and beneficial society devoted to Amer-
ican traditions, but with no pledges or program of political
conduct.'^ Its constitution was an open one,^ and there was no
concealment of its aims or membership. Its secrecy covered
only the signs and ceremonies connected with its work. It
very closely resembled other secret societies of its day. The
chapters worked under officers whose titles were borrowed
from aboriginal Americans, the presiding officer of the chapter,
for instance, being the sachem. There was a uniform ritual
for all chapters, but there were no ritualistic degrees among the
membership. The lighter side of chapter work was that of
sociability. The business side of the work was the mainten-
ance of a sick-benefit system, and the support of American
ideas. On public occasions the chapters were accustomed to
parade. The Order made its first public appearance in this
way at the Washington-monument celebration in October,
1847, ^^<^ i^s second one at the Adams funeral in March, 1848.
These appearances were intended to advertise the American-
ism of the society. Beginning on July 4, 1848, the O. U. A.
also annually celebrated the recurring holidays of July 4th and
February 22d. This was a custom formerly kept up by the
nativist political clubs of the American Republican movement,
but when that movement died out the O. U. A. constituted
1 Baldwin Coll.
' Gazette-Times, 1846, December i. » Republic, 1852, August.
269] ^^^^ ^-^ ^^^ SECJ^ET SOCIETIES yi
itself heir to its commemorative duties. The O. U. A. endeav- '
ored in every way to stamp itself with the mark of American
ideas.
Expansion was steady. In June, 1846, a chapter was
formed in Boston/ making the first step toward realizing the
dream of nationality in extent. By the close of 1846, the
Order had 2000 members,^ and through 1847 ^"^ 1848 its
growth went on. In New York city it grew rapidly, but the
rural counties were slower to embrace it. It was a novelty in
its way of uniting secrecy and patriotism. Finally, in 1848 a
chapter was organized at Haverstraw, and then the conserva-
tive interior towns gradually took it up. The strength of the]
Order in New York state was never very great in the country
districts, however. In the way of national expansion the
Order found its way into New Jersey and Pennsylvania ml
1848, giving it four states to its credit.
The changes of expansion brought a new constitution to
the Order which was approved by the grand body of the state
on November 13, 1848.3 Under this instrument the age of
admission to the Order was fixed at eighteen years. The
grand body of the state was given the new name of Chancery
and was to hold quarterly meetings. Its machinery was also
elaborated by the recognition of an executive committee 01
which much will be said later. The title of Arch-Chancery
was appropriated to the national governing body of the Order
which was to be for a time identical in personnel with the
Chancery of New York state. This new constitution was
promptly put into effect. Chancery organized and assumed a
seal with the suggestive emblem of a hand throttling a writh-
ing serpent. Portions of its regular sessions were conducted
under the forms of Arch-Chancery work.^ The grand execu-
* O. U. A., 1848, December 9. 2 Gazette-Times, 1846, November 21.
» O. U. A., 1848, November 18. Full text in Republic, 1852, August.
* 0. U. A., 1848, December 9.
72 POLITICAL NATIVISM [270
tive committee also organized under the new constitution, and
this body deserves careful notice. It consisted of nine mem-
bers of Chancery and was to care for such matters as de-
manded prompt action or special secrecy. It was guardian of
the executive fund, toward which each chapter paid quarterly
dues for each member in good standing. In important mat-
ters the grand executive committee was empowered to call
general or district conventions composed of the executive
committees of chapters. This system of executive committees
and conventions was only an expedient at its first inception,
but it was destined to take upon itself new significance when
politics began to be discussed by the Order and to play a con-
siderable part in the work of political nativism.
Step by step the evolution of political work in the O. U. A.
can be followed by reference to the proceedings of the grand
executive committee.^ It began its official record late in 1849
with the coming of a new Chancery. This was the period
when the O. U. A. was hardly out of the experimental stage.
Though successful thus far in its growth the Order was yet
feeling its way into public favor with hesitation. The work of
the executive committee did not at first touch upon politics in
any way. Its members met occasionally and usually dis-
cussed plans for extending the Order into other states and for
supporting an organ of the Order. During 1850, however,
the committee twice took action which trenched upon politics
in a tentative way. When the year opened the congressional
struggle over the slavery issue had begun. On February 2d,
Henry Clay wrote to his Whig friends in New York a sug-
gestion for a " Union " mass-meeting,^ and the idea was at
once taken up by them. On February 14th the grand com-
mittee voted to lend its aid to the plan and its members ac-
cordingly helped personally to bring about the Castle Garden
1 All references to official action of the grand executive committee or the Grand
Executive Convention are taken from their minutes.
« Times, 1855, November 28, p. 2.
271] RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES 73
meeting of February 23d. This incident was much magnified
by nativist politicians a few years later in order to gain credit
for the O. U. A.' The second quasi-political move of the
grand committee was in May, 1850. A referendum had been
ordered on the repeal of the school law and an unofficial con-
vention for debate was to be held at Syracuse in July. The
grand committee was inclined to oppose the repeal, but de-
cided to consult the chapters. For this purpose the first of a
long series of grand executive conventions met on May 17th,
and in the course of several sessions voted to uphold the old
law and to send two delegates to the Syracuse convention.
In an entirely harmless and innocent way, therefore, the grand
committee in 1850 began the making of precedents for secret
political action. These precedents were soon followed by a
remarkable evolution of executive organization. In February,
185 1, the Grand Executive Convention adopted rules of pro-
cedure and a password. Practically it erected itself by this
act into a new and uncontemplated governing body standing
over the whole Order side by side with Chancery itself. The
O. U. A. executive work now began to differentiate from the
social work carried on under the direction of Chancery and to
touch hands with political nativism. ^
Putting aside for the moment the evolution of the O. U. A. 1
executive system, due notice may be given to the steady growth ^
of the Order, which though it drew its beginning from the po-
litical nativism of 1843-47 relied for its support upon its ability
to preach patriotism in an effective and enticing manner to the
community at large. The Order was not affected by the col-
lapse of the political party in 1847. I^ went on to form chapter
^fter chapter and to show each year an increasing roll of mem-
bership. Its internal history during the period from 1848 to
1852 is mainly a record of expansion. In 1852 its political
work began to be recognized by the public and the Order at-
tracted to itself more attention than ever before by the rumors
1 E. g., Whitney, p. 276.
^4 POLITICAL NATIVISM [272
to which its actions gave rise. In other states the Order was
not as successful as in New York, but it found a foothold in
one commonwealth after another. On January 16, 1854, a
national Arch-Chancery was organized by delegates from sev-
eral states and the New York Chancery ceased to be the head
of the Order.^ In 1854 the Know-Nothing society in New
York state took a remarkable bound toward ubiquity and the
parent society of the O. U. A. was perforce put somewhat into
the background. It did not suffer by the fact, however, for
the rise of political nativism was a piece of good fortune to be
appreciated. The roll of membership kept on growing as the
nativist political movement took further and further advances.
By the end of 1855 the O. U. A. was at the height of its good
fortune. The ambitious dream of its founders was at last
realized. Its national Arch-Chancery exercised jurisdiction in
sixteen states. In the state of New York a roll of ninety sub-
. ordinate chapters with thousands of members attested the pop-
I ularity of the Order.
^ With the year 1856 the decadence of the Order began as
political nativism halted in its steady progress toward power.
The steady loss of prestige and strength by the Know-Nothing
movement brought a corresponding change in the conditions
of the O. U. A. The membership fell off, slowly at first, but
rapidly as the reaction of public opinion against nativism grew
more apparent. The O. U. A. has left but slight record of this
decay. In September, 1857, it was noted that not half the
chapters of the Order had sent delegates to Chancery.^ Year
by year its membership melted away. The nativist political
movement was drawing to its end, and so thoroughly had the
executive system of the O. U. A. become interlinked with it,
that the brotherhood was being dragged down with the dying
nativist party. A mere shadow of its former strength, the
Order lived to see political nativism end. In October, 1861,
the grand sachem of the day advised a reorganization with the
^ Gildersleeve Coll.
273] ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ SECRET SOCIETIES 75
admission of loyal Protestant foreigners to membership/ but
men's thoughts were fixed upon the great problems of war-
time, and there was no chance for recuperation. By the month
of January, 1863, the whole active membership in New York
city was so small, that it could have met in one room.^ Chap-
ter after chapter went to pieces. Chancery maintained itself
in life, but more and more feebly, until, early in 1866, its
formal meetings closed.^ The chapters also passed out of ex-
istence, but in 1877 some veteran members reorganized in a
social club with the old name of Washington Chapter,
O. U. A.
The enumeration of the various secret societies of New I
York which were agents in building up nativism, and the story ?
of their rise and fall, is a prelude to the narrative of secret po-
litical nativism itself. Without due reference to the existence,
constitution and growth of these organizations, petty as most
of them were, it is impossible to understand the strength
which nativism had in New York city during the period in
which the Know- Nothing Order rose to importance. Every
lodge or chapter of these societies was a center and source of *^^
agitation against the foreign element and the ideas peculiar to '
it. More than that, the agitation was organized, systematic
and incessant, a fact which means very much, indeed. Nativ-
ism existed, as has been shown, continuously in New York
city from the beginning of the century as a popular sentiment,
but it had no means of systematic expression, except when
some political association would force it for the moment into
sudden action, followed by eclipse as the association suc-
* Gildersleeve Coll.
' List of grand-sachems of New York state : John Harper, 1845 J Simeon Bald-
win, 1845; Thomas R. Whitney, 1846; Daniel Talmage, 1847, 1848; Jesse
Reed, 1849; John L. Vandewater, 1850; William W. Osborne, 185 1; Edward
B. Brush, 1852; Thomas R. Whitney, 1853 ; F. M. Butler, 1854; F. C. Wagner,
1855; Laban C. Stiles, 1856; William B. Lewis, 1857 ; Edwin R. Sproul, 1858;
James A. Lucas, 1859 ; John R. Voorhis, i860; William E. Blakeney, 1861 ; W.
S. Skinner, 1862; Charles E. Gildersleeve, 1863, 1864, 1865,
^6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [274
cumbed to mightier rivals. The nativist secret societies acted
as conservators of the sentiment, drawing it together, massing it
and sending it forth again to find such expression as it could.
They were not secure against revulsion of public feeling, as
their history shows, but they were secure against the enmity
of politicians. The political leaders had no weapons to use
against social movements of the form in which nativism was em-
. bodied up to the time that it attempted to pose as a political
[party.
When the American Republican movement passed away, in
1847, there were still in the community the old feelings of
racial antipathy whose strength and depth is not to be meas-
ured by the poll of any election. It was these feelings on
which the new nativist societies relied for their earlier growth.
In 1848 and the years suceeding the people of America were
deeply interested in the European uprisings. American
thought interpreted the events of the day as efforts toward a
broader civil and religious liberty, and American opinion
watched the struggle between absolutism and revolution with
the keenest interest and sympathy. In that struggle the per-
sonality of Pope Pius IX. stood forth prominently as that of
an arbiter whose word might make or mar the plan for
which the revolutionists seemed striving. When, therefore, it
was definitely seen that the Pope had gone over to reactionary
ideas, the comments were such that Bishop Hughes felt im-
pelled to use his pen in defense of papal acts.^ Then arose
the old nativist argument that Catholics could not at the same
time approve papal absolutism in Europe, and be honestly
faithful to republicanism in America. The coming of Kossuth
in 185 1 perpetuated the discussion, for the Catholic bishop
caused more comment by refusing to join in the hero-worship
of the hour. These events occurred in the years when the
nativist societies were growing, and the public was not dis-
posed to look unkindly upon the new exponents of American
1 Kehoe, ii, p. 776.
2^5] RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES yy
ideas. Had the new societies made any pretence at open po-
litical expression, the popular feeling toward them might pos-
sibly have been different, but nothing of the sort was yet
hinted. The O. U. A. was the typical society of the hour, and
it did not talk politics.
The gradual evolution of the new political nativism had
nevertheless begun. Even while Bishop Hughes was penning
his defense of papal policy, the executive bodies of the O. U. A.
were throwing their influence in support of the public school
system, to which the bishop was opposed. It was in the fall
of 1850 that O, U. A. men applied the principles of their Order
to politics by voting against that repeal ot the school law
which Bishop Hughes desired.^ As yet they had no political
machinery to direct their vote, but that, too, was being planned
by busy brains, and within a very few months would take up
its work. The year 1850 was the one in which the new grand
executive committee began to feel its way toward political
action, which would depend for its success upon the machinery
of a secret society. The fundamental law of the O. U. A. had
nothing in it that would condemn common action by the mem-
bership in political matters, nor that would prevent them from
using the regular machinery of the Order for that purpose if
desired. The preamble of the constitution of 1848 had a para-
graph on the relation of the Order to politics, but it did not
discourage political action. It was as follows : ^
We disclaim all association with party politics. "We hold no connection with
party men. But we avow distinctly our purpose of doing whatever may seem best
to us for sustaining our national institutions, for upholding our national liberties,
and for freeing them wholly from all foreign and deleterious influences whatever.
,, The meeting of the first Grand Executive Convention of the
Order, on May 17, 1850, was the beginning of the work of
organizing a new executive mechanism. At that session sev-
eral of the chapters of the Order were not represented, and in
consequence a committee was appointed to see that those chap-
1 Whitney, p. 278. » O. U. A., 1849, April 21.
^8 POLITICAL NATIVISM [276
ters should appoint executive committees in order to be repre-
sented in Convention. By the end of the year, accordingly,
every chapter of the organization had its delegates. Then
began a rapid evolution. On February 17, 1 85 1, the Conven-
tion adopted rules of procedure and a pass-word system, which
gave it secrecy in its workings. Later in the year it took up
a plan for organizing the voters of the Order, and eventually
completed its work, on December 16, 185 i, by the adoption of
a code of fifteen rules which mapped out a new and secret
system of political work. Henceforth the political activity of
the O. U. A. was to be managed by a mechanism which seemed
remarkably well adapted to the purposes for which it existed.
The new machine was not completed in time to be used in the
fall campaign of 185 1. At the November election there was,
nevertheless, an evidence of O. U. A. activity. It happened
that Henry Storms, one of the nominees on the Democratic
state ticket, was a member of the O. U. A. That fact becom-
ing known to the foreign element, he was roundly denounced
by them and threats made of his defeat. As a matter of mere
comradeship, the United Americans rallied to his support and
were able to balance the effect of foreign hostility. ^
Under the new executive system =" all political matters fell
under the control of the Executive Convention, composed of
delegates from the chapters and acting under pledge of strict
secrecy. The Convention shared power with a cabinet,
namely, the grand executive committee. This cabinet was
made up of nine men, of whom three retired annually. The
members owed their appointment to Chancery, which was
outside of the pohtical mechanism. The committee was de-
pendent on the Convention for moral support in all important
moves, but at the same time its position was such that it could
usually wield some influence over the larger body. This
power on its part was due to three facts : first, the committee
* Republic y 1852, July.
' This description is drawn from the executive records.
2yf\ RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES yg
held sole control of the executive fund ; second, its tenure was
not controlled by the Convention; third, the members of the
committee were also members of the Convention. The com-
mittee and Convention were checks upon each other. The
jurisdiction of the executive bodies extended over the whole
state. Every chapter in the state was entitled to representa-
tion in Convention, although as a matter of fact, very few
chapters outside of New York city really sent delegates. For
matters that concerned only portions of the Order's member-
ship, a system of subordinate conventions was created. In
each county the chapters in that county could have executive
conventions. The same was true of legislative districts.
Over them all stood the Grand Executive Convention as
supreme control. The manner in which the Convention was
constituted favored its grasp at power. Had its individual
members been merely delegates chosen by their chapters for
no other purpose than to meet in Convention, their decisions
might or might not have been accepted when reported back
to the chapters from which the delegates came, but the Con-
vention members were more than mere delegates. The Con-
vention was really a mass meeting of the executive committees
of the several chapters. Each member of it was an officer in
his own chapter clothed with executive power and discretion.
A mandate of the Convention could be carried out by the
members of it and did not need to be reported back to the
chapters for debate or approval. In practice an effort was
made to keep political matters outside the sphere of chapter
action. The old rule that no member of the Order should be
in any way pledged as to his political conduct remained un-
altered. A member of the Order was entitled to full inde-
pendence as to his own vote. Over him the executive com-
mittee of his chapter had no power beyond mere suggestion.
The Executive Convention therefore had this drawback, that
its members must depend largely on their own personal influ-
ence in carrying out a political plan where the votes of the
3o POLITICAL AATIV/SM [278
Order were essential. The O. U. A. executive system is an
interesting example of political organization. Unfortunately, it
never had the opportunity for free and full development. It
had hardly been put in working order when the rival society
of the Know-Nothings, with its much simpler mechanism and
more thorough-going policy, attracted political workers to its
ranks.
The political action of the O. U. A. executive system was
intended to be strictly on nativist lines. One of the provisions
in the fifteen rules of December was to the effect that the
chapter executives should not use their influence or their
funds for party purposes, but only for the purpose of opposing
foreign influence at the polls. Another rule ordered that exe-
cutive work should be carried on with secrecy, and should not
be in the name of the Order. The precise method of work
was laid out in another rule as follows :
Rule Nine : Whenever it shall be deemed necessary for the Order to aid in the
choice of men for public office through the suffrages of the people, it shall be the
duty of each executive committee to call together the members of the Order in their
district prior to the usual primary elections or nominations, and determine upon suita-
ble candidates of each party or either, as they may determine. It will be the duty of
the members to assemble at the times and places of holding the primary meetings
of such party or parties, and there use their influence in obtaining the nomination
of the candidates they have selected. If the nominations are secured and ratified
our cause will triumph, whichever party may be successful. Should the members
of the Order nominate or select candidates already in the field, nominated by one
party only, it will be the duty of every brother to sustain that selection independent
of any party consideration.
The formulation of Rule Nine by the Executive Convention
was a most significant step. It is the first authentic land-
mark in the history of what came to be known a few years
later as " dark-lantern politics." Popular thought has laid the
responsibility for secret politics upon the Know-Nothing
Order, but all evidence now extant seems to show that in Decem-
ber, 1 85 1, when these rules were adopted by the O. U. A., the
so-called Know-Nothing Order was aneglectable quantity. It
may perhaps have had forty members, but it was utterly
279] RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES gj
powerless and petty. The responsibility of introducing secret
methods into New York politics must rest upon the greater
society of the United Americans, whose membership at this
time was numbered by thousands.
The new executive system of the O. U. A. was ready in time
for the campaign of 1852. It was presidential year, and the
work of politics began with the primaries held to select dele-
gates to the preliminary conventions. On May 8th, the Exe-
cutive Convention took its first formal step in the actual use
of its new system. Resolutions in regard to presidential aspi-
rants were passed after much debate and opposition. The
resolutions recommended the chapter executive committees to
use their influence at the party primaries toward the nomina-
tion of Millard Fillmore by the Whigs and the nomination of
General Cass by the Democrats. Unfortunately, neither of
the O. U. A. favorites secured the prize, and the Executive
Convention refused to endorse either one of the nominees
actually chosen by the great parties. The Convention also
refused to endorse the nomination of Daniel Webster by the
Native American Convention held at Trenton, New Jersey,
in July. The Convention seems not to have attempted to in-
fluence the selection of state tickets by the great parties.
In regard to local tickets in New York city, the O. U. A.
was able to exercise more effective judgment. In relation to
these, there was a loosely organized nativist movement which
expressed itself partly through the secret system of the O. U. A.
and partly through an open movement that based itself on the
idea of city reform. The same men were behind both forms
of effort. It is at this time that Thomas R.Whitney comes to
the front as a nativist politician. He was one of those who
brought to the work of the secret society experience gained in
the old movement of the American Republicans. During the
whole Know- Nothing period he was prominent, but was espec-
ially representative of the O. U. A. and might be called the
leading man of that organization. Whitney was one of the group
S2 POLITICAL NATIVISM ("280
of nativists who organized the City Reform League, in Septem-
ber, 1852, to take a part in the fall campaign.' The League
did not announce any nativist principles. On October nth,
the Executive Convention of the secret order met to pass upon
the local tickets. It did not adopt nominees for all the offices,
but picked out eleven names, mostly those of Whig candidates."
Then, a little later, the Reform League also went through the
work of nomination and supplemented the convention ticket
by naming candidates for four offices which the Convention
had passed over.3 All this preparation for organizing the
O. U. A. vote did not go on without some hint of it reaching
the outer world. As early as July rumors were current of
action by the Order, and later on some of the New York
papers stigmatized the Reform League as an offspring of na-
tivism.4 In general, however, the daily press acted as if ignor-
ant of the whole matter, and when the votes were counted they
were justified for their silence by the weakness of the effort
which had been made. The political groups stood as fol-
lows:
Democratic Party about 31,250 votes.
Whig Party about 23,800 votes.
City-reform movement about 1,480 votes.
Nativist movement about 1,480 votes.
Temperance movement about 1,260 votes.
Anti-slavery movement about 140 votes.
The importance of this campaign for nativism was merely
that it had made a beginning. It was yet a very long way
^ Posty 1852, October 5, p. 2.
'Judge Supreme Court, Charles P. Kirkland ; Judge Superior Court, John L.
Mason ; Sheriff, John Orser ; Clerk, George W. Riblet ; Corp. Counsel, Ogden
Hoflfman ; Almshouse Gov'r, Washington Smith ; Street Comm'r, John J. Doane ;
Coroners: Robert Gamble, Joseph Hilton, Charles Missing, Bern L. Budd.
» Mayor, Jacob A. Westervelt ; Comptroller, Azariah C. Flagg ; Inspector,
John H. Griscom ; Repairs Comm'r, William Adams ; Almshouse Gov'r, Wash-
ington Smith.
*■ Republic, 1852, December.
28 1] RISE OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES g^
from holding a balance of power. The Executive Convention
had not met a very enthusiastic response from the Order in its
effort to organize a vote. Probably the vote cast for the
Convention's ticket represented about one-fifth of the voting
strength of the Order. The newly-discovered organization oi
Charles B. Allen and his friends fell into the hands of members
of the O. U. A. during the year 1852 and was growing. Prob-
ably it threw what little strength it possessed to the aid of the
nativist ticket in this election of 1852, but there is no record
of it. Before another campaign came round, however, the little
organization had grown into a force that distracted public at-
tention entirely from the executive work of the United Amer-
icans.
y
CHAPTER IV
RISE OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER, 1 85 3-54
By the close of 1852 the nativist secret societies were rep-
I resented in New York city and Brooklyn by some sixty dif-
f ferent bodies. Under the circumstances a popular revival of
nativism in some form was a logical sequence. It appeared
first in the form of attacks upon the Catholic church early in
the next year. The English press supplied the stimulus. The
story came across the sea of the Madiai family in Tuscany,
said to have been cruelly imprisoned for reading the Protest-
ant Bible, and the American public expressed its horror suita-
bly in public meetings, not forgetting to say many interesting
and bitter things about the Roman church at the same time.
Editorials and open letters on the subject came into print in
large numbers, and their general tenor was that the Catholic
church, judged by its own acts, was a foe to religious liberty.
Another matter came before the public at the same time. The
news dispatches from various American cities told how the
Catholic bishops, with a curious similarity of effort, were attack-
ing the American non-sectarian school system. The convic-
tion spread, and was often expressed, that there was some sort
of concerted plan on foot for the modification of the public
school system to suit the wishes of the Roman church. This
also disturbed a nervous public. While these things were
being discussed there came to New York an Italian orator,
Alessandro Gavazzi. He had been a priest and teacher in
Italy, and had become revolutionary under the liberalism of
Pius IX. When the revolution failed he fled to England and
abjured Catholicism. His visit to America was for the pur-
84 [282
283] ^^-^^ OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER gj
pose of delivering addresses, and the time was opportune,
both for him and for the nativist societies who gave him wel-
come. Gavazzi was viewed by the public in something the
same light as the hero, Kossuth, only, of course, the Italian
had played a more humble part in the drama of revolution.
He was considered to be sincere at least, and his bitter denun-
ciation of the Catholic church, continued week after week,
made a deep impression upon the people. Nativism expanded
visibly under the influence of his work. An evidence of its!
existence was the Ninth ward riot of July 4th, in which an
Irish procession was broken up, and its members driven from I
the streets.
In midsummer nativism began to take political form in
preparation for the fall campaign. The men who began the
movement at this time seem to have acted wholly independ-
ently of nativist secret societies. Their plan was for an open
organization opposed to foreign ideas, but tolerant of foreign-
ers who embraced American views. The first meeting was
held about the first of August.^ The new movement was
launched under the name of the American Party, and with
a platform which touched upon most of the issues of the
day.^ Among other things the platform stood for a free non-
sectarian school system, restricted naturalization, Bible-read-
ing in public schools, and non-clerical control of all property
held for church uses. These ideas were sufficient to stamp
the new party as a nativist one. It began to organize in much
the same way as the American Republicans had done in 1843,
but its experience was different. For two or three weeks all
went well. A provisional committee began the work of or-
-^ganizing the wards. On August 17 the Ninth ward, where
the recent riot had occurred, was organized,'^ and others also
shortly after. Hardly had the movement gotten under way
1 Herald, 1853, August 3, p. 4, August 18, p. i.
' Herald, 1853, August 18, p. i.
S6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [284
when an element of extremists came in, which would be satis-
fied with nothing less than general proscription of all the for-
eign-born.^ Their views clashed with those of the moderate
men who had fathered the new party. A conflict of ideas re-
sulted, and the expansion of the party ceased as disputes
began. Early in October the movement broke down. Some
of its leaders went into the city- reform movement of the year.
Their party disappeared.
The time had now come for the advent of the secret Order
of the Star-Spangled Banner in effective political work. This
society had grown steadily during 1852 and the early months
of 1853, t)u.t without coming into the notice of the general
public. Its membership had been recruited until it reached
into the thousands. That portion of the O. U. A. which was
interested in politics joined the ranks of the newer order, at-
tracted by its more thorough-going methods, and they were
ready to use its machinery for the campaign work of 1853.
The methods which were followed in the political work of this
year were the same which had been formulated for the execu-
tive work of the O. U. A., and which had been used in the
preceding campaign. They included a systematic effort to
control, first, the party caucuses, then the party conventions,
then the election itself. There is no record of the secret work
of the Order of the Star- Spangled Banner in this campaign.
The executive records of the O. U. A. seem to indicate that
the organization of the nativist vote was practically left to the
younger order. The existence of some sort of nativist influ-
ence began to be known when the Whig primaries met early
in October, for there were tickets of nativist make-up put for-
ward in several of the ward caucuses.'' Very little notice was
taken of this, however, for ward politics often showed petty
phenomena of one sort or another, and the break-up of the
abortive American Party was now going on, indicating the fu-
1 Times y 1853, August 31, p. 3.
' Tribune, 1853, October 12, p. 5.
285] ^^^^ O^ ^^^^ KNOW- VO THING ORDER g"^
tility of political nativisrn. Nativist influence attracted more
attention when the Whig senatorial conventions met, for it put
forward Thomas R. Whitney in one district, and forced him
upon the convention despite a bitter opposition. Once
more the nativist influence came into view at the City* Reform
mass-convention of October 31st, which had been called to
ratify a Reform ticket. The presence of two Irish lawyers
upon the proposed ticket made it objectionable to nativists.
At the mass-convention, accordingly, the ticket was refused
ratification, and had to be withdrawn. This action, which
showed clearly that the nativists were well organized for con-
certed effort, was ascribed by the press to the O. U. A.^ Thus
far the existence of the Know-Nothing society seems not to
have been known to the public. These outcroppings of
nativist influence which the daily press noted were really mere
hints of the systematic work which was being silently done
by the secret orders. It was in the Whig Party that their in* )
fluence was most apparent. All facts indicate that the most j ^
of the nativists at this time were Whigs. After the conven-
tions of the older parties had been held the Order of the Star-
Spangled Banner selected its own list of nominees from the
tickets made by the conventions. It made for itself a state
ticket, judiciary and city tickets,'* together with a few legisla-
tive nominations. The Executive Convention of the O. U. A.
made selections on November 2d, but its action was far less
sweeping. It disapproved one nominee on the Whig state
ticket, and endorsed seven judicial and legislative candidates,
but this was all. So far as the Convention went, it concurred
with the secret ticket of its sister order. It is very probable
that the harmonious action of the two secret societies in this
and other campaigns of the time was due to the fact that
the same men had control of both machines.
^ Jour. Commerce, 1853, November i, p. 2.
'Judge Supreme Court, Charles P. Kirkland; Justices Superior Court, John
Duer, Murray Hoffman, Peter Y. Cutler; Judge Common Pleas, George P. Nel-
son; District Attorney, Chauncey Shaffer; Almshouse Gov'r, William S. Duke.
88 POLITICAL NATIVISM [286
In the campaign of 1853 the work of the nativist politicians
was in great measure unsuspected by the general public.
Some hints of it must necessarily leak out, nevertheless, and
those who were interested in politics became well aware that
organized nativism was in the field. The work of the nativist
element was most open in the contest for the place of district
attorney. Blunt, the Whig incumbent of the office, was a
candidate for re-election, but nativists disapproved of his lack
of zeal in the cases arising out of the Ninth ward riot, and
they supported against him a popular Democratic nominee.
This hostility to Blunt attracted notice. Close upon election
the information passed around that the new influence in local
politics was a political secret society wholly distinct from the
O. U. A. This was the first time that the existence of an un-
known society had been recognized by the general public. As
to the name, numbers and nature of the mysterious society no
one as yet had information, but almost at once a name was
supplied for it. It began to be called the " Know-Nothing "
Order in popular speech, because, as the daily press explained,
the members professed to know nothing about it when ques-
tioned. Sometimes, later on, the authorship of the phrase was
ascribed to E. Z. C. Judson, otherwise " Ned Buntline," who
was a conspicuous exponent of radical nativism at this time.
Whatever its origin, the name was used by the New York
Tribune on November loth, and this was perhaps its first ap-
pearance in print. It became common phrase as soon as the
press adopted it.
The Know-Nothing state ticket of 1853 was of little signifi-
cance in the final results of election, for the success of the Whig
Party in the state campaign was a foregone conclusion on
account of a split in the state Democracy. The ticket was
only a record of nativist strength. The personnel of the first
Know-Nothing state ticket included six Whigs and four Dem-
ocrats selected from the state tickets of the older parties. It
was as follows :
28/] R^S^ OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER gg
Sec'y of State George W. Clinton of Erie.
Comptroller James W. Cook of Saratoga.
Treasurer . Winslow C. Watson of Essex.
Attorney-General Ogden Hoffman of New York.
Engineer John T. Clark of Oneida.
Canal Commis'r Cornelius Gardinier of Montgomery.
Prison Inspector Miles W. Bennett of Onondaga.
Judge, C't of Appeals .... Hiram Denio of Oneida.
Judge, C't of Appeals .... George Wood of Kings.
Clerk, C't of Appeals .... Benjamin F. Harwood of Livingston.
In support of this the secret orders cast a vote that repre-
sented very fairly the strength of their movement so far as it
had developed. Their vote was as yet confined mostly to the
counties of New York and Kings. Although it made a very
noticeable difference in the poll of the ticket locally, it yet was
lost in the greater aggregate of the state canvass complete.
The Whigs carried the state by 6o,oco plurality. The
averages of parties for the state at large was as follows :
Whig Party about 161,700 votes.
Soft Shell Democrats about 95,600 votes.
Hard- Shell Democrats about 94,800 votes.
Free Democrats about 14,600 votes.
Nativist movement ^ about 2,000 votes.
In the contest for city offices the nativist vote had much
more importance. The break in the Democratic Party had
made the Whig organization the strongest element in city
politics, and even on the closely contested place of district
attorney, the nativists were unable to overcome Whig strength,
but they came fairly close to it. It was said that only the en-
dorsement of Blunt at the last moment by one of the nativist
societies saved him from defeat.'^ The poll of the local can-
vass gave the following averages : 3
^ These figures underestimate the nativist vote in the state because the nativist
split-ticket had too small a following in proportion to the total state vote to make
it accurately distinctive in figuring averages.
^Herald, 1854, June 11, p. 4. ' Comm. Advertiser, 1853, December 5.
^ POLITICAL N ATI VIS M [288
Whig Party about 16,400 votes.
Hard-Shell Democrats about 13,110 votes.
Soft-Shell Democrats about 1 1,330 votes.
Nativist movement about 4,220 votes.
Temperance movement about 400 votes.
The election showed that the strength of poHtical nativism
had trebled during the twelve months since the campaign of
1852. This may be ascribed partly to the increase of nativist
sentiment by the popular discussion of the year, partly also to
the preaching of the secret societies, and partly to the con-
fusion of the local politics of New York city consequent on
the split in the Democracy. The nature of the new nativist
phenomena was so little understood that it received very little
attention from the local press. Some of the papers referred
briefly to the existence of a secret mixed ticket. The Tribune^
always unfriendly to nativism, described the secret nomi-
nations more fully. ** This ticket," it said, ** is the work
of the managers of a secret organization growing out of the
O. U. A., but ostensibly disconnected therewith. It is in fact
a modified or rather a disguised form of Native Americanism
aiming to control the elections of our city for the benefit of its
leaders." ^ A few days after this the Tribune again touched
upon the new movement. " In the present instance it is per-
fectly well understood that the Know-Nothing organization is
but a new dodge of protean nativism. It is essentially anti-
foreign, especially anti-Irish and anti-Catholic." * Before the
close of November, as the result of its share in the campaign,
the aims and existence of the secret order were well known,
although its plan of organization was yet a mystery to all out-
side its ranks.
The secret society existed during 1853 ^^ ^^^ form. One
branch was organized under a supervisory body called the
State Wigwam and the other under a like body called the
* Tribune , 1853, November 10, p. 4.
' Tribune, 1853, November 16, p. 4.
289] ^'^^^ O^ ^-^^' KNOW-NOTHING ORDER qj
Grand Council.^ In each case these supervisory bodies were
probably identical with the oldest wigwam or council of the
respective branches.* The O. U. A. began its expansion under
an arrangement of this kind. The date of December 7, 1853,
given for the organization of the Grand Council by one
authority ,3 possibly indicates the transition to a representative
body like that which occurred in the O. U. A. in 1845. The
Know-Nothing society was thus a divided body whose two
branches were engaged in earnest rivalry, though not neces-
sarily a hostile rivalry. In this dual form the society began
very early to find establishment in neighboring states where
nativist feeling existed. There was apparently no systematic
attempt to extend the society outside of New York, for its
aims were primarily local, but in one way or another there
had been visitors from other states admitted into the Order
and they had duplicated in their own cities the methods whose
operations they had seen in New York.** In New Jersey,
Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ohio, there were
more or less flourishing offshoots of the society in existence
by the fall of 1853.5 This expansion is said to have brought
about an agreement between the two separated branches in
regard to the growth of the society outside of New York.
Under the compact the wigwam organization was to have the
sole right of issuing new charters in the region north and east
of New York city, while the council organization was to have
the same right over the region to the south and west.^ This
arrangement, if it were really made, foreshadowed a national
organization for the society, but as yet, and for some months
to come, there was probably no real bond between the
branches in the different states. There was no federal body
to wield power. Whatever coherence there was must have
rested solely on voluntary pledges between the scattered
groups.
1 See p. 67. * Herald, 1854, December 20, p. i.
■ Whitney, p. 284. * Carroll, p. 269.
* Whitney, p. 284 ; Carroll, p. 270. * Carroll, p. 269.
p2 POLITICAL NATIVISM [290
Scarcely had the elections of 1853 passed by when events
f brought the new secret organization to the front in the engag-
4.. ing role of champion of free speech. Its opportunity for this
came with the breaking out of trouble over the anti-Catholic
j^ street preachers. Gavazzi's harangues against the church had
inspired less talented imitators in some of those cities which
were storm-centers of nativism. In Baltimore and Louisville,
notably, the nativist feeling had been stirred by the incendiary
harangues of street preachers during the summer of 1853. In
New York city the custom of street preaching was an old
one, but hitherto harmless. Now the tendency to attack the
Roman church excited the notice of the foreign element,
and the street sermons gave rise to small conflicts between
the rougher representatives of the opposing faiths. This
called the attention of the police to the street preachers
and plans were laid to maintain order. On Sunday, Decem-
ber nth, the police accordingly interfered and arrested
a preacher named Daniel Parsons who had been talking on
successive Sundays at the shipyards and wharves of the east
side. This act aroused a storm. The word passed around
that Parsons' arrest had been made to placate the Catholics.
Very soon an angry mob was surging round the mayor's
house, demanding the man's release. One of the city judges
averted danger by freeing the prisoner and then the mob
dispersed.
On Wednesday following the arrest hand-bills scattered
through the city called the people to a mass-meeting for up-
holding free speech. The call was unsigned, but it was plainly
a nativist move. When evening came there were thousands
oi people massed in the moonlight at City Hall Park to an-
swer the call. The meeting itself was carried through
smoothly by those in charge. The presiding officer was a
city merchant, James W. Barker, who had joined the Know-
Nothings only a few months before,' but who was already
1 Tribune^ 1855, June 4, p. 5.
291] J^IS^ OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER q^
prominent in the secret organization. This was his first pub-
he appearance as a nativist leader. The speeches and reso-
lutions of the meeting took as their theme the American right
of free speech, and charged the city authorities with violating
that right to please the Roman church. The effect of the
meeting was to excite both the native and the foreign element,
and for a few days there was a stirring that looked toward
strife. Again, as in 1844, the mayor of the city and the Cath-
olic bishop issued their respective proclamations to avert the
danger of racial conflict. When Sunday came round again,
the whole city nervously awaited results, fearing riot. Par-
sons preached that day to an audience of 10,000 persons. He
was somewhat more mild in speech, and no champion of
Catholicism appeared to interrupt, so the throng melted away
peacefully when the talk was done. The right of free speech
was vindicated and the crisis was past.
This series of incidents made a dramatic episode in the
local history of nativism. In after years there lived a tradi-
tion that the Know-Nothing Order had its origin amid these
events. At the time of its happening it forced upon the com-
munity a sudden realization that the mysterious Know-Noth-
ing Order was a strong, energetic and watchful force. The
growth of the nativist societies received a new impulse. New
nativist journals announced themselves to the public eye.
New speakers sprang out of obscurity to attack the Catholic
church. On every hand there were patent signs of popular
sympathy. The O. U. A. was the greatest of the nativist so-
cieties, and the visible symbol of nativism. On February 22,
1854, it made a formal display of its strength. An immense
procession of its chapters, interspersed with nativist military
companies, wound through the city streets with waving ban-
ners and patriotic devices. The procession was designedly an
exhibit of organized nativism for the benefit of the foreign ele-
ment, and it won prestige for the movement in the eyes of
native and foreign-born alike. All through the earlier months
Q4 POLITICAL NATIVISxM [292
of 1854, and up to the opening of the fall campaign, the ideas
of nativism persistently forced themselves to the front in the
life of the city. The unpopularity of the Irish people grew
more intense under the stimulus of the warfare which was
\^ being made upon them. The leaders of nativism did not
>^ countenance anything that leaned toward violence, but the
younger and the rougher elements of the community rather
welcomed a pretext for disturbance and conflict. Frequent
petty collisions were reported by the daily press during the
winter and spring months, and these grew in violence until, by
June, they were seriously called riots. The street preachers
( were in part responsible for the disturbances.
Amid these scenes a new nativist secret society came to
light, which was in time to become a factor in the political
nativism of the city. At its inception, however, it was
rather social than political. Some time during the spring
of 1854 a young man named WiUiam W. Patten con-
ceived the idea of founding a nativist secret society for
the younger men who were ineligible to the Know-Noth-
ing organization. He drew up a ritual with the aid of an
anti-masonic book, and called his new society the Order of
Free and Accepted Americans.^ Around Patten there was
quickly gathered a large company of the younger men. They
did not use the real name of their order, but usually called it
the Order of the American Star, from its emblem, a five-
pointed star bearing in its center the figure 6y. Initiates
knew that this number referred to the age of Washington at
his death. Sometimes the members were called the " United
Brethren," but more often they were known as the " Wide-
Awakes," from their rallying-cry. It was this society whose
members were at the front in the street disturbances and
1 The beginnings of this society were described in a pamphlet of 1855, and the
ritual was given in full. Original copy in Gildersleeve Coll. Reprint in Tribune,
1855, September 5, p. 7. See also a distorted reference in Tribune, 1855, May
29, p. 5.
293] ^"^^-^ ^^^ ^^^■' ^"^^'(^^-^'O THING ORDER gc
which gave to a certain style of hat the name of the " wide-
awake," because favored by the members. By the middle of
June the white felt " wide-awake" hats were everywhere
deemed the insignia of nativism/ and exposed the wearers to
attack from Irishmen at very short notice.
The Irish- Catholic population thoroughly realized by thiTl
time the extent of the antipathy which was directed against >' «
them. With the masses it aroused only a blind anger, but T--
some of the better-educated leaders of the group acknowledged
that the nativist feeling was not without basis, and counseled j
their fellow-countrymen to change their habits. An open let-
ter from Editor Lynch of the Irish- American is an example of
these utterances, and it gives also the following interesting
summary of the complaints against the Irish - Catholic
element : '
" Fellow countrymen and friends : I desire to point your special and emphatic
attention to the approaching elections. You have at present opposed to you a
bitter, inimical and powerful secret society called the Know-Nothings ; opposed
to you, to us Irishmen particularly, on the grounds that we are impudent and vora-
cious cormorants of petty places under government ; that we are ignorant, turbu-
lent and brutal ; that we are led by the nose and entirely controlled by our clergy ;
that we are willing subjects of a foreign prince, the Pope ; that we are only lip-
republicans ; that we are not worthy of the franchise ; that by the largeness of our
▼ote and the clannishness of our habits and dispositions we rule or aspire to rule in
America ; that we are drunkards and criminals ; that we fill the workhouses and
prisons ; that we heap up taxes on industrious and sober and thrifty citizens ; and
that for these and other reasons we should be deposed from our citizenship, and in
fact rooted out of this American nation as a body by every fair and foul means :
And I can tell you that outside the secret organization of the Know-Nothings, out-
side and beyond its influence and power, an anti Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment
prevails," etc., etc.
There was, in fact, a general assault all along the line upon |
the objectionable people during 1854. Not only were the *
secret societies, the Protestant clergy and the preachers of the r
streets attacking the foreign presence, but the attacks were
^ Times, 1854, June 12, p. 4.
' Times, 1854, August 30, p. 2.
0 POLITICAL N ATI VIS M [204
finding their way into print in all forms. There were a half-
dozen periodicals devoted specially to nativism, and these were
reinforced by printed pamphlets and nativist books. Popular
fiction grew up to meet the new demand, and cheap novel-
writers found new materials in the woes of captive nuns and
the wiles of Jesuit brothers. The nativist sentiment entered
into the homes and daily thoughts of the people as never
before. The title of Know-Nothing took on a broad meaning
under these conditions that made it practically synonymous
with nativist without reference to membership in the mysterious
I society from whence the name came.
"^ Public curiosity was all agog over the unknown organiza-
r tion of the Know-Nothings. Wild stories flew about, telling
\ of thousands of armed men secretly banded for unknown pur-
I poses.' Neither the Irish leaders nor the local politicians
liked the new movement, for both were apprehensive of its
effects upon their plans. These two classes earnestly watched
for real knowledge of the secret society. In January of
1854 a Catholic paper succeeded in getting and printing the
constitution of the Guard of Liberty, an organization which
was supposed for a time to be the unknown Know-Nothing
Order.^ Soon, however, it was learned that the Guard was
only a nativist military society of some 300 members, which
had a secret ritual.3 It was not the much-sought order after
all. The first real inklings of the nature of the Know- Noth-
ing secret system came to the New York newspapers from
New Orleans and Philadelphia papers, in which cities the secret
order was also an object of curiosity. Certain papers in those
cities learned the requirements for admission to the society, the
number of its degrees and certain of its secret signs and
words. These revelations were copied in March, 1854, by
the New York Tribtme, whose editor was always ready to at-
tack nativism.'^ These uncorroborated accounts were not
1 Times, 1853. December 23, p. 8. "^Herald, 1854, January 30, p. 2.
^Herald, 1854, February 23, p, i. ♦ Tribune, 1854, March 25, p. 6.
295] ^^^^- OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER g^
enough, however, and the public was still waiting when a curi-
ous case in the local courts promised light upon the inmost
secrets of the unknown company. One John E. Elliott swore
out a warrant against three respectable citizens charging them
with burglary. The actual facts were that Elliott was grand-
secretary of that branch of the Know-Nothings which ad-
hered to the founder, Charles B. Allen, and as such he had
custody of the secret ritual. Suspecting him of an attempt to
sell the ritual a committee of three, one of whom was Allen,
broke into his office and carried away the trunk containing the
official papers.^ These three were the men whom Elliott ac-
cused of burglary. Of all this the public knew nothing ex-
cept that Elliott was an officer of the unknown order and
might make interesting revelations. The interest in the bur-
glary case was intense, but the case balked curiosity com-
pletely. At the second session Elliott failed to appear, and
the charges were quietly dismissed.
Hidden behind its silence through all these months of ques-
tioning the Know-Nothing Order was ever growing. By May ^
1, 1854, there existed in New York state fifty-four scattered
bodies," most of which were located in New York city or in the
counties lying adjacent, where nativist sentiment had been fost-
ered by the O. U. A. and other nativist societies. The spring
elections of 1854 gave opportunity for the rural bodies to use
their power, but nowhere does their presence seem to have at-
tracted notice except in New York and Westchester counties.
It was at this time that the leaders of the secret order in New
York united on a plan to weld together its scattered forces into a
national secret political federation. Outside of New York state
tjiere were branches of the society located in twelve different
commonwealths. Calls were issued for a convention of New
York bodies to meet in May, and for a general convention to
^ Times, 1854, May l8, p. 8 ; May 19, p. 5 ; May 20, pp. 5, 8; Tribune, 1S55
May 20, p. 5.
'-» Times, 1855, March 8, p. 8, March 16, p. 3; May 22, p. 2.
q8 political NATIVISM ["206
meet at the same time. The plan to put aside old differences
was successful. On May nth the delegates of the state com-
pleted the work for which they had been called.^ By their
-action the wigwam branch and the council branch were united
under a single state body called the Grand Council of the
State of New York. Only one body, the Seventeenth ward
council, with 300 members, refused to acquiesce."* The officers
of the new Grand Council were all residents of New York city:
James W. Barker, president ; Joseph E. Ebling, vice-president ;
Joseph S. Taylor, treasurer, and Henry Farrington, secretary .^
The jurisdiction of the body covered the state. On May 14th
the general convention met, with delegates present from New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland,
Virginia, District of Columbia and Ohio.-* It adjourned after
making arrangements for a fuller gathering later. On June
14th another general convention was held by delegates from
thirteen states, who gathered at New York city and organized
themselves as a Grand Council of the United States. Of this
body, too, James W. Barker was chosen president-^ On June
17th the delegates completed the organization of the Order by
adopting a constitution and a new ritual.^ Under their hands
the national Grand Council became a permanent body, hold-
ing jurisdiction wherever the Order spread and making unified
action by the whole Order a possibility.
In New York state the re-organization was not intended to
bring with it any alteration in the methods of the past. All
the ultra-secret characteristics of the society were retained and
the old idea of limited political action was kept. The follow-
ing resolutions were passed by the Grand Council of New
York on June 8th in regular session : ^
1 Times, 1855, March 8, p. 8. Also inaccurate account in Herald, 1856, June
3, p. ic.
* Herald, 1854, December 20, p. li. '^ Times, 1854, October 26, p. 5.
* Carroll, p. 270. ^ Ibid. ^ Herald, 1854, September 25, p. 2.
"T Times, 1854, October 23, p. i ; Herald, 1854, November 4, p. i.
297] ^^^^ OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER gg
Re^olved^ That the principles of our Order, as laid down in our obligations and
private work, forbid that we should appear before the public in any respect as a
distinct body or known organization, and that, therefore, it is the duty of each
member of the Order to set his face against and to strongly oppose all and every
effort to bring the members of this Order before the public as a distinct political
body.
Resolved^ That the proper constitutional and political theater of action of this
Order as a body is only inside of our respective council rooms, and while our con-
stitution and private work remain as they now are, it is the duty of this Council
and each subordinate council to oppose all efforts to draw us as a body from our
proper sphere, and thus to tempt us to commit a radical and vital wrong to the
grand principles of secrecy upon which the whole superstructure of this organiza-
tion is based.
The essential change which the Order underwent at this
time was in the form of executive management. A number
of executive powers were vested in the presidents of councils
and in the president of the Grand Council. Under one of
these powers Grand President Barker at once appointed depu-
ties for counties and began to build up a systematic expansion
of the society.' In New York city there was also organized
a general executive committee with oversight over the affairs
of the Order in the city.* Under this system the grand presi-
dent of the Order was a strong executive, and Barker became \
the soul of the nativist movement. Under the stimulus of his >
executive genius the Order rapidl}^ spread over the state. Be- ;
tween the dates of May ist and June ist, according to one
authority, the number of councils increased from 54 to 91,
and this increase, due largely to political causes, went on by \
leaps and bounds in the weeks following.^ The Know-Noth- '
ing Order now became a body whose influence extended all \
through the state, and its leaders began to plan for higher
flights of power than nativism had ever before been able to
essay. At the same time the city of New York remained for
a time the center and citadel of the secret order, where its in-
» Times, 1855, March 8, p. 8. 2 Herald, 1854, October 30, p. i.
' Times, 1855, May 22, p, 2.
lOO POLITICAL NATIVISM [298
terests mainly lay. The maintenance of nativist sentiment
there was a vital necessity to the cause of organized nativism.
'^ Leaving the thread of narrative for a time, it is well to see
what manner of society this was which sprang so suddenly
out of vacancy and stirred so deeply the popular thought.
The organization which was created by the Know -Nothing
constitution of 1854 was a political machine which borrowed
some features from the O. U. A., but which was far more cen-
tralized than the latter. The proper name of the society was
that of The Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner.^ It
was a secret, oath-bound brotherhood, whose aims were
wholly political. It had no benefit system or social side in its
scheme of effort. Only those could join who were Americans
born, and who were unconnected, either personally or by fam-
ily ties, with the Catholic system.^^ Its membership was a
graded one of three ranks. The lowest rank included all
members of the Order.3 Admission thereto was gained by
taking the obligation of the first degree. Next above in rank
were those members who were deemed competent to hold
office in the Order.3 Admission was gained by taking the
obligation of the second degree. No one could hold
office in the Order until admitted to this degree. Still higher
in rank stood those members of the Order who were deemed
competent to hold public office in the community .3 Admission
to this class was won by taking the obligation of the third de-
gree. Apparently, no member of the Order could be en-
dorsed for public office unless he had been admitted to the
third degree. The obligation in any one of these three ranks
was conferred upon such persons as might be proposed by a
brother of that degree and found acceptable by a ballot of the
members who already held the degree.*
1 Herald, 1854, September 25, p. 2. * Tribune, 1854, March 25, p. 6.
• Times, 1855, May 29, p. 4.
* Times. 1855, May 22, p. 2; 1856, March 3, p. 3.
299] ^^^^ O^ ^-^^ KNOW-NOTHING ORDER iqI
The general membership of the Order was organized on the
lodge system. Each separate group was called a council, and
the councils in each state were federated under a supervisory
body called a grand council. Over and above the grand
councils stood the Grand Council of the United States, usually
called the National Council. Each subordinate council in-
cluded such members of the Order as resided in some specific
political area. Bach council was designated by a number, and
existed by virtue of a charter granted under the authority of
the Grand Council. It elected its own officers and enacted
its own by-laws, subject always to the written constitutions of
the Grand Council and the National Council. At ordinary
sessions all members of the council sat together as a first-
degree council. Such members as held the second degree
might hold separate session for special business as a second-
degree council.^ Such sessions, in practice, were usually held
after the adjournment of the first-degree body.* Probably
there was also a third-degree council session.^ The officers of
a council bore the ordinary titles of president, vice-president,
and so on. The president was the executive head of the body,
and not merely a presiding officer. He had the custody of
the charter,'* and of the written ritual, and also had general
oversight of political work in the district over which the coun-
cil held authority.
The Grand Council was a representative body composed of
three delegates from each council in the state. The term of
office of each delegate was three years, and one new one was
elected annually in each council.^ In this respect the Grand
Council was copied after the Chancery of the O. U. A. The
Grand Council existed by virtue of a constitution which had
been approved by vote in the subordinate councils, and which
could be altered only after a referendum to the councils. Its
1 Times, 1855, May 22, p. 2. 2 Times, 1855, July ii, p. 3.
» Times, 1855, August 3, p. 3. * Times, 1855, May 22, p. 2.
* Tij?tes, 1854, October 23, p. i ; 1855, May 22, p. 2.
102 POLITICAL NATIVISM [300
meetings were quarterly, with special sessions when required.
In New York state the annual session, at which officers were
elected, took place in February. The Grand Council elected
its own officers and enacted legislation, subject always to its
own constitution and that of the National Council. It en-
forced discipline, interpreted the laws, decided disputes. In
general it directed and co-ordinated the work of the Order
within the state. Its officers bore the same titles as those of
subordinate councils. The president, who was properly
styled grand-president, was presiding officer of the Grand
Council and executive head of the Order. It was his duty to
carry out the orders of the Grand Council, and to exercise
general oversight over the state. The work of expansion
came under his eye. In his hands lay the selection of district
deputies, of whom one was appointed in each county.^ The
president also assumed to appoint traveling deputies. These
deputies were, as their name implies, holders of power vested
in the president, and delegated to them by him. Their special
duty, in practice, was to recruit the Order by calling new
councils into existence, and to maintain enthusiasm in those
already established. They were personal representatives of
the president, and through them the latter kept in touch with
the remote sections.
The Grand Council of the United States, or National Coun-
cil, existed by virtue of a written constitution adopted by gen-
eral convention, and was the highest body in the Know-
Nothing system. It was a representative body composed of
delegates from each state where the Order was existent. It
legislated on matters connected with the secret ritual and also
discussed matters in which the interest of the Order touched
national politics. It could propose amendments to its own
constitution, but they must be ratified by the various grand
councils before they could become effective.
In its methods of council procedure the Know-Nothing
1 Tunes, 1855, May 22, p. 2.
30l] J^^SE OF THE KNOW-NOTHING ORDER 103
society followed the usual ways of secret societies. The ex-
perience of those societies had evolved certain features as
necessary to preserve secrecy in work. These features in-
cluded the use of grips, pass-words, signs, phrases of recog-
nition, signals of distress, test formulae and rallying cries. All
these naturally found a place in the Know- Nothing system.
The experience of other societies had also evolved certain
ceremonial forms. There were special formalities for opening
and closing the session of a secret body, for entering or retiring
from the meeting, for initiating new members and for installing
officers. These, too, found a place in the system of the Know-
Nothings. Besides these features there were some practices
which were peculiar to the Know-Nothing society alone, as a
result of its ultra-secret character. In other secret organiza-
tions the members were not supposed to conceal their con-
nection, but the Know-Nothing system endeavored to aid
its members in doing so. To this end the time and place of
council sessions were not divulged, nor were public notices
issued calling the members together. The custom was to
scatter about small pieces of blank paper cut in shapes pre-
viously agreed upon, as a signal that a meeting was at hand."
To the same end the name of the secret order was not divulged
to the initiate of the first degree. Even though public rumor
did pass around the real name of the society, the first-degree
member could truthfully claim to " know nothing " of any
order of that name.
In its political work the Know-Nothing system was based
on the idea that political policy should be decided in an
orderly way by the general voice, but enforced by the un-
hampered act of single executives. This idea, as applied to
local politics, was well carried out. The Know-Nothing coun-
cil in its best days was, in point of fairness and decency, a
vast improvement over the average party caucus of the time.
Every voter in the council had free expression, and the ulti-
1 Times, 1855, March 17, p. 4; Tribune^ 1854, March 25, p. 6.
I04 POLITICAL NATIVISM T^oa
mate decision was executed by proper officers with energy and
system. The idea was not so well wrought out, however, in
the hastily evolved machinery of the state campaign of 1854.
The Know-Nothing system on this side was weaker than that
used by the regular parties of the day. At the basis of the
political system of the Order was the council, which was in-
tended to control some small political area. In New York
city there was one council for each ward. In smaller cities
a single council might cover several wards. In rural towns a
council might cover as many election districts as expediency
suggested. Such matters as concerned only the voters in the
small area thus covered would be brought up in first-degree
council, debated and decided by vote of those present. Where
there were several councils in one city, there was usually a
general executive committee, chosen annually and composed
of delegates from each council. Local matters pertaining to
the whole city would be in this case debated and decided pro-
visionally in general committee and then referred back to the
various councils for approval or disapproval. In New York
city the general committee was composed of sixty-six members,
being three from each ward council.' For counties and legis-
lative districts a convention system was devised. For the
handling of political matters for the state at large the Order
had no adequate system. The Grand Council took upon itself
the function of a convention, but the three-year tenure of its
members and the lack of any complete or proportionate repre-
sentation made its acts, very properly, open to bitter criticism.
The execution of such decisions as were formulated by the
councils or the representative bodies of the Order was entrusted
to specially chosen officials. In New York city these officials
formed an executive hierarchy acting under an order issued by
the general executive committee on July 17, 1854.^ Under this
order the Know-Nothing voters in each ward were subdivided
^Herald, 1854, October 30, p. i ; Times, 1855, July 19, p. 3.
' Herald, 1854, October 30, p. i.
303] ^^^^ ^^ '^^^ KNOW-NOTHING ORDER jqc
by election districts, and these groups again subdivided into
groups of ten. Over the whole ward stood the president of
the ward council as executive officer, with the corresponding
secretary of the council as his executive assistant. Over each
election district was a " superintendent," appointed by and re-
sponsible to the president, who could remove him at will.
Over each group of ten voters was an " assistant," appointed
by and responsible to the "superintendent" of the district.
Through these officers a registry of voters was formed and
kept by the corresponding secretary, and by them the Know-
Nothing voters were marshaled to caucus or election. In
the rural districts the supervision of voters was probably less
complete, but data are lacking.
In the management of the voters the officials of the Order
seem to have depended chiefly on the influence of the pledge
which members of the Order had taken. Great care was
taken, also, to keep before the members, by means of literature
and nativist speeches, the ideas for which the Order was sup-
posed to stand and for whose success the members' votes were
demanded. No formal platform was put forth, but a formal
address was issued having something of the same character.
The pledge taken by the members of the first degree was prob-
ably somewhat indefinite as to the use of the franchise. The
pledge of the second degree contained an assent to the .prom-
ise " that you will vote in all political matters and for all polit-
ical offices for second-degree members of the Order, providing
it shall be necessary for the American interest." ^ This left
to the taker a certain latitude of judgment, which the Grand
Council of October, 1854, tried to narrow by a declaration
that the pledge meant to require the support of all Know-
Nothing nominees.*^ This action by the Grand Council was
the beginning of a system of party discipline. After this in-
terpretation it was possible to expel any bolter from the Order
on the ground that he had violated his obligation. In No-
^ Timesy 1854, October 23, p. 4. "^ Ibid.
I06 POLITICAL NATIV.SM [^04
vember, 1854, the Grand Council elaborated the discipline by
creating "the test." This feature consisted in calling up any
member of a council or of the Grand Council in a regular ses-
sion and requiring of him a statement as to how he had cast
his vote at some particular election.^ Expulsion might follow
an admission of disloyalty to the regular ticket.
This description of the secret machinery of the Know-Noth-
ings applies to the Order as it existed during the fall and win-
ter of 1854, when it first began to pose as a political state
organization. The same description will not fit the Order ac-
curately at any other time of its career, for its machinery was
continually in evolution. The exigencies of political struggle
were continually bringing out points in the secret machinery
where it was hampered in its political efforts. The tendency,
therefore, was always in the direction of assimilating its struc-
ture to that of the regular political parties of the day. The
secret system in its most typical form was that here given.
As a machine it was far better adapted to local than to state
political work. Its purpose was to secure unity and vigor in
the control of votes, and under shrewd management it had tre
mendous capabilities in this direction. It was weak, however,
as a state society, because it had no equitable method of de-
ciding matters of state politics. The Grand Council was not
properly constituted for nominating tickets. Probably the
greatest source of danger in the whole system was the power
that fell to the grand-president. His appointment of district
deputies enabled him during the period of expansion to man-
ipulate the county delegations and exercise undue influence
over the Grand Council. The degree system of the Order
does not seem to have been a danger, although it would seem
naturally to foster cliques. There certainly were cliques in
the Order, but their existence seems to have depended on per-
sonal influence and never on the artificial distinction of a de-
1 Times, 1854, December 4, p. i ; 1855, March 8, p. 8; Tribune, 1855, Octo-
ber 6, p. 5.
305] ^^^^ ^^ '^^^ KNOW-NOTHING ORDER iqj
gree. In this machine, too, the rights of the individual were
safeguarded, and this is strongly in its favor. The individual
voter in the secret order had probably more real influence
upon politics than the average individual in the parties outside
the Order.
CHAPTER V
THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1 854
The entry of nativism into the field of state politics in New
York was at a time when the old parties were disintegrating.
Its phenomenal success in winning voters to its service was
due to the weakness of those older party systems which nativ-
ism tried to displace. Its history as a factor in state affairs is
for a time inextricably mingled with that of the factional di-
visions in the older parties. When the year 1854 opened,
nativism had no place in state politics. The field was occu-
pied almost exclusively by the two great national parties, al-
ready, however, weakened and divided by the rivalries among
their leaders. For the time there were no great issues insist-
ently pressing for notice and holding together the uncon-
genial elements in either party. The unity of party manage-
ment was already broken when leaders in the same party
stood at open enmity. The voting strength of each side, it
was true, showed no great change as yet, but in the absence
of any unifying principles the voters were attached to their
respective parties only by the weak tie of fealty to names and
traditions. On the Democratic side a faction fight had dis-
rupted the party in 1853. Two separate divisions, called in
popular phrase Hard-Shells and Soft-Shells, now duplicated
the party organization and maintained their respective claims
to the party name. This division represented nothing more
than the opposition of certain leaders to each other. On the
Whig side there was no open break in the unity of the organ-
ization, but there existed two bitterly antagonistic factions.
One of these, headed by William H. Seward, bore in political
108 [306
307] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8S4 lOO
slang the name of Woolly-Heads. The other, headed by
Millard Fillmore, bore the nick-name of Silver-Grays. Here
again there was no real principle at issue between the two.
The division stood only for a rivalry of leaders. With the
two old parties in this weakened and divided condition, it was
to be expected that on the appearance of any new and living
issue in politics it would be seized upon by one or another of
the struggling elements as an aid to success over the oppo-
sition. The political history of New York during 1854 deals
with the appearance of three living issues in state politics, and
with their peculiar effects upon the old party organizations.
The temperance issue in state politics began to take definite
form in 1853. For a number of years previous there had ex-
isted several voluntary societies, both secret and non-secret,
extending over the whole state. Under their shelter there
had grown up an agitation in favor of the restriction of liquor-
selling. At first this movement was non-political, but after a
time it began in various localities to express itself at the elec-
tions of local and legislative tickets. Then a state organiza-
tion was formed, which assumed to encourage political action
of this sort. Thus a loosely organized political movement
came into being. It did not seek to become a separate politi-
cal party, but it drew to itself members of both parties with-
out disturbing old affiliations. Th^ legislature which met at
the beginning of 1854 had several members who were under
pledges to this movement as a result of its political efforts.
Upon their initiative and with the approval of Senator Seward,,
the Whigs of the legislature joined in framing a prohibitory
liquor law. The law itself was killed by the Democratic gover-
nor, but the Whig leaders had won the favor of the organized
temperance vote by their action and had paved the way for the
absorption of the temperance issue by the Whig organization
should it be deemed desirable. Encouraged by their experi-
ence, the leaders of the temperance movement were preparing in
the summer of 1854 to nominate a state ticket for the fall elec-
no • POLITICAL NATIVISM [^qS
tion. The issue of temperance, thus brought fairly into state
poHtics by the Whigs, tended to cut across party lines. There
were thousands of voters whose fealty to party names would
be broken by their liking or dislike for a prohibitory law.
This issue had therefore a tendency to break down old lines.
The anti-slavery issue had found expression in state politics
long before 1854, but events had so relegated it to the back-
ground that it was, at the beginning of 1854, hardly to be re-
garded as a great issue. In its abolition phase it was the tenet
of the little group which called itself the Liberty Party, and
in its free-soil phase it was the chief theory of the larger
group of the Free Democrats, but in its anti-expansion phase
it had been out of politics since the compromise of 1850.
Early in 1854 the congressional contest over the Nebraska
Bill revived the issue of opposition to slavery expansion. In
various portions of New York state public meetings were held
to arouse sentiment. Senator Seward was a vigorous oppo-
nent of the Nebraska Bill, and very early it was noticeable
that his political friends in New York were aiding to make
anti-slavery an issue in politics.' By the summer of 1854 the
anti-Nebraska general committee of New York city was en-
gaged in organizing local committees in the interior counties,
and the work was taking definite form as an organized political
movement, drawing strength from both the older parties, but
directed very largely by the Seward Whigs. This issue cut
across old party lines far more strongly than the temperance
issue was doing.^ Among politicians of the Whig Party the
Seward men were anti-slavery, while the Silver-Grays tended
toward views more friendly to the South. Among Demo-
cratic politicians the Soft-Shells, who held federal patronage,
followed the lead of President Pierce in favoring the South,
while the Hard-Shells stood uncertainly aloof in contrast.
Among the voters the issue found supporters and opponents
in every faction. The more earnest ones inclined to ally
1 Herald, 1854, April 13, p. 4. ' Post, 1854, June 26, p. 2.
2oq] thb: s I a te campaign of 1854 j i j
themselves with the so-called anti-Nebraska movement, and
under the influence of this issue party fealties gave way.
The cohesion of the old parties was already being under-
mined by the temperance and anti-slavery issues when nativ-
ism came into the field. The re-organization of the Know
Nothing society in May, 1854, and the accession of James W.
Barker to power were the conditions that brought the nativist
issue to the front. In the earlier months of 1854 there had
been branches of the secret order established in some of the
Hudson River towns, but their purpose seems to have been
local effort only. After the accession of Barker he appointed
his district deputies for each county and systematically organ-
ized the expansion of the society. Councils at once began to
multiply with extraordinary rapidity. On June ist there were
91 councils in the state. By July 12th there were 152. By
August 1st there were 201.^ The secret of this success lay in j
the fact that the new movement received the hearty aid of the f
Silver- Gray politicians,* who saw in it a chance to fight Sew-
ard. Nativism looked with most unfriendly eye upon the "^
great Whig leader. He was an open friend of the Irish ele-
ment and of its ecclesiastical leaders. He had fought the na-
tivist idea during the old American Republican movement of
1843-47, and had maintained consistently the same attitude
toward it ever after. It was a certain fact that political nativ-
ism would be repudiated and crushed wherever the friends of
Seward had the power. The factional opponents of Seward
were right in their approval of the new movement as one likely
to aid their ends. The Democratic Party in the interior coun-
ties was also affected by the secret movement, but far less than
was the Whig Party. The Soft-Shell managers condemned
nativism early in the summer,3 before the Order had fairly
begun its marvellous expansion, but were less outspoken later.
The Hard-Shell managers were guardedly friendly, hoping to v/
1 Times, 1855, ^^y ^2, p. 2. ^Herald, 1854, August 30, p. 2.
" Post, 1854, May 12, p. 3, September 10, p. 2 ; Herald, 1854, July 4, p. 2.
112 POLITICAL NATIVISM [^iq
profit by the new movement. Politicians on all sides thus
^ regulated their attitude toward nativism according to the way
in which it seemed likely to help or hinder their factional in-
terests. Like temperance and anti-slavery, it was an issue
j which worked against the coherence of the old parties.
^ ^^ Among the masses of the voters other considerations
helped the Know-Nothing expansion.^ Taking the interior
counties as a whole there was no natural basis for a widespread
nativist sentiment. Except in the towns along the line of the
Erie canal, the foreign-born element was very small and not
especially objectionable. In the canal towns the Irish element
was more or less unpopular, and here there might be a genu-
ine feeling of nativism, but in general the spread of the secret
movement was not due to actual dislikes. It was the peculiar
secret character of the Know-Nothing Order which proved a
^ magnet to the country voters. The idea of secret politics was
a novelty, and human nature was responsive to novelty. The
mysterious manner of the Order's workings, the dramatic suc-
cesses that it won, the patriotic professions that surrounded its
efforts all combined to throw about the organization an irre-
sistible attraction. The doctrine of nativism, too, was one
about which there could be no great differences of opinion
among native-born Protestants. There might be differences of
opinion as to the expediency of forcing that doctrine to the
front, but the abstract idea of protecting American institutions
against " the insidious wiles of foreign influence" was beyond
criticism. In this respect the nativist issue had an advantage
over the issues of temperance and anti-slavery, both of which
were open to opposing views as to their merits. There were
also some less serious aspects of the nativist movement which
appealed to voters. The American idea of humor was pleased
by the chagrin which the secret order brought to the prac-
ticed politicians of the older parties. For years the average
1 An editorial in Times, 1854, December 6, p. 4, is one of the fairest of the con-
temporary comments upon nativism and the causes of its expansion.
3 1 1 ] THE STA TE CAMPAIGN OF 1834 1 1 3
country voter had been subject to the management of local
cliques or leaders, and had been forced to bear the restraints
of party discipline. Now, silently, the bonds were broken.
Before the mysterious potency of council caucus the plans of
the old managers were shattered. As time went on the local
elections throughout the state gave opportunity for the coun-
cils to use their influence. To the average voter there was a
delightful humor in the situation when the local managers,
after days of patient work in caucus and convention, found all
their plans frustrated by the sudden appearance of some ticket
which had not been heard of until the morning of election day.
To many the Know-Nothing movement was a huge joke upon
the community, harmless because thoroughly American, and
useful because it broke up old cliques and promised the voter
greater share in making nominations. With the aid of men
who opposed the Seward leadership the Know-Nothing Order
easily found a footing in many of the counties. Its councils
easily picked officers from among men who had been drilled in
secret work by the presence of other secret societies in the
smaller towns. Under competent directors the secret assem-
blies, sitting mysteriously in secluded halls or lodge rooms, in
stores, offices, barns or wherever else secrecy required, gath-
ered the voters by thousands into secret conclaves. The
growth of the movement went forward without fluctuation or
reverse.
In the first weeks of the campaign of 1854 the situation in
state politics was confused. The fact that old parties were
divided and weakened, the fact that new movements were
organized for aggressive work, the fact that the fate of party
tickets must depend upon concessions and combinations, all
tended to obscure the future course of politics. On every hand
the political workers and the party press waited with guarded
utterance to see how events would shape themselves. Each
party and each movement had declared for state conventions.
At these conventions, presumably, the combinations would
>II4 POLITICAL NATIVISM [^12
•gradually reveal themselves. On July 12th the first one of this
series of conventions, that of the Hard-Shell Democracy, was
held, but its managers adopted a non-committal policy that did
not clarify the political situation. As to temperance and
nativism the platform was silent.^ As to anti-slavery, it was
evasive. The state ticket named by the convention was one
whose members were not committed in favor of or in opposition
to the new issues that had come up. The convention left the
Hard-Shell organization as devoid of official principles after as
before it met. The half-party was playing a waiting game.
Its nominees were practically free to adopt any principles
which later expediency might suggest. On August i6th the
anti-slavery movement was represented by the Anti-Nebraska
convention, which met, debated and adjourned to a later date
without naming a ticket. The proceedings of this session par-
tially revealed the policy of the movement. The leaders con-
templated naming a ticket upon which the anti-expansion and
free-soil phases of anti-slavery could be united.^ The movement
was intended to draw support from both the national parties,
and to disregard old party lines, but the prominence of Seward
Whigs in the convention made it reasonably certain that the
movement would eventually aid the political plans of Senator
Seward. On September 7th the convention of the Soft-Shell
Democracy followed. It stood definitely and plainly in oppo-
sition to the three issues.'' By its disapproval of the temperance
issue the half-party assured the favor of all who opposed
restrictive legislation. By its disapproval of nativism it reas-
sured the Irish vote. By its pro-slavery attitude it expressed
faithfulness to President Pierce.
All eyes now turned to the Whig convention, which was to
meet on September 20th. The adoption of nativism by the
Silver-Gray faction was recognized, and it was understood that
1 Tribune, 1854, July 13, p. 5-
» Tribune, 1854, August 17, p. 4.
^ Tribune ^ 1854, September 8, p. 5.
3 1 3] THE STA TE CAMPAIGN OF 1834 \ \ 5
if the Know-Nothings could capture the Whig convention
they would deal a blow to Seward's plans. The antipathy
between Seward and the nativists was well known. Seward
had on July 12th taken pains to denounce nativism in remarks
made by him in the United States Senate. On the other side, ^'
the nativist leaders frankly denounced Seward as a demagogue
who truckled to foreign influence for his own ends. ** If there
is anything dear to the hearts of the Know-Nothings," said one
paper, after discussing the Seward clique, " it is to write the
political epitaphs of the noted political leaders to whom we
have alluded."^ The Whig state convention was to be the j
pivotal point of the campaign. If the Know-Nothings and
their allies could control the convention, then Seward must
accept defeat or else make a new party based on his anti-sla-
very movement. If the Know-Nothings should lose the con-
vention then they must accept defeat or else seek new combina-
tions. This latter emergency was supposed to be the one for
which the Hard-Shell Democracy was waiting, and for which
its leaders had held themselves non-committal on nativism.* JT'
The press discussed a possible coalition of Know-Nothings, -^ Q]'^
Hard-Shell Democrats, and Silver-Gray Whigs to defeat
Seward. The very suggestion of such a union showed strik-
ingly how the old ideas of party fealty had broken down. It , \|
was a time of transition, in which parties were re arranging ^^
themselves. In the fore part of September the party delegates y^
to the coming convention were elected throughout the state. \f\
Many of them were Know-Nothings, but at this point it became
known that the rapid growth of the secret order had carried into
its councils a considerable element of Seward Whigs who were
not disposed to array themselves against that leader. When
the returns came in from the district conventions it was found
that although many Know-Nothings were among the delegates
yet the convention would stand two to one in favor of Seward's
^Buffalo Commercial^ quoted in Tribune, 1854, August 31, p 4-
* Times, 1854, August 26, p. 4; Tribune, 1854, August 19, p. 5.
^>
Il6 POLITICAL NATIVISM {l^\
plans. It was probably in the short interval between the election
of delegates and the meeting of the convention that the Know-
Nothing managers in New York city decided to run a state
ticket independent of all other parties. The Whig convention
met at Syracuse on September 20th. The Know-Nothing forces
went there unorganized. There seems, in fact, to have been no
intention of making any serious opposition to the Seward in-
terest. On the evening before the session began a caucus was
held by the out-and-out Know-Nothings.^ There were only
twenty-three of them, all from New York and adjacent counties.
They failed to agree upon a nominee, and adjourned with the
understanding that after the first ballot they should unite upon
whatever member of the Order should have received the highest
vote on the first ballot. Next day the convention organized and
proceeded to vote on a nomination for governor. The Seward
rmanagers put forward Myron H. Clark, of Ontario, a member
' of the state senate, a supporter of Seward, a member of the
Know- Nothing Order, an advocate of temperance and a friend
^ of anti-slavery. Clark's candidacy met general favor. On
the first formal ballot his name led the list, whereupon the
nativist delegates fell into the current of the hour and helped
his nomination. For lieutenant-governor the convention nom-
inated Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, whose
paper had steadily favored nativism in New York city. The
platform omitted all reference either to nativism or to temper-
ance.' The Whig convention adjourned after a most peace
ful session. The political combination of Silver-Grays and
Barker Know-Nothings had lost every point. At the same
time the platform by mere silence made distinct concessions
to nativist sentiment. It looked as if the unexpected might
take place, as if the Seward clique and the Barker clique might
find themselves working side by side to make Clark's elec-
tion sure. It was certainly no more marvelous for the Know-
1 Times, 1854, September 20, p. i ; 1855, May 22, p. 2.
' Tribune, 1854, September 21, p. I,
315] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1854 117
Nothing Order to support a Seward man than for the Seward /^
men to support a Know-Nothing.
The effect of Seward's concessions to nativist sentiment was
to keep on his side those Know- Nothings who had been
friendly to him before, but not to change appreciably the atti-
tude of his old opponents, the Silver-Grays, now become Know-
Nothings. The machinery of the secret order was in control of
the anti-Seward element, and not long after the Whig conven-
tion the call went out for a special session of the Grand Council
at New York city on October 4th. Under the directions of
Grand President Barker the district deputies of the Order were
very busy during the month of September. Up to August
1 8th there had been 201 councils established. During the
following weeks the efforts of the deputies raised the total,
until by October 4th there had been no less than 563 bodies
organized.^ Many of the new councils had naturally very
few members. Nine men were sufficient under the law of the
Order to constitute a council. Each one, whatever its mem-
bership, was entitled to its three representatives in Grand
Council, and could cast as large a vote there as the older
bodies with their hundreds of members. There is a possibility
that this rapid growth of the Order was a natural one, but the
opponents of the Barker clique ever afterward insisted that it
was a device to pack the Grand Council for certain purposes.
They pointed out that Barker selected the district deputies of
the Order; that the district deputies selected the nine men
who made up each new council; that five black-balls could
defeat the admission of any who were against Barker, and that
the council so nicely packed could send three delegates to the
Grand Council to aid Barker's plans. These facts were all
true, but the inference was unproven. There were certainly
plans on foot before the Grand Council met, however, which
contemplated a departure from the usual custom of endorsing
nominees of the regular parties and proposed instead a sepa-
^ Times, 1855, May 22, p. 2.
Il8 POLITICAL NATIVISM [3 1 6
rate nativist state ticket. Of this the proof is a report made in
the Executive Convention of the O. U. A. on October 2d,
which stated that a committee had been working for that pur-
pose/ It may be mentioned that Barker, Ullman and others
of the nativist leaders in New York city were members of
Washington Chapter, No. 2, the largest, wealthiest and most
influential of the O. U. A. bodies. To the general public this
plan was not known. Men looked to see the Grand Council
endorse for governor either Clark, the Whig nominee, or
Bronson, the Hard-Shell nominee. Thus far the plans of
Seward were most successful. The nomination of Clark by
the Whig state convention had been seconded by the Temper-
ance state convention, by the Anti-Nebraska state convention
and by the Free Democratic state convention. Clark was the
head of a coalition made up of the Whig Party and of two
organized movements, and he was also a Know-Nothing him-
self, yet his election was doubtful if the secret order declared
against him. Bronson, the nominee of the Hard-Shell Dem-
ocracy, was credited with a desire for Know-Nothing support,
which would put him into office, and with a willingness to
pledge himself to secure that support. So, to the public, it
looked like a choice between Clark and Bronson.
r._ The Grand Council met on October 4th at Odd Fellows'
Hall, in New York city. The first day and part of the second
were taken up by the usual routine of organizing the grand
body of a secret order. Credentials were received and doubt-
ful claims decided. It was at this time that the existence of
illegal councils began to be noticed. As a rule, they seem to
have owed their existence to secessions from regular councils,
or to informalities in their erection. The most notable case of
this sort was the council at Canandaigua, in which Myron H.
Clark held membership. This council was declared illegal, on
the ground that its members had received the secrets of the
Order from persons not authorized to give them, and that it de-
1 Executive Records of O. U. A.
3 1 7] THE S TA TE CAMPAIGN OF 18^4 1 1 n
sired recognition merely in order to advance the ends of politi-
cal demagogues.^ The declaration against the local council at
Canandaigua had its real significance in the fact that it did
away with all claims that Clark, as a member of the Order, was
entitled to its support. After the roll was purged there were
found to be 515 legitimate living councils. Had the Grand
Council membership been full there would have been 1545
delegates. The actual attendance was 953 delegates, repre-
senting 469 councils. From the reports made by the mem-
bers the strength of the Order at date was officially estimated
at 73,860 men. As soon as the roll of delegates had been
completed a committee was appointed to draft an address.
Then the Council passed to matters political. First a resolu-
tion was offered to take no action on the matter of a state
ticket. The suggestion was promptly voted down. Then
came a resolution to form a separate state ticket, and this
started a tumult which turned the Grand Council into pande-
monium. Those who had expected the Grand Council calmly
to assume the position of arbiter in state politics now saw
that the leaders of the Order had determined upon quite a dif-
ferent course and were supported in their policy by a power-
ful element. An acrimonious and excited debate followed.
Those who opposed a separate ticket were the Seward Whigs,
who hoped for an endorsement of Clark ; the Hard-Shell
Democrats, who hoped for an endorsement of Bronson ; and
the conservative nativists of all factions, who did not wish the
Order to develop into an independent party. Those who de-
sired a separate ticket were the Soft-Shell Democrats and the
Silver-Gray Whigs, both of whom feared the bias of the Coun-
cil in favor of Clark. The vote of the Council carried the
resolution in favor of a separate ticket, whereupon nearly one-
half of the delegates refused to take further share in the Coun-
cil business and withdrew. After their departure matters went
^ Herald, 1854, September 27, p. i ; October 27, p. i ; Courier- En quirer,
1854, October 21, p. 2.
I20 POLITICAL NATIVISM [318
on more smoothly. A vote was at once taken on the nomina-
tion for governor, and Daniel UUman, having received 256
votes out of 514 and having a plurality, was declared the
choice of the Order. Ullman was present and promptly ac-
cepted the nomination. This closed the second day's session.
On the third day the Grand Council named three other nomi-
nees for the state ticket and then adjourned.^ At some time
during the three days' session a resolution was passed, evi-
dently suggested by the fact of opposition to the new ticket
and intended to counteract that opposition :
Resolved, That the clause contained in the second-degree obligation, which
reads as follows, " And that you will vote in all political matters for all political
offices for second-degree members of the Order, providing it shall be necessary
for the American interest," requires every member of this Order to vote for can-
didates for charter and all other offices endorsed or put in nomination by the
council of the ward or district for which such officers are to be elected, and every
person violating this resolution shall be expelled from the Order.
This resolution^ was the first of the disciplinary laws which
were enacted from time to time to stifle opposition to the cen-
tral power. In a secret society the most effective way of disci-
plining a member is upon charges alleging a violation of the sol-
emn pledge that the member has made to his brethren. Under
the second-degree oath the member did not give up the right
of private judgment as to the use of his vote, but this resolu-
tion interpreted that right away from him. The resolution was
framed to permit the exercise of discipline over bolters. Its
adoption shows interestingly how the Barker clique was grasp-
ing at power.
The ticket nominated by the Grand Council was a thor-
oughly respectable one, neither weak nor strong. The names
which received a place on it were as follows :
1 For details of Council session in addition to daily news reports : Herald, 1854,
October 31, p. i ; Times, 1854, October 10, p. 2 ; October 23, p. i ; November
2, p. 4 ; 1855, May 22, p. 2.
» Text in Times, 1854, October 23, p. 4.
3IQ] r//E STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1834 ^^'^'^isSS^
Governor. . Daniel Ullman of New York.
Lieut, -Governor Gustavus A. Scroggs of Erie.
Canal Commis'r Josiah B. Williams of Tompkins.
Prison Inspector James P. Saunders of Westchester.
These nominees were selected to represent each one of the
four factions of the older parties. Daniel Ullman was the best
known man of the four. He was a New York attorney and a
leader among the Silver- Gray Whigs. He had never held any
important office, but had been high in party councils and had
once been the Whig nominee for attorney- general. Of his ca-
pabilities for the chief place in the state government no denial
was made by his opponents. Gustavus A. Scroggs was a Buf-
falo man and a Hard-Shell Democrat. Though scarcely
known outside of his own county he was at home very popular
as a local politician and as an officer in the state militia. His
selection was made as a recognition of the western counties,
where much of the Know-Nothing strength lay. Josiah B.
Williams, nominee for the canal office, was a local capitalist of
Ithaca and a state senator. He was a well-known Seward Whig,
with a wide acquaintance in the southern tier of counties, but
he had never posed as a representative of nativism. Williams
held his nomination under advisement for some time, and then
declined it about two weeks before election.^ The Know-
Nothing managers then put in his place the name of Clark
Burnham, of Sherburne, the regular nominee of the Hard-
Shell Democracy. The insufficient time given did not permit the
change to be widely known, however, and at the polls the Know-
Nothing vote was divided between Williams and Burnham.
The fourth man on the ticket, James P. Saunders, of Peeks-
kill, was a nativist leader in the southeastern counties, but
without a state reputation. He had many friends in the secret
orders, and was put on the ticket for the additional reason that
he represented the Soft- Shell Democracy. Political state con-
ventions in forming tickets usually framed platforms on which
1 Tribune, 1854, October 30, p. 5.
122 POLIIICAL NA'riVlSM [32O
the tickets were to run. The Grand Council was not a con-
vention in form and it made no platform, but it accomplished
much the same thing in the adoption of an address to be read
in the subordinate councils. This address ' was drawn up by
a special committee and submitted to the Grand Council for
approval much as a political platform might have been. It
was a wordy piece of rhetoric, embellished with fragments of
patriotic verse and containing in its whole length one issue
only. This was the old issue of nativism, namely, opposition
to the power of Romanism, which, according to the address^
was seeking to divide the American people by encouraging
party strife, in order that, having divided them, it might de-
stroy their cherished institutions. Nothing was said about op-
position to foreigners on the mere score of foreign birth.
With the adjournment of the Grand Council the managers
of the nativist campaign took up the work of the hour. It
would seem that there must have been some sort of executive
committee of the Order, but contemporary accounts have no
reference to one. On October i ith the Executive Convention
of the O. U. A. endorsed the Know-Nothing ticket and the ex-
ecutive committee of the O. U. A. extended its aid to the
movement. The first great problem of the campaign was that
of quelling the disaffection which had followed the action of
the Grand Council. The delegates who had left the Council,
angry at the nomination of UUman, spread over the state
stories of unfair action by the grand officers, of illegality and
conspiracy in connection with the nominations. Here and
there in the state letters came out in the press describing the
Council session and scoring the alleged conspiracy of the
Barker clique. This was the beginning of the break-down of
the secrecy which had hitherto surrounded the work of the
Order. Within a few days after the October Grand Council a
meeting of disaffected Know-Nothings took place at Utica. A
committee was there appointed to correspond with discon-
* Text in Herald^ 1854, October 31, p. i.
32 1 ] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1834 1 23
tented councils and to organize a secession movement, with
the object of forming a new Grand Council with the Barker
clique left out.^ The committee began work at once and met
encouragement. To meet the accusations made against them
the grand officers now issued a formal circular'' on October
17th, in which they officially denied all charges of unfairness
or illegality in connection with the nominations. To these de-
nials were added an appeal for campaign funds and a confirma-
tion of Ullman's native birth. This official circular went to
all councils, and, backed by the efforts of the friends of the
ticket, did much to allay the discontent. The reference in the
circular to Ullman's birth was called out by an attack on the
ticket, charging that Ullman was not American-born. The
story originated in Jefferson county, and swiftly spread over the
state.3 It related that Ullman was the child of German Jew-
ish parents and was born in Calcutta ; that as a school-boy in
Jefferson county he could speak English only brokenly, and
that as a student at Harvard he was accustomed to pose as a
native of India. The intent of the story was to show that the
Know-Nothings had made themselves supremely ridiculous by
choosing a foreign-born person as their representative. Ull-
man's own answer to the tale was a denial and the production
of affidavits showing that he was a native of Delaware. In
spite of all denials, the story and the gibe went the rounds all
through the campaign, and the political nickname of Hindoos
was fastened upon that branch of the Order which adhered to
the Barker clique and its ticket. On October 26th the efforts
of the Utica secessionists culminated in a convention of the
discontented elements at Utica, which organized itself as a
rjval Grand Council.'* It passed resolutions declaring its op-
1 Times, 1854, October 10, p. i. "^ Text in Tribune, 1854, October 25, p. 5.
' Tribune, 1854, October 13, p. 4; Times, 1854, October 17, p. 4; October 19,
p. 4-
* Official report of meeting in Herald, 1854, November 4, p. i. Full text of
its new constitution and ritual in Herald, 1855, January 10, p. 2.
124 POLITICAL NATIVISM [322
position to persons of foreign birth or Catholic faith. It
elected grand officers, framed a new constitution, issued a for-
mal address of justification and adjourned to another session
in January. The leaders of the split declared themselves op-
posed to the making of separate nativist tickets, but thor-
oughly in favor of the nativist ideas. The following officers
of the Grand Council were to hold until the annual meeting in
January : State President, Alfred Cobb, of Syracuse ; State
Vice-President, Alexander Coburn, of Utica ; State Treasurer,
John F. Severance, of Walworth ; State Secretary, Benjamin
F. Romaine, of Albany. There were probably not over thirty
councils engaged in this movement,^ and little notice was
given it except by the Seward Whig press.
The great mass of the secret order upheld the regular or-
I ganization, and the work of recruiting members went on cease-
lessly. The Know- Nothing political work differed strikingly
from the usual party methods in its disregard of newspaper
aid. The secret movement had no organs authorized to repre-
sent it. There were perhaps a dozen papers in the state which
favored the Ullman ticket for political reasons, but the Order
relied for success upon its own efforts, that is to say, upon the
literature that it printed and distributed, upon the speakers
that it sent over the state and upon the ceaseless energy of the
second- degree members. The Order spared no efforts to di-
minish the popularity of Senator Seward, for if it was to meet
defeat it would be by the Seward forces. The most bitter ene-
mies of nativism, therefore, were the Seward Whig newspa-
/ pers, which eloquently denounced the wickedness of secrecy
and proscription as features of political effort. The Demo-
cratic press of the state was far more courteous, recognizing in
4. nativism a force that might aid Democratic ends by the over-
throw of the Whig leader. At last, the coming of November
brought the campaign to an end. When the results were
1 Herald, 1854, December 20, p. i.
3 2 3 J THE STA TE CA MPA IGN OF 1854 i 2 5
finally known by the official canvass it was found that the
strength of the tickets was as follows : ^
Clark- Raymond ticket:
Whig Party (Woolly-Heads) -j
Temperance movement (Temperance men) . . !
Anti-slavery movement (Anti-Nebraska men) . . ! ^^'
Agrarian movement (Anti-Renters) J
Seymour-Ludlow ticket ;
Democratic Party (Soft-Shells) 133,800 votes.
Ullman-Scroggs ticket :
Nativist movement (Know-Nothings) .... 1
'^ ^ f ' • V 122,000 voles.
Unorganized Whigs (Silver.Grays) i
Bronson-Ford ticket :
Democratic Party (Hard-Shells) 44,000 votes.
Clark-Wood ticket :
Anti-slavery movement (Free Democrats) . . . \ «
Anti-slavery movement (Republicans) /
Goodel-Ward ticket :
Anti-slavery movement (Liberty Party) .... 300 votes.
The vote cast for the UUman ticket did not represent ex-
actly the membership of the Order. A percentage of the
members refused to be bound by the action of the Grand
Council and voted the regular Whig ticket. At the same
time the Ullman ticket received a heavy vote from^ outside its
ranks. In New York city the Protestant Irish supported it.
In Albany the colored voters cast nativist ballots. When the
polls closed on election night the excitement throughout the
state was intense. So chaotic was the situation that none
could guess how the result would stand. The earliest returns
came from the cities and villages, and favored the nativist
ticket so much that for two or three days it was believed that
yUman's election was accomplished. Then the returns from
the rural sections began to arrive. Here the temperance issue
had swayed voters more than nativism, and the votes for Clark
and Seymour mounted. In the eastern part of the state Seymour
had a decided lead, and as Ullman's prestige faded the success
1 Official canvass in Times, 1854, December 21, p. 6.
^^
26
POLITICAL NATIVISM
[324
of Seymour was applauded. Finally, eleven days after elec-
tion, the vote of the western counties came in, and it was seen
that Clark had an apparent plurality so small that nothing
would be certain till the state canvassers did their work.
When the state board finally passed on the returns, it declared
the election of Clark by a plurality of only 309 votes. The
Know-Nothing attempt to defeat Seward's nominee had failed.
In spite of this failure the remarkable success that had in-
creased the political strength of the nativist movement from
4,000 votes in 1853 to 122,000 in 1854 gave it new prestige,
and the loss of the state did not check the rise of the secret
order. The returns of the state showed that one-third of the
Know-Nothing vote lay in the counties of the southeast, where
nativist sentiment was real, and another third in the western-
most counties, where the Fillmore influence had been thrown
in its favor. The remainder was scattered. Following is
the Ullman vote by counties, with his percentage of the total
vote on governor:
Per
Vote.
Per
Vote.
cent.
cent
Albany ....
. . 32.
• -4,775
Herkimer 9
. . . 571
Alleghany .
• . 37 .
. . 2,620
Jefferson
. , 18
. . 1,796
Broome ....
. . 20
1,170
Kings. . . .
. . 31
• 6,993
Cattaraugus , .
• 5» •
3.243
Lewis. . . .
. . 4
. . . 151
Cayuga ....
. . 28 .
• . 2,459
Livingston.
• 43
2,672
Chautauqua . .
50-
.4,519
Madison. . .
. . 4
. . 277
Chemung , . .
. . 38.
. . 1,613
Monroe. . .
• 30
. . 3.516
Chenango . .
. . II .
. 801
Montgomery
9
. . . 475
Clinton ....
. . 14.
• • 597
New York. .
. 27
. 16,588
Columbia . . ,
. . 21 .
. 1,582
Niagara . .
. • 32
. . 1,882
Cortland. . . .
2 .
. 88
Oneida . .
. . 6
. . . 1,068
Delaware . . .
9.
• 558
Onondaga .
24
• 3,064
Dutchess . .
. 20 .
. 1^,849
Ontario. . ,
43
. 3,148
Erie
. . 50.
• • 7.712
Orange. . .
. . 22
. 1,790
Essex . ...
. . 12 .
• • 493
Orleans . .
• 45
. . 1,985
Franklin ....
. 5 •
. 179
Oswego
. 13.
• . 1.335
Fulton-Hamilton .
. 10 .
442
Otsego . . .
• 7
. . 65*
Genesee. . . ,
. 46.
. 2,360
Putnam . .
. 34.
. . 638
Greene
• 34. .
. 1,760
Queens. . . .
.
. 27.
1,294
325]
THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1834
27
Rensselaer .
. 28. .
Richmond .
27. .
Rockland. .
. 36. .
St. Lawrence
II . .
Saratoga . .
Schenectady
Schoharie. .
21 . .
17 . .
i&. .
Schuyler . . .
Seneca. . . .
Steuben . . .
Suffolk. . .
12 . .
37- •
41 . .
3»077
Sullivan .
566
Tioga . .
789
Tompkins
947
Ulster . .
1.733
Warren .
525
Washington
1,138
Wayne. .
401
Westchester
1,493
Wyoming.
5,001
Yates . .
2,080
23
23
25
29
46
29
21
37
20
19
866
1,019
1,406
2,472
1,408
2,025
3,413
981
711
During the campaign little was said about the legislative
seats which were to be filled by the election, but both the
Seward men and the nativists worked over the field with some
care. Both sides had a special interest in the next legislature
because Seward would come before it as a candidate for re-
election as United States Senator. The election returns
showed that the greater part of the members would be Whigs,
but as to how many would favor Seward no one could tell.
When the Know-Nothing Grand Council met in New York
city in its regular quarterly session on November 14th, its
business was partly to organize Seward's defeat in the legis-
lature, as well as to improve the political machinery of the
Order as applicable to the work of a state campaign.^ The
outcry made against the Barker clique just before the state
election had served one purpose in showing the objectionable
features of too thoroughly centralized power in election
work. There had been no use of the representative system in
the executive work of the state campaign. To obviate that
objection the Grand Council now created a state committee,
consisting of four members from each one of the eight judicial
districts of the state. This is interesting as the first step of an
evolution which would ultimately reduce the Order to a like-
ness with the customary forms of political parties. In its time
'Official report of session in
December 6j p. i.
Times, 1854, December 4, p. i; Herald, i^^^.
128 POLITICAL NATIVISM [336
this first step was clearly a concession to the feeling that had
grown up against centralized power. The members of the
new state committee were as follows :
Joseph S. Taylor, Chauncey Schaffer, William Stokely and
Joseph Souder, all of New York, Samuel H. Townsend of
Suffolk, Luther Colwell of Rockland, William Taylor of
Westchester, William B. Cozzens of Orange, H. Q. Lansing
of Albany, H. M. Wetherbee of Columbia, J. T. Hendricks of
Ulster, S. W. Brittan of Rensselaer, Stephen Sammons of
Montgomery, Martin Myers of Schenectady, William A. Rus-
sell of Washington, E. K. H nested of Saratoga, Randolph
Barnes of Jefferson, J. Ostrander of Herkimer, J. D. Miller of
Oswego, William S. Palmer of Onondaga, W. T. Huntington
of Tompkins, James Wright of Tioga, T. C. Grannis of Che-
nango, John Palen of Delaware, Samuel J. Crook of Living-
ston, H. F. Hatch of Monroe, J. R. Stearns of Cayuga,
Stephen V. R. Mallory of Ontario, Erasmus D. Rodman of
Erie, Philip S. Cottle of Chautauqua, Alexis Ward of Orleans,
A. Stearns of Genesee.
Another piece of legislation by the Grand Council was the
creation of " the test " which elaborated the discipline of the
secret system. This was a formal and summary proceeding
to discover and punish political treason. It consisted in call-
ing any person before the body in which he held membership
and requiring him to reply with uplifted hand to such questions
as might be put to him regarding his vote. Its general object
was to purge the Order of malcontents and uncertain voters,
for the answers given under the test were suitable basis for a
vote of expulsion. With the resolutions which created the
test were others which prescribed its use. The officers of the
Grand Council were to test each delegate and the Council was
to expel such members as did not rightly answer. This
would purify the governing body of the Order. The tested
delegates were then to return to their several councils and
make inquiry as to whether the district- deputies had worked
327] 'J^HE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1854 129
for the Ullman ticket. Such deputies as had not done so
were to be reported to the grand-president, who was at once
to remove them and make new appointments. Each district-
deputy was then to visit the several councils in his care and
to make inquiry as to how each council had acted, reporting
all objectionable ones to the grand-president, who would at
once revoke their charters and dissolve them. This would
purge the executive system. In each council in the state any
member might be expelled if self-convicted by the test. This
sweeping inquest, which reached into every council and
touched every member of the secret order, is an interesting
hint of the perfection to which the machinery of such a
society could be brought. The test was at once put into
effect upon the delegates in the Grand Council. Then the
delegates went home to continue the work. Soon there were
outbreaks of wrath and expostulation from councils which
feared the operations of this new discipline. Know-Nothings
in Brooklyn met to denounce the test formally and to spread
broadcast the text of their protest' The work was done,
however, despite objections, and the Order gained strength by
it. The nativist system was never more unified in discipline
and control than now, when its managers prepared to throw
their strength into the legislative contest over the choice of a
United States senator.
The state legislature convened on January 3rd. By this
time it was known that there were some forty-five members
of the legislature who were members of either the Know-
Nothing Order or the O. U. A. Could they be organized,
the number was sufficient to defeat the hopes of Seward.
With the opening of the legislative session, accordingly,
Albany became the center of political intrigue and pressure in
reference to the senatorship. The managers of the Know-
Nothings relied much on the pledges which members had
made to the secret orders. Instructions from Know-Nothing
^ Text in Tribune, 1854, December 7, p. 7.
130 POLITICAL NATIVISM [328
councils and O. U. A. chapters, all leveled against Seward,
poured in upon those legislators who held secret affiliations.'
There was also a lobby against Seward. The November ses-
sion of the Grand Council had recommended that the councils
vin each assembly district should unite in sending an agent to
Albany. The duties of such agent were not defined by the
Council, but it was understood that he was to organize all
possible pressure upon the assemblyman over whom he
watched. Probably such an elaborate lobby never existed
before or since in New York state. Moral suasion also had
its place in the Know-Nothing schemes. Under the title of
** Stanhope Burleigh',' a novel had been written by C. Edwards
Lester" under the pseudonym of Helen Dhu. Among its
characters were recognizable the personalities of Seward,
Weed, Greeley, Hughes and other enemies of nativism.
Intermingled with the love story of the heroine the novel told
under its fictitious names how the ambitious Whig leaders
had bartered their loyalt}' to American institutions for Cath-
olic votes, and how the Catholic conquest of America was to
follow. A copy of this novel was sent to each legislator to
influence his vote.3 In addition to these influences there was
the preaching of the Albany State Register^ which had been
adopted as the new state organ of the secret order, by the
new state committee on December 30th.'*
On the part of the Seward men there was no lack of effort.
Rumor declared Thurlow Weed to be the master-mind of the
Seward forces. If the Know-Nothings had aroused comment
by their unusual methods, their opponents were not less
interesting, for one of the factors brought in by them to aid
the election of Seward was the secret nativist order of the
1 Tribune, 1855, February 7, p. 5; February 9, p. 4.
' Triiurte, 1855, March 3, p. 4; June 18, p. 5.
' Herald, 1855, January 29, p, 4; February 5, p. 2.
♦ Tribune, 1855, January 2c, p. 4.
329] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8S4 \X\
Utica Know-Nothings. The Utica secessionists who had
revolted against the Barker clique had abated not a jot from
the anti-foreign and anti-Catholic principles of the mother-
order. Yet in January, 1855, the delegates to the secessionist
Grand Council were found in Albany as lobbyist friends of the
anti-nativist and pro-Catholic Whig leader. The Grand
Council had been called to meet on January loth at Sche-
nectady, a place selected, many thought, because of its near-
ness to the state capital. There were about 125 delegates on
hand, representing some fifty councils. The grand body
passed a series of resolutions declaring for temperance,
nativism and anti-slavery, and then adjourned, while its mem-
bers hastened to Albany.^ The Seward men nursed this
branch of nativism in order, apparently, to make prominent
the fact that not all Know-Nothings were opposed to Seward.
Another factor in the senatorial contest was the temperance
question. The fate of a prohibitory law lay in the hands of
the Seward clique, and although the Know-Nothings strove
for the favor of the temperance legislators the Whig clique
had the advantage.
All through the month of January the work of intrigue
went on. During the weeks of waiting the skill of Seward's
friends detached one after another from the mass of opposi-
tion. Finally, by a fusion of Seward men, Silver-Grays,
Democrats and nativists they had a clean majority in joint
session. Then the contest was precipitated. In the legisla-
tive caucus held to nominate, so large a vote was cast for
Seward that the nativist opposition gave up the fight at once.
On February 6th the formal election took place. Seward re-
ceived eighty-five votes, four more than a clear majority. The
Know-Nothings had been out-generaled. Seward's success was
a bitter experience for the nativists, the more so because there
had been some premature boasting over his expected over-
*For thi« session: Herald, 1855, January 10, pp. 2, 4; Times, 1855, January 11,
p. 8, January 30, p. 1.
1^2 POLITICAL NATIVISM [330
throw. The anger of defeat blazed up a little here and there
and then died down, biding its time. Twelve Know-Nothings
had voted for Seward in the legislature and thirty-seven of his
supporters were said to have been under nativist pledges.^
Some of these were expelled from the secret bodies to which
they belonged and others were merely made uncomfortable.
But whatever vengeance might be wreaked upon his friends,,
Seward was safe for six years more.
1 Names given in Herald^ 1855, February 6, p. 4.
CHAPTER VI
THE INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE, I854-I855
While the Know-Nothing Order in New York state was
battling with Seward for supremacy, a new and alluring pros-
pect was opening to the ambitions of the Order. All over the
nation the new nativist movement had been greedily seized
upon by political leaders whose purposes seemed likely to be
subserved by it, and all over the nation, too, the voters had
been charmed by the patriotism and the mystery of the
society. From Maine to California, north, east, south and
west, the federated secret councils were grasping power and
looking forward to greater conquests. Already boasts were
heard that the votes of the Order would make a president in
1856. The national leaders of the older parties stood aghast
at the rising tide which threatened to sweep away both them
and the old issues that they represented. Another national
political issue, however, was also struggling for position.
Anti-slavery feeling, inflamed by the Nebraska struggle of
1854 and aggravated by the border troubles in Kansas, was
also being seized upon by practiced politicians and moulded
for political purposes. In the North a bitter and aggressive
anti-slavery movement based itself on moral sentiment and
sectional jealousy. In the South a bitter and aggressive pro-
slavery sentiment based itself on the Southern fear of social
and industrial revolution. Both north and south a large con-
servative element sought for escape from this issue. Until the
fall of 1854 anti-slavery and nativism had been neither
friendly nor antagonistic. In some states, as in New York,
circumstances might put anti- slavery leaders and nativist
331J 13?
134 POLITICAL NATIVJSM [332
leaders in opposing camps, but in others, as in Massachusetts,
the reverse might be true. The two issues were so distinct in
character that they naturally stood unrelated.
Such was their actual position when the National Council
of the secret order met on November 15, 1854, at Cincinnati,
to legislate for the society. The business of the session was
the revision of the secret ritual, but at the same time politics
were to be informally prominent.^ It was plain that the older
parties were now breaking into fragments and that the nativist
movement was heir-apparent to their power. Presidential
possibilities were asking for recognition thus early, and fore-
sighted leaders in the Order were bent on paving the way for
its control of the national government. If the plans of the
leaders were to succeed the Order must wield influence in both
North and South. This was the source of nativist hostility
toward anti-slavery, for the latter issue was above all things sec-
tional and disruptive. If the nativist policy were tainted with
anti-slavery the Order could not hope to carry a single Southern
state nor to control the Union. Of the inside history of the Cin-
cinnati Council session very little news came to the outer world.
It was learned in a general way that the Council carried out a
revision of the secret ritual, including the oaths of the three
degrees. It was reported that the delegates devoted some of
their time to talking over the merits of presidential possibili-
ties. It was rumored that the Southern members demanded
some action that would secure the Order from the control of
the anti-slavery men and that they were gratified. Much
more than this was learned, however, after the Council had
adjourned and its work had been reported to the state councils
for referendum vote. The facts came out in a bitter wail from
the anti-slavery element, protesting against the new oath of
the third degree. The new oath, in form, merely affected to
condemn a disruption of the nation, and to this idea no good
1 On this session see Herald^ 1854, November 16, p. i ; November 25, p. 7;
December 20, p. i ; December 28, p. i.
333] ' "^^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE 135
American could object. The sting of it lay in the fact that it
gave the conservative element and the pro slavery men a
means of suppressing the anti-slavery idea by using the disci-
pline of the Order against its advocates. It is worth the while,
at this point, to give the Know-Nothing oaths in full. Several
versions of oaths, purporting to be those of the secret order,
were published by the hostile press during the period of
Know-Nothing activity, but the only ones which seem clearly
authentic are those which date from the Cincinnati revision.'
The oath of the first degree, taken by all members of the
Order, was administered as follows :
In the presence of Almighty God and these witnesses you do solemnly promise
and swear that you will never betray any of the secrets of this society, nor com-
municate them even to proper candidates, except within a lawful council of the
Order; that you will never permit any of the secrets of this society to be written,
or in any other manner to be made legible except for the purpose of official in-
struction; that you will not vote nor give your influence for any man for any office in
the gift of the People, unless he be an American-born citizen, in favor of Ameri-
cans ruling America, nor if he be a Roman Catholic ; that you will in all political
matters, so far as this Order is concerned, comply with the will of the majority,
though it may conflict with your personal preference, so long as it does not
conflict with the Constitution of the United States of America or that of the
state in which you reside ; that you will not, under any circumstances whatever,
knowingly recommend an unworthy person for initiation, nor suffer it to be done if
in your power to prevent it ; that you will not under any circumstances expose the
name of any member of this Order, nor reveal the existence of such an associa-
tion ; that you will answer an imperative notice issued by the proper authority,
obey the command of the state- council president or his deputy while assembled by
such notice, and respond to the claim of a sign or a cry of the Order, unless it be
physically impossible ; and that you will acknowledge the State Council of
as the legislative head, the ruling authority and the supreme tribunal of the Order in
the state of ... . acting under the jurisdiction of the National Council of the United
^ A set of oaths said to have been used in Virginia in 1854 may possibly be those
actually used by the Order before the Cincinnati ritual. They are given in Tri-
bune, 1854, August 10, p. 6, and Herald, 1854, August 12, p. 3. The Cincinnati
oaths as used in Pennsylvania are given in Times, 1855, April 30, p. 2. Those
of the 1st and 2d degrees are also reported from Warsaw, N. Y., in Tribune^
1855, April 17, p. 5. That of the 3rd degree is also reported from Ohio in Times^
1855, June 9.
136 POLITICAL NATIVISM [334
States of North America, binding yourself in the penaUy of excommunication from
the Order, the forfeiture of all intercourse with its members, and being denounced
in all the societies of the same as a willful traitor to your God and to your country.
The assent to the obligation of the first degree was made
in these words: "All this I voluntarily and sincerely promise,
with a full understanding of the solemn sanctions and penal-
ties." The first-degree oath was designed merely to control
the voting citizen. The second-degree oath went further and
bound the taker as to his policy if advanced to public office.
It was administered as follows :
You and each of you of your own free will and accord, in the presence of
Almighty God and these witnesses, your left hand resting on your right breast and
your right hand extended to the flag of your country, do solemnly and sincerely
swear that you will not under any circumstances disclose in any manner, nor suffer
it to be done by others if in your power to prevent it, the name, signs, pass. words
or other secrets of this degree, except in open council for the purpose of instruc
tion ; that you will in all things conform to all the rules and regulations of this
Order, and to the constitution and by-laws of this or any other council to which
you may be attached, so long as they do not conflict with the Constitution of the
United States, nor that of the state in which you reside ; that you will under all cir-
cumstances, if in your power so to do, attend to all regular signs or summons that
may be thrown or sent to you by a brother of this or any other degree of this Order;
that you will support in all political matters, for all political offices, members of
this Order in preference to other persons ; that if it may be done legally you will,
when elected or appointed to any official station conferring on you the power to do
so, remove all foreigners, aliens or Roman Catholics from office or place, and that
you will in no case appoint such to any office or place in your gift. You do also
promise and swear that this and all other obligations which you have previously
taken in this Order shall ever be kept through life sacred and inviolate. All this
you promise and declare as Americans to sustain and abide by, without any hesi-
tation or mental reservation whatever. So help you God and keep you steadfast.
The third degree, after the Cincinnati Council, was often
called the Union degree on account of the clauses added to it
having reference to the Union. These were the innovations
against which the anti-slavery men protested so vigorously.
The oath was administered in the following words :
You and each of you, of your own free will and accord, in the presence of
Almighty God and these witnesses, with your hands joined in token of that frater-
nal affection which should ever bind together the states of this Union— forming a
ring in token of your determination that, so far as your efforts can avail, this Union
335] '^'^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE 137
shall have no end — do solemnly and sincerely swear that you will not under any
circumstances disclose in any manner, nor suffer it to be done by others if in your
power to prevent it, the name, signs, pass -words or other secrets of this degree, ex-
cept to those whom you may prove on trial to be brothers of the same degree, or in
open council for the purpose of instruction ; that you do hereby solemnly declare
your devotion to the Union of these states ; that in the discharge of your duties as
American citizens, you will uphold, maintain and defend it; that you will discourage
and denounce any and every attempt coming from any and every quarter which
you believe to be designed or calculated to destroy or subvert it or to weaken its
bonds, and that you will use your influence, as far as in your power, in endeavor,
ing to procure an amicable and equitable adjustment of all political discontents or
differences which may threaten its injury or overthrow. You do further promise
and swear that you will not vote for any one to fill any office of honor or profit or
trust of a political character, whom you know or believe to be in favor of a disso-
lution of the Union of these states, or who is endeavoring to produce that result ;
that you will vote for and support for all political offices Third or Union degree
members of this Order in preference to all others ; that if it may be done consist-
ently with the constitution and laws of the land, you will when elected or appointed
to any official station which may confer on you the power to do so, remove from
office or place all persons whom you know or believe to be in favor of a dissolu-
tion of the Union, or who are endeavoring to produce that result ; and that you
will in no case appoint such persons to any political office or place whatever. All
this you promise and swear upon your honor as American citizens and friends of
the American Union, to sustain and abide by without any hesitation or mental
reservation whatever. You also promise and swear that this and all other obliga-
tions which you have previously taken in this Order shall ever be kept sacred
and inviolate. To all this you pledge your lives, your fortunes and your sacred
honors. So help you God and keep you steadfast.
The action of the Order in throwing down the gauntlet to]
the anti-slavery men did not, at the moment, seem impolitic. I
Both north and south there were thousands of thinking men
who saw danger in the slavery agitation and who would gladly
have seen it buried under the weight of some less dangerous
issue. It was this element that was eagerly and hopefully
turning to nativism as an escape from an impending dilemma.
The action of the National Council at Cincinnati was a bid for
the support of the conservative element of the nation. In
New York state the new oaths were very acceptable to the
nativist managers because they added a point in the contest
with Seward. The old-time nativist argument that Seward
138 POLITICAL NA7IVISM r^o^
should be defeated because he favored foreigners and Catholics
was now reinforced by the new doctrine that he should be
defeated as an enemy to the Union. Among the rank and file
j and lesser leaders there were some defections as a result of the
( action at Cincinnati, but not sufficient to be serious. Many
who left the Order at this time in New York city attached
themselves to kindred societies of nativism, more especially to
the " Allen branch " of the Order and the American Star
Order. The " Allen branch " was that portion of the Order
which dated back to the split of 1852. When the dual order
was consolidated in May, 1854, one of the ward councils in
New York city refused to coalesce. It remained independent,
organized itself as a Grand Council, and took up anew the
work of expansion. Increased by new members and by with-
drawals from the main society, the " Allen branch " in De-
cember, 1854, possessed 153 councils in New York and 30 in
New Jersey.' The main branch of the Order always recog-
nized a kinship with the smaller body, but it was the special
boast of the latter that it maintained the original principles
and methods of the organization. The American Star Order
I was the society of the " Wide-Awakes " founded by William
Patten and prominent in the street-fights of New York city.
Originally composed mainly of minors, it received an older
[element into its ranks during the latter part of 1854. The
growth of these two societies in the metropolis was another
sign of that disaffection toward the policy of the ruling clique
which had already brought the Utica branch of the society
into existence in the interior. The problem of managing
political nativism was complicated by these secessions. The
Cincinnati ritual, which was one of the causes of the changes,
was nevertheless accepted and ratified by the Grand Council
of the main body at a special session held in New York city
in January .'^
» Courier-Enquirer, 1855, March 18, p. 2; Herald, 1854, December 20, p. i.
* Tribune, 1855, January 11, p. 4.
337] ^-^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE 13Q
The New York managers now faced the work of placing the
Order in New York state upon the new political platform
without further impairing its strength. At this particular
time the senatorial contest was in fi^ll swing. Until February
6, 1855, the energies of the Order in New York were all
directed toward the defeat of Seward, and the feeling which
was aroused against the great exponent of anti-nativism and
anti-slavery made it easy to consolidate the sentiment of the
Order in favor of the policy embodied in the third degree. In
spite of the numbers in New York city who went over to the
lesser societies, the accessions of new members continued to
increase the strength of the main body of the Know-Nothing
organization. It is impossible to say whether or not this was
due in any large measure to the influence of the Cincinnati
ritual as a bid for the conservative support. Probably the
splendid executive machinery of the Order is more entitled to
the credit of the expansion. As the spring election of 1855
drew near the local Whig and Democratic leaders through
the state tried to hold the usual party caucuses, but, if held at
all, they proved in many cases to be the veriest farces. The
organized nativists of the smaller towns manipulated the
regular party caucuses to accommodate the plans of the secret
Know-Nothing councils. Bitter feuds grew up within the
local parties as a result of secret politics. Then, from the
latter part of January onward, the interior cities and villages
showed the phenomenon of local abandonment of the old
Whig and Democratic systems. Voters ranged themselves in
the local elections as Know- Nothings or Anti-Know-Nothings,
and fought out the issue of secret politics at the polls. The
results, reported m the daily press, showed the honors of suc-
cess to be about equally divided. This rapid gain of strength
in the interior of the state went on far into the spring months,
but it was hardly matched by a corresponding increase in New
York city, where the results of the recruiting system had
about reached their limit by the spring months of 1855. But
I40 POLITICAL NATIVISM [338
in New York city, too, the Barker clique planned to increase
Know-Nothing strength by capturing the American Star
Order and using it as an adjunct to the greater organization.
Everything was favorable to nativism in New York state
when the Grand Council met in annual session at Syracuse on
February 13, 1855. The Order now included 960 councils
and about 142,000 members. About 2,000 delegates, repre-
senting 910 councils, appeared at the Syracuse session.^ On
the first day the Council organized itself and imposed the test
on certain of its members. Seward's election had taken place
only a week before, and there was much soreness over the
event. One unlucky delegate who, as assemblyman, had
helped to elect Seward, was mobbed and driven from the
council hall.* On the second day the Council listened to the
president's annual address. Barker commented hopefully on
the growth of the Order, spoke of the test and its good effects
in ridding the society of the unfaithful, endorsed the neutral
policy of the Cincinnati session and recommended the adoption
of a new state constitution by the Council. The annual election
followed the address. President Barker was again chosen to
office, as were also Secretary Farrington and Treasurer
Taylor. In the vice-presidency Ambrose Stevens, of Genesee,
superseded Ebling. On the third day the Council debated on
a new constitution. The secret order in New York state was
at this time working under the constitution adopted at the
consolidation of the society in May, 1854, but the extra-
ordinary growth of the organization had made that instrument
open to criticism. Not only was it inadequate for the political
work of a state campaign, but its centralizing provisions had
begun to irritate the interior counties. At the special session
of the Grand Council in January, 1855, the adoption of a new
^For this session see Herald, 1855, February 18, p. 3, February 19, p. i; Times,
1855, l^'ebruary 27, p. 4. Text of Barker's address in Herald, 1855, March 7, p.
8; Times, 1855, March 8, p. 8.
' Herald, 1855, February 18, p. 3; Courier- Enquirer, 1855, February 23, p. 2.
339] -^^^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE 14 1
constitution had been recommended, and a committee selected
to draft it/ The report of this committee was now ready for
discussion by the Grand Council at its annual session, and it
was subjected- to lengthy debate. The Council voted to open
the membership of the Order to native-born Protestants of
foreign parentage. It voted to limit the president's power by
placing the selection of district deputies of each county in the
hands of the delegates of the county assembled for that pur-
pose. It voted also to reduce the membership of the Grand
Council to one delegate from each subordinate council.
Eventually, however, after voting the reforms, the proposed
constitution was laid over to the next quarterly session.
After electing delegates to the National Council the Grand
Council adjourned on the 15th. The press reports of the ses-
sion do not indicate that the slavery question played any part
in its proceedings.
After the annual meeting the Barker clique, secured in
power for another year, turned to the conquest of the Order of
the American Star. Of its success in this effort the details
may be told as part of the history of the state campaign. All
the organizing work of the Order was, of course, done as
secretly as was possible. Its open work consisted only of
continued agitation in all parts of the state against the in-
fluence of the foreign-born Catholic element. The latter was
for a time cowed by the strength of the nativist movement,
and endured quietly the opprobrium cast upon it. Efforts*
were made by the nativist movement, also, to secure legisla-
tion, but with little success. The proposal to disband all
foreign-born mihtiamen'' was put aside by the legislature, as
was also the proposal to require twenty-one years of residence
for naturalization. The bill to deport foreign paupers and crim-
inals was lost. The one successful piece of legislation was
* See Barker's address.
'Text of petition in Herald, 1855, February 15, p. 8.
142 POLITICAL NAT/ VIS M V-^^q
the bill on church tenures, which gave lay trustees a voice in
the control of church property, and which was contrary to the
Catholic custom of episcopal control. It was in reference to
this bill that Erastus Brooks and Archbishop Hughes had
their famous controversy over the amount of church property
held in the archbishop's name.' The argument went on
through a long series of letters in the daily press. It was
very pointed, sometimes even violent, and closed with the
friends of both sides claiming victory. These letters placed
Senator Brooks before the public as one of the great cham-
pions of nativism, and made him later a leader of the move-
ment for which he had worked. On the whole, the secret
organization of the Know-Nothings did not attract attention
during the spring of 1855 except when it showed its work in
the local elections or when the press chronicled the sessions
of the Grand Council.
On May 8, 1855, came the regular quarterly session of the
Grand Council, held at Syracuse and lasting three days.^*
President Barker reported 1060 councils with about 178,000
members, and this, he admitted, was close to high-water
mark. The work of expansion was now practically done. It
could not be expected that many new councils would be
added in the future, and the treasury of the Order must be
filled by some means other than the fees which had filled it in
the past. The new constitution must also be completed, he
said. The former methods of making local nominations by
convention were open to objection, and it would be well to
adopt some system that could bring the voters into closer
touch with the selection of candidates. The reform in the
selection of district deputies had been begun by him. In
some counties he had appointed a deputy for each assembly
district and all deputies were now appointed on recommenda-
* Controversy between Senator Brooks and \ John.
" For session see Times^ 1855, May 9, lo, 11, \2% Herald^ 1855, ^*y '3* Text
of Barker's address in Herald^ 1855, May 16, p. 4.
34 1 ] THE INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE 143
tion of those over whom they were to exercise authority.
Also, he recommended a declaration of principles which
would show where the Order in New York state stood. He
phrased his ideas as follows : ^
First, Americans shall rule America.
Second, The Union of the States.
Third, No North, no South, no East, no West.
Fourth, The United States of America, as they are, one and inseparable.
Fifth, No sectarian influence in our legislation or the administration of Ameri-
can laws.
Sixth, Hostility to the assumptions of the Pope, through the bishops, priests and
prelates of the Roman Catholic church, here in a Republic sanctified by Protestant
blood.
Seventh, Thorough reform in the naturalization laws.
Eighth, Free and liberal educational institutions for all sects and classes with
the Bible, God's Holy Word, as a universal text-book.
President Barker's suggestions were generally followed by
the Council. The new constitution received final form. It
was voted that each county should make nominations in such
manner as it might choose. The declaration of principles was
formally endorsed. This declaration embodied the neutral ^x^i
policy set forth at Cincinnati in the new third-degree oath.
The act of the New York Grand Council in adopting it marks
the complete success of Barker in harmonizing the state
organization with the national policy of the Order. The work ;
was easy in New York because the anti-slavery element,
weighted down by its friendship for Seward, had been prac- ^
tically eliminated from the Order by the agency of the test
before the new policy came up for consideration.
In other states of the Union the secret order was less
happily conditioned. In several of the northern states the
anti-slavery element in the Order was strong and ill-disposed
to stand neutral on the great slavery issue. In Massachusetts
the anti-slavery men controlled their Grand Council and
refused to ratify the Cincinnati ritual. In several other grand
* See Barker's address.
144 POLITICAL xXATIVISM [^42
councils the slavery question was dragged into debate and
provoked factional divisions. As the June session of the
National Council drew near, it was clearly seen that several
northern states would send to it delegates more or less
violently anti-slavery in opinion, while the southern states
would send representatives no less violently in favor of pro-
slavery ideas. Under these circumstances a conflict in the
national body was certain unless good management could
avert it. On June 5, 1855, the National Council met at
Philadelphia, with President Barker in the chair and every
state in the Union represented by delegates.^ For New York
appeared James W. Barker, of New York, Thomas J. Lyons,
of Orange, L. Sprague Parsons, of Albany, Stephen Sammons,
of Montgomery, Selah Squires, of Chenango, Stephen V. R,
Mallory, of Ontario, and Horatio Seymour, Jr., of Erie. In
the work of organizing the Council the suspicious attitude of
the South showed itself, and the delegation of the District of
Columbia was admitted to the floor in order to placate the
South by balancing the free-state and slave-state representa-
tion. President Barker's annual address referred disapprov-
ingly to the anti-slavery issue. On June 8th the election of
officers made E. B. Bartlett, of Kentucky, the National
President of the Order. Barker was a candidate for re elec-
tion, but was set aside in favor of a man more closely linked
with Southern interests. In these earlier days of the Council,
then, the Southern members showed their intention of
dominating its action to guard their interests. All looked
anxiously forward to the report of the committee on platform,
which would precipitate a conflict, if conflict there were to be.
All through the earlier days of the session there was active
political discussion among the delegates, and by the time the
matter of principles came up for formal action the conserva-
tive delegates had mostly been swept out of neutrality into one
^ This account is made from Herald and Tribune reports. Text of Barker's
address in Herald, 1855, July 2, p. 3.
>
343] THE INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE j^^
or the other of the aggressive factions. Unfortunately there
was no master-mind or guiding clique to quell the storm. On
June nth, instead of a report on platform, the Council received
reports from the committee on resolutions, which brought the
crucial question before it. There were two reports. The
majority report, drawn up by Burwell of Virginia, embodied
the pro-slavery ideas, while the minority report was distinctly
in opposition. Then the contest began. The debate which
began on the nth lasted all through the 12th and 13th. The
North and South were fairly pitted against each other.
Secrecy as to the contest was impossible, and the daily press
of the nation chronicled day by day its progress. The small
conservative element in the Council tried to turn aside the
trouble by a compromise, but the resolution which Raynor, of
North Carolina, introduced for that purpose was promptly
killed. Late on the 13th the Council rejected the minority
report and accepted the majority report. This act decided C?
that the national policy of the Order, so far as the National i
Council could declare it, was to be pro-slavery in character. O'
The text of the Burwell resolutions was as follows : '
Resolved, That the American Party, having risen upon the ruins and in spite of
the opposition of the Whig and Democratic Parties, cannot be held in any manner
responsible for the obnoxious acts and violated pledges of either; that the systematic
agitation of the slavery question by those parties has elevated sectional hostility into
a positive element of political power, and brought our institutions into peril : It has
therefore become the imperative duty of the American Party to interpose for the
purpose of giving peace to the country and perpetuity to the Union; That as expe-
rience has shown it is impossible to reconcile opinions so extreme as those which
separate the disputants, and as there can be no dishonor in submitting to the laws,
the National Council has deemed it the best guarantee of common justice and
future peace to abide by and maintain the existing laws upon the subject of slavery
as a final and conclusive settlement of that subject in spirit and in substance.
Resolved, That, regarding it as the highest duty to avow these opinions upon a
subject so important in distinct and unequivocal terms, it is hereby declared as the
sense of the National Council that Congress possesses no power under the Consti-
tution to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the states or to exclude any state
1 Text in Iribune, 1855, June 15, p. 5.
146 POLITICAL NATIVISM \l^^
from admission into the Union because its constitution does or does not recognize
the institution of slavery as a part of her social system; and expressly pretermitting
any expression of opinion upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit
slavery in the territories, it is the sense of this National Council that Congress ought
not to legislate on the subject of slavery within the territories of the United States,
and that any interference by Congress with slavery as it exists in the District of
Columbia would be a violation of the spirit and intention of the compact by which
the State of Maryland ceded the District to the United States, and a breach of the
national faith.
On the morning of the 14th came the sequel to the victory
of the pro-slavery men. Led by the Massachusetts delegation
the Northern members met in caucus, every free state except
New York being represented. One of the most outspoken
anti-slavery delegates, Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was
made chairman. Under his leadership the caucus formulated
an " Appeal to the People," which declared the principles of
its signers to be nativism and anti-slavery.' Many of the
anti-slavery men then abandoned the Council session and left
the city. This action of the minority was hailed at the time
as the first revolt of the North against Southern dictation."
The anti-Southern newspapers delightedly described the in-
cident as a split in the secret order. In this they were hardly
correct, for no delegate to the National Council could, by his
individual act, bind the Grand Council which he represented,
and a secession of members merely left certain states unrepre-
sented. It did not sever such unrepresented states from the
Order. Not all the Northern members left the session, indeed,
after the caucus of the 14th, Many remained in their seats
and the Council went on with its work. The formal platform
of the Order was now adopted. It was a long document in
which the text of the Burwell resolutions was incorporated as
the twelfth section.^ It was under the phrase of " the twelfth
section " that they were afterward mentioned in discussions.
iTexi of Appeal in Tribune, 1855, June 15, p. 5.
» Times, 1855, June 15, p. 4-
•Text of platform in Herald and I'ribune of 1855, June 16,
345] "^H^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE i^y
The Council ordered a session on July 4, 1856, to nominate a
presidential ticket, and provided a basis of representation for
it. Adjournment finally took place on June 15th. This
session was the turning-point in the fortunes of the secret
order as a national power. The pro-slavery men, by their
insistence, had written the doom of the movement and thrust
aside a golden opportunity to avert the calamities of the
future. Henceforth the slavery issue dominated national v
politics unchecked.
The course followed by the New York delegation in the
Philadelphia session had been throughout friendly to the
South. The explanation of this lies in the fact that New York
had two aspirants for the presidential nomination of 1856.
Millard Fillmore, of Buffalo, ex-president of the United States
and former head of the Silver-Gray faction of Whigs had in
1852 been the favorite of the New York . nativists for the
presidency, and had in 1854 helped the secret order to its
splendid growth in New York state by throwing his influence
in its favor. Early in 1855, having previously remained out-
side of the secret order, he became a nominal member ' and a
candidate for nomination as president. George Law, of New
York city, was a wealthy contractor, new to politics, but
popular, ambitious, liberal and likely to take well with the
voters if lucky enough to get a nomination.' He began his
canvass in February, 1855, and was sedulously "boomed" by
several newspapers of the state. With presidential ambitions
to be promoted, the course of the New York managers was
plain. They must court the favor of the South or nativism
could not carry a presidential election. The Know-Nothing
Order had made great progress in the Southern states, wel-
comed as an organization which was thoroughly opposed to
sectional ideas. The attitude taken in the North by its anti-
> Timfs, 1856, March 3, p. 3, August 5, p. 3.
•Biography, three columns, in Herald^ 1855, June 2, p. i.
148 POLITICAL N AIT VIS M [346
slavery members and the fact that the Order had been non-
committal on the slavery issue had of late, however, caused the
movement to be viewed by the South with distrust. It was on
account of this distrust, apparently, that the Know-Nothings
lost the Virginia election of May, 1855, just before the Phila-
delphia session/ It certainly seemed best at the moment to
side with the element which demanded assurances favorable
to slavery, and New York did so. In a presidential election the
thirty- five electors of New York, backed by the 120 votes of the
slave states, could seat their candidate. Of course the Order
could not be sure of all the Southern states, but since the
North was divided on the slavery question that side of the
controversy was to be favored which seemed least sectional.
When the anti-slavery men of the National Council drew
apart in caucus the New York delegation held aloof and voted
for the pro- slavery platform. It must nevertheless have been
offensive to some of them. The close of the Council session
brought Barker and his friends back to New York with a new
problem on their hands. They had before this crushed out
anti-slavery in the Order and had successfully put the society
organization on a platform of neutrality as to the slavery
issue. Now they must go still further and make the Order in
New York state plainly pro- slavery to agree with the national
platform.
No time was lost in beginning the work., On June 1 8th, in
response to a call signed by the seven delegates of the
National Council, an immense mass-meeting was held at New
York in City Hall Park.^ This action committed the secret
order in New York city to the new platform. Of the steps
taken to swing the interior counties into line no record re-
mains. The Order was by no means unanimous in favor of
the pro-slavery platform. Here and there were heard expres-
1 Herald, 1855, ^^Y ^7' P- 4-
2 Full reports in Herald and Tribune.
347] ^-^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE i^g
sions of dissent. A few councils surrendered their charters
and disbanded. Others protested but remained faithful. In
general the Order remained quietly waiting developments. It
was noticeable that in New York state there was no special
Grand Council session called to consider a ratification of the
action taken at Philadelphia. In other states where the grand
councils met for this purpose there was a general breaking
away from the established principles of the secret system.
Massachusetts openly seceded.^ Other states began to alter
their secret systems at their own discretion without any regard
to the national unity of the Order" The Philadelphia session
was, as the New York Tribune gleefully said, " the beginning
of the end " of the secret national nativist movement. In
Ohio some seceders from the Know-Nothing Order organized
a rival order, and under the name^' Know-Somethings" strove
for national expansion,' but their movement failed to attain
strength although it secured a foothold in several states.
On August 2 1st the committee of correspondence which had
been created at the bolters' caucus during the Philadelphia
session issued a call for a gathering of anti-slavery Know-
Nothings at Cincinnati on November 2ist, the object being a
re-organization of the secret movement on an anti-slavery
basis.-^ Meanwhile, amid all these reports of changes and dis-
integration, the New York organization was held quiescent,
looking forward to the regular quarterly session of the Grand
Council in August, when the matter of politics must necessarily
be discussed. During the weeks that intervened between the
Philadelphia session and the August Council the sentiment of
the Order had time to shape itself, guided, of course, by the
local leaders. It was in this time that there began in New
1 Text of address in Herald^ 1855, June 30, p. i.
' Tribune^ 1855, August ii, p. 5.
• Tribune, 1855, January 17, p. 5.
* Text of call in Tribune, 1855, August 31, p. 6.
I50 POLITICAL NATIVISM [^^3
York city an earnest and determined opposition to the power
of the clique headed by James W. Barker. The slavery issue
mingled itself with this movement of dissatisfaction and aided
in weakening Barker's influence in the Order. A factional
division thus developed itself quietly, having on one side the
Barker clique and the southeastern counties, while in opposi-
tion stood the old leaders of the Silver- Grays, supported by
the interior districts.^ The Barker clique stood for ratification
of the Philadelphia platform, while the opposition element
favored frank concessions to the growing anti-slavery senti-
ment in the state.
The Grand Council eventually met August 28, 1855, at
Binghamton, with a small attendance of delegates.' On the
first day, after organizing, it selected places for the next
Council session and for a state nominating convention. On
the second day the matter of the platform came up. In the
morning a report was received from the delegates who had
represented the Grand Council at Philadelphia and the subject
was then referred to a special committee on platform. • At
the evening session this committee brought in its report.
Almost unanimously the committee turned its back on the
pro-slavery program of the Philadelphia session, and held the
order in New York state to the old policy of neutrality.
The two resolutions in which its position was specially de-
clared were phrased, one in a way to please the anti-slavery
men and the other in a way to please the opposite group.
This platform as reported by committee was at once accepted
by vote of the Council. On the third day of the session the
Council created a new state committee, composed of one
member from each senatorial district, and then adjourned.
The significance of the Council's action on the platform was a
little vague in most ways. It was a skillful effort to satisfy
^ Tribune^ 1855, August 29, p. 5.
' This account is from Tribune reports.
349] ^-^^ INTRUSION OF THE SLA VER Y ISSUE 1 5 i
both sides of the slavery controversy. The fact was evident,
however, that the refusal to accept the Philadelphia platform
meant a defeat for the Barker clique, a severance of open
alliance with the South, and practically, though not in so
many words, a repudiation of the pro-slavery position of the
National Council. The platform as adopted by the Bingham-
ton Council was modeled upon that previously adopted at the
May Council, but was more explicit on the slavery question.^
It follows :
First, Americans to rule America.
Second, The maintenance of the Union and the compromises of the Constitution
faithfully fulfilled.
Third, The absolute exclusion from the creed of the American Party of all sec-
tional doctrines that are against the sense of any portion of the American Union,
and the disuse of the name, influence or organization of the American Party to
advance any measure against the constitutional rights of the states, or the intention
or effect of which shall be to endanger the perpetuity of the Union.
Fourth, No sectional' interference in our legislature, and no proscription of per-
sons on account of religious opinions.
Fifth, Hostility to the assumptions of the papal power through the bishops, pre-
lates, priests, or ministers of the Roman Catholic church as anti- republican in
principle and dangerous to the liberties of the people.
Sixth, Thorough reform in the naturalization laws of the federal government.
Seventh, The enactment of the laws for the protection of the purity of the ballot
box by the state.
Eighth, Free and reliable institutions for the education of all classes of the
people, with the Bible as a text-book in our common schools.
Resolved, That the national administration, by its general course of official con-
duct, together with an attempt to destroy the repose, harmony and fraternal rela-
tion of the country in the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and the encourage-
ment of aggression upon the government of the territorial inhabitants of Kansas,
deserves and should receive the united condemnation of the American people,
and that the institution of slavery should derive no extension from such repeal.
Resolved, That in the organization of the American Order the institution of
involuntary servitude was and now is regarded as local and not national in its char-
acter, a subject for the toleration of a difference of opinion by the citizens of the
northern and southern states, and as such has no rightful place in the platform of
the national American Party.
' Text of platform in Tribune^ 1855, August 30, p. 4.
* Query: Sectarian?
152 POLITICAL NATIVISM [350
This platform did not show any new developments in the
policy of the secret order, but rather a maintenance of its old
endeavor to keep nativism to the fore as its one real basis of
effort. The Order stood for compromise and peace on the
slavery issue. The real significance of the Binghamton plat-
form in the history of the Order was its recognition of the
fact that the organization must not go too far in defiance of
anti-Southern sentiment. In other words the nativist move-
ment, with all its splendid machinery, was not strong enough
to disregard the anti-slavery movement. Heretofore, the two
issues had been rivals in New York politics, with nativism
foremost. Now the tide was turning and anti-slavery was
taking the lead.
CHAPTER VII
THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1 85 5
The break-down of the old Whig and Democratic Parties
in New York state which began in 1854 was continued through
the state campaign of 1855. Before the aggressive action of
new issues embodied in specially organized movements the
old partisan fabrics exhibited such disruption and weakness as
seemed to foretell their utter extinction. The Know-Nothing
organization stood out above all forces in the early months of
1855 as a force destructive of old methods in politics. Its
vitality was astounding. It had at its service an enthusiasm
such as few political parties could hope to meet in their own.
It was sleepless, ubiquitous, cunning and aggressive. In the
fall elections of 1854 it rivaled the older parties in its strength.
In the local spring elections of 1855 it overtopped them all
and forced its opponents to unite in sheer self-defense, regard-
less of party names. It stood, in the spring of 1855, easily the X.
most powerful single political body in the state. Next to it in
strength stood the Democratic Party. The dual organizations
of the Soft- Shells or administration men and the Hard-Shells
or anti-administration men still faced each other in the spring
of 1855 with unaltered stubbornness, each claiming to be the
true representative of the old party. The dismembered party
was losing voters to the organized movements continually, but
yet it had a vitality and hopefulness that made it a strong
factor in state politics. There was just a possibility of a
re-union of the factions for campaign work, and in such event
the Democracy, despite its losses, might be stronger than
organized nativism.
351] 153
154 FOLiriCAL NATIVISM [252
Outside of the Know-Nothing Order and the disorganized
Democracy there was no one strong aggressive force in the
field in the early spring of 1855, but political prophets were
not deceived by appearances. Men knew that out of the less
powerful organizations of the day the skillful leaders of the old
Whig Party would build up a coalition of some sort that
would be strong enough to make at least an effort toward con-
trol of the state. The material for such a coalition was to be
found in the organized temperance movement, the Whig Party
system and the chaotic anti-slavery movement. The temper-
ance movement was bound to the Seward clique by its obliga-
tion to repay the favor of a prohibitory liquor law enacted in
April, 1855. The Whig Party was bound to the Seward
clique by the fact that the latter held control of its machinery.
The anti-slavery movement was bound to the same clique by
the lack of any other leaders on whom it could rely for suc-
cess. Of these forces which stood ready to Seward's hand
probably the strongest in the spring of 1855 was the organized
temperance movement. Encouraged by the winning of a pro-
hibitory law and militant against a threatened repeal, the or-
ganization was capable of showing important results in a state
campaign. Its strength lay, of course, largely in the smaller
villages and towns. Next to the temperance movement as a
political force was the Whig organization, which was now only
a remnant of the old party. Of the two factions which existed
in 1854 one was absorbed into the nativist movement and the
other was rapidly dwindling into nothingness. The party as
it stood was a weak affair, but its name was a valuable asset
and carried with it the control of some thousands of votes.
The anti-slavery movement was not strong in organization in
the spring of 1855, though anti-slavery sentiment was wide-
spread in the community. The two organizations of the Anti-
Nebraska men and the Free Democrats which had shared in
the campaign of 1854 still retained in 1855 a vague form of
embodiment but their platforms needed alteration to fit the
If
353] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i835 ICC
more recent phases of the slavery question. Such as they
were, however, the two groups were natural allies of the Sew-
ard interest.
The state offices to be filled at the election of 1855 were not
of unusual importance, since neither the governorship nor the
senatorships of the state would depend upon the result of the
election. The significance of the campaign lay, therefore, not
so much in the offices at stake as in the prophecy which it
would hold of the coming events of 1856, the presidential
year. The disruption of parties which had been taking place
in New York state was no local phenomenon. The same
change was going on all over the Union. Everywhere the
party systems were going to wreck in consequence of faction
fights and the inroads of new issues. Organized nativism in-
tended to put a presidential ticket in the field in 1856 and
seemed destined to success. The Democratic Party undoubt-
edly would survive its trials and also have its regular national
ticket in the field. Less fortunate, the Whig Party could not
hope to cope with either of its rivals unless a miracle could
turn back the tide of disruption and unite its membership
upon a real issue. The Nebraska matter and the Kansas "
struggle kept the slavery issue before the nation during 1854
and 1855. All through the North there was a strong anti-
slavery feeling. Before the winter of 1854-55 was over men
were beginning to talk of a great anti-Southern political move-
ment. In New York state it was sometimes said that Senator
Seward would look to such a movement for a presidential
nomination in 1856. Under these circumstances the vote cast
by the respective groups in the state of New York in 1855
would be an important hint of what that pivotal state might
be expected to do in the presidential contest of the following
year. It might have been foretold, therefore, that the state
campaign of 1855 would be a struggle in which the chief
figures would be organized nativism pitted against a Seward
coalition.
156 POLITICAL NATIVISM [354
Within the first six months of 1855 the poHtical leaders
began to marshal their respective forces into line. The nativ-
ist movement was represented chiefly by the Know-Nothing
Order, but there were some thousands of nativist voters out-
side of the Order. The secret Order of United Americans
had possibly 30,000 members scattered all over the state, but
most numerous in the south-eastern counties. The secret
Order of the American Star had probably not over 5,000
voters, almost wholly in New York and Kings counties. The
secret society of the "Allen Know-Nothings" had an unknown
number of voters in New York city. The secret American
Protestant Association and kindred societies also had their
members. Barker and his friends were able to exercise influ-
ence in nearly all these groups. The American Star was re-
organized wholly. When Patten, the founder of the society,
left the city, the leadership of it fell to Jacob B. Bacon, an ally
of Barker. Then a plan was carried out in which the society
was re-formed on the Know-Nothing model.^ It became a
federation of "temples," governed by a grand temple. Its
political work was directed by a board composed of the five
chief officers of the grand temple. Its declared mission was
in part to " act politically with the great national American
Party, aiding to elect its candidates and working to carry out its
principles." In April, 1855, the society had eighty-four temples
and 10,000 members, not all of whom were voters.* About
the same time that the American Star was re-organized a plan
was set on foot in the O. U, A. to re-organize its executive
system into a form similar to that of the Know-Nothings.
There seems no direct evidence that the Barker clique were
the movers in this plan, but it coincided curiously well with
their policy. The proposed innovation contemplated a fed-
* Pamphlet in Gildersleeve Coll., and reprint of same in Tribune, 1855, ^*P"
tember 5, p. 7, gives ritual complete. Times, 1855, September 5, p. i, Septem-
ber 6, p. 2, also gives ritual. Times, 1855, October 20, p. 2, gives constitution.
* Times, 1855, October 20, p. 2.
255] ^^^ STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1835 157
erated group of ** executive associations " controlled by certain
persons who would possess an "executive degree." The
executive associations were to be composed of voters recruited
from the ranks of the Order. The plan was an elaboration of
the previously used O. U. A. machinery. On April 24th, the
grand executive committee recommended the new scheme to
Arch-Chancery, and in May the Executive Convention took
like action.^ Arch- Chancery, in August, permitted the new
system to be tried. While the three chief secret societies of
the nativist movement were thus approaching a common
model, their forces were also being welded together into har-
mony in political action. During May and June there were
sessions in New York city of delegates from all the nativist
societies, and their work culminated on July 13th in a conven-
tion which marked the local beginning of an American Party
separate and distinct from any one secret organization. On
August 28th, when the Grand Council put into effect a new
feature of organized nativism by ordering a state nominating-
convention, its action similarly showed a tendency to break
away from the old secret system and create an open party
system which could enlist the votes of those nativists wlio
might not approve the secret system. As yet, however, there
was no suggestion that the Know-Nothing Order itself give
up its secrecy.
The Seward coalition was also built up during the early
months of 1855 with anti-slavery sentiment as its source of
strength. On May 30th the former anti- Nebraska movement
was revived under the name of '* Republican." This name of
*' Republican " was in frequent use all through the North dur-
ing the growth of anti-Southern feeling. The name was used
at various times, in various states, by various sorts of organi-
zations, whose various principles agreed generally in the one
particular of opposition to Southern interests. In New York
state the name was formally assumed in September, 1854, by
* Executive records of O, U. A.
158 POLITICAL NATIVISM [355
a group in the anti-Nebraska convention who wished to make
the movement plainly bi-partisan in character. Their wishes
were disregarded, and they seceded, creating a Republican
organization, and then merging with the Free Democracy. At
the same time the name was also assumed by the anti-Nebraska
convention in a motion hastily carried during the excitement
of its closing hours,^ and scarcely referred to during the cam-
paign that followed the convention. It was by virtue of that
motion that the committee appointed by the convention of
1854 made its bow in May, 1855, as representative of the new
Republican movement devoted to the Seward interest. The
transformation and revival of the former anti-Southern organi-
zation made no stir whatever, nor was there any surprise when,
on July 18th, the Republican state committee and the Whig
state committee met together and called conventions to meet
on the same day in September. All this had been foreseen.
It was merely the drawing together of the Seward forces.
Close following the coalition of Whigs and Republicans came
other steps in the Seward program. On July 25th the state
committee of the temperance movement met and issued a con-
vention call to take effect on the day following the Whig and
Republican conventions. This meant an endorsement by the
temperance movement of Seward's nominees. Next, on July
31st, the representatives of two secret pohtical societies met at
Rochester and arranged for action in support of the new Re-
publican movement. Finally, on August i6th, the Free Demo-
cratic state committee called upon its followers to join their
efforts in aid of the Republican organization. This completed
the structure on which the Seward interest would base its
hopes.
The part taken by secret societies in this work of fusion is
not at all important, but it had its interesting features. The
two societies concerned were the so-called " Choctaws " and
1 Iribune, 1854, September 28, p. 6.
357] ^^-^ STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1855 ijq
the " Know-Somethings." The Choctaws ' were those Know-
Nothings who seceded from the main order in October, 1854,
and duplicated the secret system. They did not claim over
150 councils in 1855, and probably had much less. Their
principles included opposition to slavery, and they were sup-
porters of Seward. The Know-Somethings were members of a
secret society started in Ohio in January, 1855, by Know-Noth-
ing seceders.' In principles it was mildly nativist and emphati-
cally anti-slavery. In organization it followed very closely the
Know-Nothing model, except that it had but one degree, and
substituted a pledge in place of an oath. The Know-Something
Order won a foothold in New York state, probably in June,
1855, and was fostered by Seward men as a bait to draw off
members from the Know-Nothing society. It had a grand
lodge, of which William C Parsons was chief officer with the
title of grand president. The Order failed, however, to make
any headway against the overwhelming strength of the Know-
Nothing system. As a nativist organization it was a sham, for
its real interest lay in anti-Southern agitation. On July 31st,
in response to official calls, the Grand Council of the Choctaws
and the Grand Lodge of the Know-Somethings met at Roch-
ester, agreed together on a platform and voted to unite at a
future session into one society .3 Together they called a con-
vention of delegates from their subordinate bodies to meet at
the same time and place as the Republican convention. These
allied societies voted at their Rochester session to eliminate
from their rituals all hostility to foreigners. The only nativist
principle which they retained was that of hostility to clerical
influence in civil affairs. Practically they abandoned nativism
at Rochester when they revised their principles.
^ Name appears in Tribune, 1855, March 16, p. 5.
'On its origin see Tribune, 1855, January 17, p. 5, March 7, p. 6, March 24,
p. 6; Herald, 1855, January 20, p. 3, January 29, p. 8, March 10, p. 2, June
14, p. I.
* Herald, 1855, July 25, p. 4, July 28, p. i, September 22, p. 2.
l6o POLITICAL NATIVISM [358
The plans of the Seward clique were fairly well revealed by
the end of July, and the public turned with interest to the two
Democratic state conventions which were to take place in
August. There had been some hints of schemes to draw the
separated Democratic factions into union, and no one was sure
that the schemes had failed. In case the faction leaders
agreed upon alliance the Democracy might yet control the
state. At the same time there was a possible coalition of
Hard-Shells and Know-Nothings to be looked for. Rumor
was persistent in referring to this possibility.'' It was clear
enough that if the Hard-Shells held aloof from other factors
in the state campaign they could not hope to win any of the
state offices, whereas if they could reach an agreement with
the nativists they might gain a share of the spoils without los-
ing their factional identity. There were no principles to stand
in the way. Nevertheless when the Hard-Shell convention
met on August 23d, it was found that the organization had de
cided to hold its own course in the state campaign, making
concessions to nobody. In the platform there was incorpor-
ated a paragraph that in mild terms condemned nativism. A
few days later the Soft-Shell state convention also declared
against nativism. This was expected, since the Soft-Shells
were dependent on the foreign vote. Both of the dual bodies
of the Democracy thus kept clear of the taint of nativism in
their platforms, but the coming election was to show that the
Hard-Shell voters took a different attitude. The August
Grand Council of the Know-Nothings added to their platform
a resolution condemning so heartily the policy of President
Pierce that it could not but enlist Hard-Shell sympathy. It
was claimed several months later, but without good proof, that
the Hard-Shell managers, while condemning nativism openly,
at the same time supported it quietly in the state campaign.
The month of September brought about the successful
launching of the new Republican movement. The Seward
1 E. g.y Times, 1855, August 14, p. 4.
359] ^-^^ STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8s5 l6l
men all over the state generally abandoned the use of the old
worn-out Whig organization as soon as the word was passed
to place the new Republican movement on its feet, and in this
work they were aided by Democrats of anti-Southern feelings.
This ready co-operation of former antagonists was due to the
work wrought by organized movements in teaching men how
to belong to a party and yet act with organizations outside of
party lines. The Republican movement was not at first a real
party. It was a bi-partisan organization created primarily to
voice anti-Southern feeling, and secondarily to crush organized
nativism. Men might join the new movement without feeling
that they thereby lost membership in the older parties. Dur-
ing September the work of organization went on under the
direction of the state committee. Local mass meetings created
local committees and chose delegates to the coming state
convention. A Republican press appeared and aided the work
of recruiting by its vigorous efforts to build up anti-Southern
sentiment. Thanks to the energy of the press the desired
sentiment grew rapidly. The attention of the voting masses
was now drawn to the slavery issue more closely than it had
ever been before.
If it be possible to set any definite time as the point where
the nativist movement in New York state reached its height
and began to decline, that time must be fixed in the month of
September, 1855. A claim was made for it about this time
that it possessed in the Know-Nothing Order alone at least
185,000 votes.^ This claim, though entirely unofficial, was
yet probably very close to actual fact, for the Order had re-
ported 178,000 members in the previous May. Nevertheless
despite its enormous membership, nativism had reached the
turning place. Henceforth the movement was to lose strength
steadily year by year until its end. The cause of its changing
fortune lay partly in itself and partly in the character of its
antagonists. Organized nativism in New York state had risen
1 Herald, 1855, July 29, p. 4.
1 62 POLITICAL NAT IV ISM [360
to strength at a time when there was no organized issue of
like vitality which could dispute its growth. In 1854 neither
temperance nor anti-slavery had the ability to win men as
nativism did, nor could the broken party organizations oppose
it successfully. In 1855 the situation changed. The anti-
slavery issue, re-organized and aggressive, again appealed to
the voters, and this time won the recognition that it demanded.
The re-organization of the anti-slavery movement was the
turning point for organized nativism. But it was partly in the
nativist movement itself that the cause of its decline lay. Its
success had been an element in its own undoing. The knowl-
edge of the power that lay within its secret mechanism brought
into its membership a horde of petty leaders more intent upon
personal success than upon the unity of the society. Intrigue,
rivalry and wrangling developed in the councils, and petty
spite or open-voiced disgust were here and there tearing aside
the veil of secrecy that had heretofore concealed the Order's
inner workings. The mechanism, membership, teaching and
aims of the great Know-Nothing society could, in the campaign
of 1855, be easily learned by any anxious inquirer. The
nominal principles of the movement were losing their influ-
ence, too. The old cry of Catholic conspiracy against the
Fnation was beginning to lose its effect, for it was seen that the
enemy — if he really were an enemy — was in a great minority
in the nation. Besides, the Catholic bishops had officially
declared in May, 1855, that Catholics owed no obedience to
[the Pope in civil affairs. Finally, the mystery of the thing was
beginning to vanish. In 1854 the Order was really clothed in
secrecy, and could work out startling political changes at the
polls, but by the fall of 1855 outsiders could in most towns
guess closely at the strength and plans of the secret councils.
The Know-Nothing state ticket of 1855 was placed in the
field in a manner less open to objection than that of 1854.
The resentment aroused by the nomination of the Ullman
ticket bore home its lesson to the managers of the Order, and
361] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1853 1 63
by the fall of 1855 they had prepared the nominating machinery
of a state convention. The first convention met at Auburn on
September 25th. It was composed of delegates elected for the
single duty of making nominations, and it was governed by
officers chosen by itself This convention is another instance
of the way in which the secret order continually adopted party
methods in its political work, abandoning the peculiar methods
by which it had hitherto secured its best results. According
to the press reports there were about 320 delegates in attend-
ance on the Auburn convention.^ They were called to order
by Grand President Barker as temporary chairman, and there-
upon began the work of self-organization. Erastus Brooks
was chosen as permanent president, supported by eight vice-
presidents, representing the judicial districts of the state. The
work of nomination immediately followed. This convention
was not a Grand Council session. It was a temporary political
body with a special work to do. Press reports give little
detailed convention news. There were many aspirants for
place, but one by one the list was sifted, and the convention
broke up in the early morning hours of the 26th. This Au-
burn convention, with its commonplace political procedure,
comes just at the turning point of the fortunes of political
nativism. It is of special interest because it marks a certain
change in the conception of the nativist movement in the state.
Up to this time the Know-Nothing Order had been the one
acknowledged force of political nativism. The Auburn con-
vention did not, however, regard itself as merely a Know-
Nothing gathering. It affected to represent political nativism
as a whole. The phrase of "American Party " had been occa-
sionally used in nativist politics before the date of the Auburn
convention. After that date it is almost exclusively the official
name of the nativist movement. The ticket selected by the
convention was as follows :
^ Convention account from Times and Tribune.
164 POLITICAL NATIVISM [362
Secretary of State Joel T. Headley, of Orange.
Comptroller Lorenzo Burrows, of Orleans.
Treasurer Stephen Clark, of Albany.
Attorney-General Stephen B. Cushing, of Tompkins.
Engineer Silas Seymour, of Rockland.
Canal Commissioner Samuel S. Whallon, of Chautauqua.
Prison Inspector William A. Russell, of Washington.
Judge, Court of Appeals . . . William W. Campbell, of New York.
Judge, Court of Appeals . . . George F. Comstock, of Onondaga.
This ticket was so chosen as to represent all portions of the
state and to be bi-partisan. Five of its members had been
Whigs and four had been Democrats. Against the personal
character of its members the opposition press had nothing to
say. Joel T. Headley, of Newburgh, the head of the ticket,
was one of those nativist legislators who fought valiantly
against the election of Seward as senator. In earlier life he
had been a clergyman, but left that occupation to travel and to
earn his living with his pen. Up to the time of his election as
assemblyman he was best known as a writer. His legislative
career then secured him notice in politics. Lorenzo Burrows,
whose office was perhaps the most important on the state
ticket, was a business man of Albion, credited with wealth and
ability. He had served one term in Congress. Cushing,
Whallon, Campbell and Comstock were lawyers of local repu-
tation. Seymour and Clark were civil engineers of consider-
able experience.
On the day following the nativist state convention the dele-
gates of the Seward coalition met at Syracuse. Three separ-
ate conventions were held at once, namely, those of Whigs,
Republicans and Know-Somethings. The proceedings of
these bodies went on smoothly. The Whig and Republican
joint-committee reported a mixed ticket made up of Whigs
and Democrats, and all three conventions promptly ratified
the selections. Excellent as this arrangement was for the
Seward clique there was nevertheless a patent incongruity in
asking Whigs to vote as Whigs for men chosen from the party
363] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8s5 1 65
which the Whig organization had fought so bitterly during
the past twenty years. There was something of a stir of dis-
satisfaction when the mixed ticket was declared. The Repub-
lican movement, it must be again said, was not yet a real party.
The men who composed it were still Whigs and Democrats, and
the fact that some Democratic politician might feel willing to
side with anti- slavery did not make him palatable to straight-
out Whigs even when served to them upon the official ticket
of the Whig Party. Nativism took advantage of this anomaly
in party work to stir up dissatisfaction with the Seward ticket.
In New York, Kings and Richmond counties the nativist ele-
ment was strong enough to use the Whig Party machinery at
this juncture. The Whig county committees repudiated the
Republican ticket, and on October 4th an immense mass-
meeting in New York city called for a new state convention of
Old line Whigs. The Seward- Whig newspapers viewed this
threatened revolt with wrath and fear, but their fear was need-
less, for it was an impossible task to re-create the machinery
of the old party in time for election. On October 23d, when
the state convention of Old-line Whigs met, it merely made its
protest against the Syracuse mixed ticket and did not attempt
to make a rival ticket or re-organize the state. The old Whig
Party in New York was in fact a political corpse. Such
Whigs as would not join with Seward now drifted into nativ-
ism, though for a year or two longer the pretence of an Old-
line Whig state committee was kept up.
The nativist campaign work in 1855 followed very largely
the former policy of secrecy in the interior counties. Voters
were gathered into the Know-Nothing councils and instructed
as to the necessity of upholding the political plans of nativism.
In New York city the more open methods of mass meetings,
campaign clubs and processions were used. In the arguments
of the time, nativism still used the old bugbear of Catholic con-
spiracy, and with excellent effect. The twin bugbear of for-
eign influence, independent of church matters, was tacitly
l66 POLITICAL NATIVJSM [364
dropped. Nativism had come to recognize the value of foreign-
born voters by this time, and there was little said of the old idea
of twenty one years' residence for naturalization. Nativism
was growing liberal. Its platform of August made no explicit
reference to the foreign born, but contented itself with a vague
hint of some sort of reform in naturalization laws. The main
arguments of the campaign were those upon the slavery issue.
Nativism could not now go so far as to declare that the South
was right, but it could and did maintain that Seward was
wrong. Senator Seward, according to the nativist view, was a
mischief-maker, heedless of results so long as his own ambi-
tions were served, plotting for the presidency, and not caring
if his course might imperil the unity of the nation. In the
nativist demonology, Seward the Friend of the Pope was
superseded by Seward the Enemy of his Country. The slavery
issue really was the dominant note of the state campaign. On
the Republican side of the contest the leaders used the long-
tried methods of political work, drawing together the machinery
of a new state organization, but keeping fast hold on the old
Whig system as well. In argument they scored the nativist
idea. Hostility to voters of foreign birth, they said, was an
insult, and hostility to the Catholic system was an absurdity.
As to the slavery issue, they said that the nativists were friends
of the South and of domestic servitude. The nativist leaders
were bamboozling their followers and blinding them with
fanciful mummeries to suit their own ambitions and to deliver
the national government into the hands of the slave- holding
aristocracy. Sometimes there were reproaches against the
iniquities of " dark-lantern politics ;" but this came with bad
grace from the Seward side where the secret Know-Something
Order, after swallowing up the Choctaws,^ kept the field as a
Seward auxiliary of the same dark-lantern type.
Election day in 1855 came on November 6th. The first re-
^ Herald ^ 1855, September 22, p. 2; Titnes^ 1855, October 12, p. 5.
365] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1833 i^y
turns showed that organized nativism had won a victory. The
Repubhcan movement polled a remarkably good vote, but it
fell short of success. Nativism carried the state. The victors
elected seven administrative officers, one judge of appeals, and
five judges of the Supreme Court. The land office and the
canal board, with the patronage therewith connected, would be
theirs in the coming year. In the legislature the nativist suc-
cess was not so apparent. Neither branch of that body would
be dominated by the movement. There were only eleven na-
tivist senators and about forty-four nativist assemblymen. The
state canvass showed that the political groups of the campaign
had polled an averaged strength about as follows : *
Headley- Burrows ticket:
Nativist movement (Americans) 1
^ '' .... I i^y 200 votes.
Whig Party (Old -line Whigs) / ^'
King- Cook ticket :
Anti-slavery movement ( Republicans)
Anti-slavery movement (Know- Somethings) . .
Whig Party (Seward Whigs) ^ 135,700 votes.
Temperance movement (Temperance men) . . J
Hatch- Stetson ticket :
Democratic Party (Soft-Shells) 90,900 votes.
Ward-Mitchell ticket :
Democratic Party (Hard-Shells) 45,600 votes.
Ward- Stetson ticket:
Democratic Party (Half-Shells) * • 1
Anti-temperance movement (Constitutionalists) . V 12,700 votes.
Anti-temperance movement (Liquor Dealers) . . J
The returns for this election showed that the nativist move- "*
ment had gained considerably since the fall of 1854. A heavy
vote was cast for its ticket in some of the staunch Democratic
counties. Curiously, however, the counties of the west, where
Fillmore's influence extended, did not vote as heavily for
nativism in 1855 as in the preceding year. The secret order
had invaded the northern counties since 1854, and its gains
^ Official canvass in Times, 1856, January 2, p. i. The Liberty Party, whose
state poll was about 140 votes, is omitted.
1 68 POLITICAL NATIVISM r^gg
^ there and elsewhere more than balanced all losses. In five
counties the nativist ticket had an actual majority of the total
vote. The vote for Headley was distributed as follows :
Per cent. Vote.
Albany 4i . . 6,136
Alleghany 23 , . 1,429
Broome 18 . . 929
Cattaraugus 34 • • 2,012
Cayuga 37 . . 3,076
Chautauqua 44 . • 3*564
Chemung 29 . . 1,092
Chenango 33 • • 2,276
Clinton 37 . . i»576
Columbia 32 • . 2,173
Cortland 35 ■ • Ij54I
Delaware 35 • • 2,102
Dutchess 23 . , 2,098
Erie 35 . . 5,433
Essex '. 52 . . 1,928
Franklin 54 • • 1*831
Fulton-Hamilton ... 29 . . 1,089
Genesee 36 . • 1,570
Greene 45 • • 2,167
Herkimer 32 . . 2,024
Jefferson 12 . . 1,090
Kings 34 . . 7,113
Lewis 9 . . 318
Livingston 47 • • 2,704
Madison 24 . , 1,575
Monroe 31 . 3,522
Montgomery 39 • • 2,058
New York 36 . . 20,367
Niagara ..... 38 . . 2,247
Oneida 11 . , 1,555
Per cent. Vote.
Onondaga 31 . . 3,479
Ont^irio 43 • • 2,744
Orange ....... 24 . , 1,806
Orleans 44 • - 1,831
Oswego 29 . . 2,413
Otsego 25 . . 1,958
Putnam 37 « • 671
Queens 32 . . 1,461
Rensselaer 49 • • 5,350
Richmond 35 • • 7^2
Rockland 48 . . 982
St. Lawrence . . . 25 .. 2,167
Saratoga 35 • • 2,671
Schenectady 52 • • i,534
Schoharie 29 . . 1,606
Schuyler 27 . . 780
Seneca 36 . . 1,285
Steuben 40 . . 3,400
Suffolk 29 .. 1,128
Sullivan 49 • . 2,223
Tioga 10 . . 440
Tompkins 45 • • 2,163
Ulster 56 . . 5,096
Warren 48 .. 1,513
Washington 53 • • 3»7I5
Wayne 32 . . 2,388
Westchester 39 • • 3,264
Wyoming 18 . . 868
Yates 7 . • 254
The success in the state election was encouraging to the
Know- Nothing Order, and yet the total vote cast was 30,000
less than the membership which had been claimed for the
Order in the spring months. The election gave evidence that
organized nativism was really menaced by the rise of the Re-
publican movement. Its power was beginning to shrink as
^^^-^ THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 185s 1 69
that of organized anti-slavery grew. The latter was taking on
strength with a rapidity almost equaling that which nativism
itself had shown at its first expansion. In the coming winter
it would be represented in the legislative bodies of the nation,
and would demand recognition as a factor in national politics.
All eyes now turned expectantly to the meeting of Con-
gress. In New York state an almost equal interest was
directed toward the meeting of the new state legislature.
The attitude of the Know-Nothing Order of New York state
toward the anti- Southern movement was now changing very
rapidly. The Barker clique with its friendship for the South
was losing influence. A new element was forcing itself to the
front in the Order with friendly feelings for anti-slavery. The
two elements were in balance, and while they remained so,
New York stayed faithful to the old secret system and kept
itself coherent and united. The Order in New York lent no
countenance to the schismatic national convention which met
at Cincinnati in November, 1855, composed of anti-Southern
men, but held itself to old ways. The first evidence of the
change worked in New York by the anti-Southern movement
revealed itself when Congress met on December 3d and began
to ballot for a speaker. It was then seen that although at
least half of the New York congressmen had been elected in
1854 by Know-Nothing votes, yet only a half dozen were now
inclined to act with the Order in the speakership contest.
The whole Know-Nothing element in Congress soon showed
an utter lack of coherence and power. At the first ballot on
the speakership it mustered about fifty votes, but they were
divided between the Southern Marshall and the Northern
Fuller. The Americans, as they now called themselves,
could not unite. On the 28th ballot Marshall withdrew.
Efforts were made then to get the Know-Nothings together
in support of Fuller. Slowly his following increased through
the weeks of repeated balloting that extended themselves into
the winter months, but the incessant fight upon the slavery
I^O POLITICAL N ATI V ISM [^^g
issue continually weakened the nativist phalanx. The situa-
tion at Washington, consequently, was not at all encouraging
to the New York portion of the Order when the new year of
1856 came in. The Know- Nothing members from New York
were reflecting no luster whatever upon the organization
which placed them in their seats, and the whole Know- Nothing
group in the House was showing itself utterly incapable of
harmony.
On January i, 1856, the New York legislature came to-
gether. Here, as at Washington, there was an aggressive
group of Republicans prepared to struggle for political status.
Their movement was yet new and had not shaken itself
entirely loose from the older parties, but they meant to assert
themselves in the organization of the legislature. There
were at Albany, as at Washington, several political groups
which overlapped one another in personnel and whose re-
spective strengths could not on that account be accurately
reckoned. In a rough way only could it be said that the new
Assembly of 120 members was fairly evenly divided among
Democrats, Americans and Republicans. On the last day of
the old year the members held their caucuses. The Ameri-
cans selected Lyman Odell, of Livingston, as their candidate
for speaker of the lower house. Then on the New Year the
balloting began. In the contest at Albany, unlike that at
Washington, the bitterness wrought by the slavery issue had
no place. The problem at Albany for each of the three chief
groups was to get the speakership if possible, but first and
above all things, to show no weakness in its coherence.
For nativism in New York, a fiasco like that at Washington
would be a most evil omen. For two weeks, with dogged
persistence, the rival groups faced one another at Albany.
Then, on the 49th ballot, the Democrats and Republicans,
without merging their identity in the least, united to outvote
the Americans and divide the offices between themselves.
This defeat, brought about by coalition, lost no prestige to
369] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8s5 171
the Know- Nothings, who had proven their ability to hold to-
gether. Meantime, at Washington, efforts were being made
to create a coalition of Democrats and Americans to outvote
the Republican group, but the Americans would not unite
upon this final hope. Then came the break. Southern
Know-Nothings passed over to the Democracy and only a
corporal's guard remained to vote for Fuller till the end.
The utter weakness of the Know-Nothing contingent at the
national capital was but a reflection of the actual condition of
the national organization. Nearly every state had altered the
old Know-Nothing secret system to suit its own taste since
the fatal session of the Philadelphia National Council in June,
1855. There was no longer a national secret society. Instead
there was a congeries of state organizations, some in the form
of societies and others in the form of political parties. Men
talked less of " the Order " now, and more of " the party."
The old Know-Nothing Order was in fact, in a transition
stage. It was changing itself into a real political party. Many
were dropping away from it during the change, yet it still had
probably over a million voters and could make a fight for the
presidency. Its leaders were planning for the latter event,
and the National Council which had been called to meet on
February i8th, would try to rehabilitate the organization and
set it in the field in fighting form. What part the slavery issue
would play in this work of restoration no one could prophesy.
Anti-slavery sentiment in the organization was much stronger
than it was eight months before, when the former National
Council was held, and in the new Council it would probably
be more strongly assertive than before. The anti-Southern
men would have an advantage, too, in the fact that each con-
gressional district would have a delegate and there could be
no careful balancing of state delegations as in the former
Council. The Know-Nothings of New York looked forward to
this Council with peculiar interest because of the two aspirants
for the presidency. All through the year 1855 the friends of
1^2 POLITICAL NATIVISM [370
Fillmore and of Law respectively were pushing their canvass for
delegates. Fillmore himself was in Europe, but the men who
had come over to the Know-Nothing Order from the old Silver-
Gray Whig faction rallied to his name. Law, on the contrary,
found his support among the men who were more closely inter-
ested in real nativism. Barker was a supporter of Law. At
the American Party National Convention which was to follow
immediately after the National Council session the fate of the
New York aspirants would be decided. The Know-Nothings
of New York were therefore anxious for a successful unifica-
tion of the disorganized American Party as a necessary pre-
lude to a successful presidential campaign.
On February 18, 1856, the National Council came together
at Philadelphia.^ At once the old fight over the slavery issue
began, for the pro-slavery southerners refused to submit to the
excision of the famous '* twelfth section " of the platform
adopted in June, 1855. On the third day of the debate the
vote was called on the motion to strike out, and the result
wiped the hated twelfth section from the platform. In this
test of policy the New York delegation divided its vote im-
partially on either side. But now an entirely new platform
was demanded to replace the mutilated old one. The South-
ern men wanted assurances of neutrality from the new party,
while the anti-slavery men wanted assurances of hostility to
slavery. While debate went on a platform was offered which
took compromise ground. It was acceptable to the South but
not to the anti-slavery group, which was now in a mood to
push its advantage. The Council was at a crisis. If the plat-
form were rejected the Southern men would bolt. The vote
on the new platform was such that New York could turn the
scale, and now again in 1856, as it had done in 1855, the dele-
gation went with the South to keep the national organization
unbroken. The National Council therefore closed its labors
^ Account is from Herald and Times reports.
27 I ] THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF 185s 1 73
on the 2 1 St, having come back to a stand of neutrality that
meant non-interference with slavery.
On February 22nd, the National Convention organized.
This bod}'- was made necessary by the fact that the National
Council had no power to nominate a presidential ticket under
the constitution of the secret order. In reality the Convention
only continued the work begun by the National Council. Its
membership corresponded to that of the presidential electors
of the states. At its first day's session the Convention organ-
ized. Among its officers was Erastus Brooks, of New York,
as vice-president. Then, as soon as organization was com-
pleted and debate opened, the never-ending slavery question
filled the air again. By this time, apparently, the more violent
anti-slavery men had determined upon a line of conduct. On
the second day they moved the adoption of a new platform on
the ground that a party convention could not be bound by the
action of the National Council. The suggestion failed. On
the third day the anti-slavery men moved an anti- slavery
amendment to the platform, and on a test vote they were
defeated 151 to 51. Then they left the convention, a small
body of about two dozen. They had sympathizers who de-
ferred a bolt until the party ticket should be selected. On the
evening of February 25th, the ballot was taken on nominees.
Millard Fillmore was the favorite of the South and was easily
nominated. George Law stood next, but far behind Fillmore.
The New York delegation on the first formal ballot stood twenty
for Law, ten for Fillmore, four for Houston, and one absent.
The Convention voted the vice-presidency to Andrew J. Donel-
son, of Tennessee, and then adjourned. Through the difficul-
ties of the eight- days' struggle the course of the New York
delegation had been skillfully taken, and the state organiza-
tion could now face a presidential campaign for the election of
a New York man. Only one or two of the New York ciclc-
gates had joined that group of anti-slavery bolters who sought
to disrupt the re-united party. After this convention it is
1^4 POLITICAL NATIVISM [272
proper to give the nativist organization the name of " party "
in a technical sense, for its nominations made the break dis-
tinct between the national organizations of the nativists and
those of the Whigs and Democrats. After this convention a
voter could hardly be an adherent of the entire nativist ticket,
and yet profess any allegiance to the national Democratic or
Whig Party. Up to this time a voter might have been both
nativist and Democrat, or nativist and Whig.
Within the platform adopted by the National Council was a
piece of legislation which needs notice as bearing on the
changing constitution of the Know-Nothing system. It has
been noted how, after the Philadelphia Council of June, 1855,
the various grand councils of different states played havoc
with the secret system of the Order. To undo this work was
impossible, and it was condoned and legalized instead. Article
XV. of the new platform declared : *
That each State Council shall have authority to annul their several constitutions
so as to abolish the several degrees, and substitute a pledge of honor instead of
other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the party.
This legislation did not abolish the secret system either in
the National Council or in any state where it had been retained.
It merely permitted grand councils to act at their own dis-
cretion- The article was in no way mandatory. The Know-
Nothing Order in New York state was unaffected and went on
as before, a secret society working under the supervision of
its Grand Council. As a fitting incident of this period of
change into which the Know-Nothing Order was now passing
came the retirement of James W. Barker from official leader-
ship of the organization in New York. He and his friends
were no longer an influence controlling the secret order.
When the Grand Council met in annual session in February,
1856, his official term as grand president closed. In the pre-
vious December he had declared himself not a candidate for
• Herald^ 1856, February 22, p. 1.
^yy\ THE STATE CAMPAIGN OF i8s5 175
re-election.' The Grand Council quietly replaced the old
officers with new men.
The personality of James W. Barker dominated the Know-
Nothing movement in New York state during its rise to power.
The extraordinary expansion of the secret organization was
made possible by his administrative genius, and during that
expansion he was the great representative of the system which
he controlled. Barker was an excellent type of the American
citizen, with his interest in public movements, his abiding faith
in American nationality and his energy of character. He was
broad-minded and conservative at the same time, never a fan-
atic or an incendiary. As a nativist his sincerity was admitted
by even his opponents. The life of Barker was like that of many
other business men of the great city.* Born at White Plains,
Westchester county, December 5, 181 5, he grew up there in
the country life until he became old enough to look for better
fortune elsewhere. He came to New York city and secured a
place as salesman in a dry-goods house, from whence he soon
passed into a modest business of his own. He was engaged
in the dry-goods trade until he retired in 185 1 and opened an
office for real-estate work. It was during his extended service
in mercantile life that he formed a wide acquaintance and ob-
tained an enviable reputation as a business man. It was in
this time, too, that he became interested in church matters and
in temperance work. It was probably in the secret orders of
temperance that he first reached that acquaintance with the
machinery of the lodge-room that served him in such good
stead later. The rise of political nativism found him an earn-
est worker. He belonged to all the prominent societies of the
nativist movement. His energy, sincerity and strength of pur-
pose brought him very quickly to the front as a political
» Times, 1855, December 14, p. 4.
' For biographical notes see Herald, 1869, June 27, p. 7. Also, Smith's Pillars
of the Temple.
176 POLITICAL NATIVISM \ji7A
eader of nativism, and this position he never entirely lost^
even after he lost personal control of the nativist organization.
During the decadence of the American Party, Barker occasion-
ally appeared in connection with the party work and he re-
mained an upholder of the party till its end. In 1859 ^^ ^^^
New York city and went to Pittsburgh to re-embark in the dry-
goods business. Here he built up a successful interest which
he kept until his death. In 1867 illness forced him to retire
from active business effort for a time, but in 1868 he accepted
the presidency of an insurance company in New York and
kept in touch with business life. He died suddenly at Rah-
way. New Jersey, on June 26, 1869. He was, at the time of
his death, the head of a small organization which sought to re-
vive the old Know -Nothing system under a new name.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CAMPAIGN OF I 856 IN NEW YORK
The annual session of the Know-Nothing Grand Council, at
which the Barker control was finally thrown off, convened on
February 26, 1856, at Canandaigua.^ In the absence of the
grand president, then engaged in president-making at Phila-
delphia, a temporary chairman called the session to order.
The principal work of the first day was the reception of cre-
dentials. When organization was completed the Council
voted a ratification of the new Fillmore and Donelson ticket.
On the 27th the Council adopted the new national platform
and then passed to debate on a proposal to abandon the secret
system in New York. The suggestion was put aside. Next
came the annual election of officers. The grand president's
place was first voted to Lyman Odell, of Livingston, the unsuc-
cessful nominee for speaker of the Assembly, but Odell de-
clined it, whereupon it was voted to Stephen Sammons of
Montgomery, one of the long-tried workers of the secret
movement. The place of grand vice-president seems to have
gone to George Denniston, of Steuben. For grand secretary,
J. Stanley Smith, of Cayuga, was chosen. This election
probably closed the work of the session.
The Know-Nothings now faced a new campaign and one
which would thoroughly test the strength of the organization.
The presidency of the nation and the governorship of the state
were the prizes for which the New York branch of the party
would work. National and state considerations were there-
fore mingled in the plans of the year. In the national contest:
* Account from Herald reports.
375] 177
l^S POLITICAL NATIVISM \n^
the Whig Party was practically defunct and its place would be
taken in years to come by either the American or the Repub-
lican Party. The campaign of 1856 would do much to decide
which of the two was to be the party of the future. In the
state campaign the same problem of the permanence of party
was to be worked out in a somewhat narrower field. Look-
ing forward to the national contest from the month of Febru-
ary, 1856, the advantage appeared to be on the side of the
nativist party ; for while the Democracy was divided on the
issues of the day and the new Republican movement was not
yet organized for effective national work, the Americans were
in the field with their issues plainly stated, their national
organization re-formed and the anti- slavery element of the
party held in check. Looking forward to the state contest
from the same standpoint, the outlook was a little less favor-
able on account of the energy and aggressiveness of the
Seward coalition in New York. Political leaders realized by
this time that the slavery issue was all-pervasive. It was
thrusting itself forward in every political organization of the
day and was the great disturbing factor in all calculations. It
was to the popular interest in this issue that the Republican
leaders addressed themselves and their political future would
depend upon the strength of the popular response to their
efforts. The proper course of the Know-Nothings, who had
nothing to gain and much to lose by anti-slavery feeling, was
to minimize the Republican influence and keep the ideas of
nativism in the popular mind until the force of anti- Southern
feeling could spend itself The actual fact that the Know-
Nothing Order was losing ground in New York state was not
plainly apparent in the spring of 1856. The exodus from its
secret councils was not yet great enough to attract attention,
and although the flimsy veil of mystery was rent, yet the
secret machinery of the Order ground on unchecked and un-
complaining. Unlike other states. New York had remained
faithful to its secret system in politics, and in the local spring
377] ^^^ CAMPAIGN OF 1856 IN NEW YORK ijg
elections of 1856 it won victories on all sides. This in itself
was an evidence of real strength.
The latent weakness of the Know- Nothing organization was~1
the existence of a strong anti-slavery feeling among its own mem- j
bership. This feeling was a constant source of danger, and in the
campaign of the year it was roused to action as a result of the
ambitions of George Law, the rich contractor. The presiden-
tial aspirations of Law were promoted by a shrewd newspaper
man named Scoville, who, after the failure of the Law canvass
in the regular national convention, placed himself in touch with
the dissatisfied minority and planned anew for a nomination
for his patron.^ The New York organization had practically
held aloof from the bolt made by the anti-slavery element in
the Philadelphia Convention of February, 1856, and its adhe-
sion to the Fillmore ticket was undisturbed until the support-
ers of Law began their work. Without the efforts of Scoville
there would certainly have been individual repudiations of the
Fillmore ticket, like that of Col. Seymour, the Know-Nothing
state engineer, but the scheme of the Law clique was to or-
ganize the anti-slavery element of the Order behind a new pres-
idential ticket. The signs of this movement appeared in
March.* It soon found ample support, because the Fillmore
nomination was really distasteful to those persons who sym-
pathized closely with the anti-Southern idea. As president
Fillmore had signed the Fugitive Slave Act and as candidate
in 1856 he was believed to be a Southern hope. Law was
not especially desired as a candidate. In fact he probably
never had the remotest chance of a presidential nomination.
He was a convenient figure-head and possibly a source of sup-
plies for the mischief-makers of the Order. The faction that
used Law's name were properly styled at the time "Anti-
^ Herald, 1856, November 25, p. 4. This story of Law's canvass hears plain
marks of editorial spite, but it seems reliable.
^Herald, 1856, March 22, p. 8.
l80 POLITICAL NATIVJSM [3-^8
Fillmore men." Sometimes also they were called North Amer-
icans and their opponents South Americans, to indicate their
supposed sectional sympathies. On April loth the Anti-
Fillmore men were gratified by a call for a new American
national convention, issued by the bolters of the Philadelphia
Convention.' This was their opportunity. In various por-
tions of the state the anti-slavery element now gathered itself
together at a hint from the leaders and chose delegates to a
state convention of May 29th. It does not appear that this
distinctly schismatic movement was opposed by the new grand
officers of the secret order. The Anti-Fillmore men went on
unhindered. Their convention at Albany on May 29th organ-
ized itself under the presidency of D. N. Wright, of West-
chester." An anti-slavery platform was adopted, a state com-
mittee created and a delegation of thirty-five members named to
represent the state in the schismatic national convention called
to meet at New York city on June 12th. This state conven-
tion was the formal organization of the Anti-Fillmore element
as a separate political group in the state. Its members were
not, however, seceders from the Know-Nothing Order. Their
convention did not purport to be a grand council or to legis-
late for the secret order. The proposal of one of its members
to organize a rival grand council met such expression of dis-
sent that it was withdrawn. The convention was only a
medium through which to formulate the views of the anti-
slavery Know-Nothings.
The New York Know-Nothings were falling into organized
factions when the regular annual session of the National Coun-
cil came in June. The proceedings of that meeting did not,
however, add any features to the political situation. It was a
business session largely.3 The Council met at New York
'Text of call in Herald^ 1856, May i, p. 4,
' Account from Herald and Times.
'Account from Herald.
379] ^-^^ CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NEW YORK jgi
city on June 3d, and after organization passed into debate
upon the merits of secrecy. It finally decided to abolish the
secrecy of its own sessions. Then it formally ratified the Fill-
more and Donelson ticket, and passed on to the election of
new officers for the following year. On the third day of the
session the Council appointed a national executive committee
and an advisory committee, and adjourned. In the election of
national officers, E. B. Bartlett, of Kentucky, was re-elected to
be National President. Erastus Brooks, of New York, was
made National Vice-President. The election of the latter was
a compliment to his prominence in the New York organiza-
tion. After the overthrow of the Barker clique. Brooks had
come to the front as leader of the conservative nativist element
in the Know-Nothing movement. His interest in the New
York Express^ which was now the leading mouthpiece of the
American Party, and his reputation as champion of nativism,
made him looked to as a proper representative of the move-
ment. For the next few years Brooks was the acknowledged
head of the state party. The act of the National Council in
abolishing its own secrecy needs notice also. In the preced-
ing February the Council- had legalized the disuse of secrecy
by the grand councils. In the present event it legalized its
own disuse of it. At the same time it did not attempt to in-
terfere with the state councils in the matter, and no state was
affected by the new law. Its text was as follows : *
Resolved, That we present the American Party to the country, not as an Order,
not as a Society, but as a broad, comprehensive, conservative national party, stand-
ing, like other political parties, openly before the country, inviting to its fellowship
all who adopt its sentiments and participate in its convictions. But nothing herein
shall be construed as to interfere with any organs which the party in any state, for
its government, may have adopted or choose to adopt.
In the politics of New York state the chief event of June
was not the National Council, but rather the Anti-Fillmore
national convention of June 12th at New York city." It was
'^Herald, 1856, June 5, p. i. 'Account from Herald.
1 82 POLnUCAL NATIVJSM r,3o
for this gathering that the anti-slavery element had prepared
itself, and before which the adherents of George Law would
urge, with more or less sincerity, his nomination to the presi-
dency. The convention would represent a rift in the unity of
the great nativist party, and might bring about a disruption of
the national organization. On this latter account it was
watched by the whole country. The convention organized on
June 1 2th with a full New York delegation, from which the
convention chose Jerome B. Bailey to be a vice-president and
Robert Frazier to be a secretary of the session. On the sec-
ond day an appeal was made to the police for protection
against the mob of Fillmore men who gathered about the
convention hall to show their resentment. This was the day on
which a friendly letter from the Republican national committee
was read before the delegates, revealing a relation between the
Anti-Fillmore movement and the Republican. On the third
day, when the convention proceeded to the nomination of a
presidential ticket, it became clear that the convention man-
agers were planning to annex the Anti-Fillmore movement to
the Republican Party, for Law was set aside entirely, and the
contest lay between N. P. Banks and J. C. Fremont, both typ-
ical Republicans. Most of the New York delegates supported
Banks. On the fourth day the New Jersey men led a bolt in
protest against the Republican aspect of the convention. A
small group of delegates left the hall, but the regular work of
the convention went on until the ticket was completed. Banks
and Johnston were the nominees. The convention then ad-
journed for a few days with the hope that its ticket would be
endorsed by the Republican national convention at Philadel-
phia. That hope failed, and the convention re-assembled on
the 20th to substitute Fremont for Banks on the Anti-Fill-
more ticket. The events of June i6th closed Fillmore's path
to the White House. They destroyed even the nominal unity
of the American Party, and declared that Fillmore must not
receive the support of anti-slavery voters. The power of the
38 1 ] THE CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NEW YORK 185.
national nativist party broke at this point. In the state of ^
New York the anti slavery element of the secret order was
committed to the new nominees by its share in the Anti-Fill-
more convention, but some of its members turned back from,
the Fremont ticket. One or two of the delegates of the con-
vention re-pledged themselves to Fillmore. One or two
others joined in nominating the short-lived Stockton and r"
Raynor ticket.^ Nevertheless the action of the New York
convention had the effect of facing many Know-Nothings to-
ward the Republican Party in New York state. The cleavage
line in the secret order showed distinctly after this between
Fillmore Know-Nothings and Fremont Know-Nothings. j
George Law was expelled from the Order by vote of the j
council to which he belonged.* It was the penalty for his j
ambition. "
The anti-slavery issue moved steadily to the front during
the summer of 1856. As the existing organizations of party
had broken down before nativism in previous years, so now
they broke again at the impact of organized anti-slavery.
The phenomenon of the anti-slavery revolt in the Know-
Nothing organization was duplicated by a similar movement
in the Democracy. In July a state convention of Radical
Democrats met at Syracuse, and while earnestly insisting on
their own Democracy, endorsed the Republican national
ticket' The Fremont ticket by the end of July was assured
of support from professed Know-Nothings and from professed
Democrats. Republicanism was now strong in New York
state. The nativists could no longer feel confident of success
in November, in view of these additions to the Republican
forces. Political lines were being re-drawn, with slavery as
the test of position, and the secret movement was losing by
the changes. The campaign accordingly became a desperate
* Nominated by bolters from the Anti-Fillmore convention.
' Times t 1856, July 14, p. 4.
^Herald, 1856, July 25, p. i.
J 84 POLITICAL NATIVISM [382
struggle in which nativism tried to retard and Republicanism
tried to encourage the current which was setting toward the
newer movement. This accounts for the form which the cam-
paign arguments took in New York state. Instead of discuss-
ing the issues of the day upon their merits, the political press
conducted a series of assaults upon the respective party nom-
inees. The Know- Nothing papers ceaselessly rang the changes
upon the charge that Fremont was a Roman Catholic in his
religious relations, and if elected, would aid papal influence.
This story was used to deter nativists from leaving the fold.
The Republican papers, on their side, urged that Fillmore was
not a real Know-Nothing, having never attended a council
session in his life, that he had been nominated by convention
intrigue rather than by popular voice, and that he was forced
upon the Order by pro-slavery men. These arguments were
intended to justify secessions from the Fillmore organization.
Notwithstanding the divisions that had grown up among
the Know-Nothings of New York, the Order was still a single
society governed by a single Grand Council. But the restive-
ness of the anti-slavery element under the official leadership of
Fillmore men indicated danger. The official endorsement of
Fillmore by the February Grand Council could hardly go
unattacked. It became evident that a clash of factional strife
would diversify the August session of the grand body. Many
councils chose delegates to this Council who were known to
be opposed to the Fillmore ticket. On August 26th, when
the Council came together at Syracuse, the grand-president
met the problem by taking measures to avert trouble.^ He
secured the admission of Fillmore delegates to the Council,
but upon some pretext rejected the credentials of those dele-
gates who were known to be against Fillmore. In this way
he secured unanimity in the council-hall, but at the same time
he created an angry minority on the outside. It was this out-
side group which organized as a state convention on the 27th
* Council account from Times reports.
383] '^^^ CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NEW YORK jgr
and solemnly declared itself to be the real head of the nativist
party in the state. It repudiated the regular State Council
because " its unconstitutional and illegal action has freed
Americans from all obligation and allegiance to it or its de-
crees." The seceders' convention did not attempt to consti-
tute itself a grand council, but apparently abandoned secrecy.
Such action as it took all tended toward drawing off nativists
to the Republican movement rather than holding them in
touch with the old secret organization. For instance, the
convention repudiated Fillmore and voted an endorsement of
Fremont. Then it called a state convention of Americans to
meet in Syracuse on the same date in September on which
the Republican state convention was to be held there. All
this showed in advance the finality of the secession. Mean-
while the regular Grand Council held a two-days session.
On August 26th it organized, listened to reports and formed
committees. Next day it endorsed Fillmore and Donelson,
appointed a new state committee and issued the usual call for
a state nominating convention. The new state committee of
ten members included Elam R. Jewett, of Erie ; L. Sprague
Parsons, of Albany ; James M. Miller, of New York ; John
Gray, of Orange ; Orson Root, of Schoharie ; J. A. Smith, of
Washington ; Amos H. Prescott, of Herkimer ; Abram Law-
rence, of Schuyler ; Lyman Odell, of Livingston, and O. C.
Wright, of Niagara. These men would manage the state
campaign. The Grand Council adjourned, having accom-
plished as its greatest work the splitting off of that disaffected
element which could not be depended upon to support the
nominees of the Order,
The next act in this drama of successive conventions was the
session of the North Americans on September i/th, as called by
the anti-slavery element which Grand President Sammons had
forced out of the August Grand Council. The attempt of the
seceders to organize a split in the Order seems to have been a
failure: at least the Republican press does not exult over any
1 86 POLITICAL NATIVISM \jfiA
effects of it. The seceders had grandly declared their conven-
tion to be the real head of the American organization, but it
was a head without a body. A delegate elected by a Know-
Nothing council had no power to violate the constitution of
the state society nor to bind his own council to an unlawful
act. Although the seceders of August had the sympathy of
a certain dissatisfied element, it does not appear that they were
supported in their extreme acts. Their convention met, never-
theless, at Syracuse on September 17th,* while the Republican
state convention was in session there. It organized with
William W. Campbell, of Otsego, as presiding officer. Col.
Silas Seymour, the Know-Nothing state engineer, then of-
fered a resolution that the convention accept and support the
Republican state ticket. This brought violent debate in which
the fact developed that not all the convention were ready to be
merged into Republicanism, despite their leanings that way.
The majority ruled, however. Seymour's motion was carried.
Then came that almost inevitable feature of political conven-
tions in this memorable year of 1856. The minority bolted
and called a new convention. The gyrations of " the popular
will " at this period are not without a certain amusing side in
their revelations of wavering and uncertainty among men. At
the same time the long list of conventions, counter-conventions,
bolts and secessions shows interestingly how swiftly changing
was the political structure and how the members of it were re-
arranging themselves in obedience to new forces. It was a
confusion out of which a new order of things was to come.
I The whole story of the conventions of 1856, so far as it con-
■ cerns political nativism, may be condensed in two statements.
First, the slavery issue entered the national organization of the
-jls Know-Nothing Order and destroyed its unity. Second, the
slavery issue entered the New York state organization of the
i Order and weakened it without destroying its unity. In every
\ convention the fact was shown that the anti-Southern move-
j ment was gaining at the expense of nativism.
' Convention account from Herald.
385] ^^^ CAMPAIGN OF i8s6 IN NEW YORK jg^
On September 23d came the final convention of the list.
The regular American state convention met at Rochester, and
at the same time there also met the convention called by the
bolters of September 17th. Thanks to the events of the
August Grand Council the anti-slavery element was prac-
tically absent from both bodies. The repentant bolters from
the Syracuse gathering made overtures to the regular body
and were welcomed back on their tacit confession of error.
Under the presidency of F. W. Walker, of Queens, the 121
delegates of the erring minority held their session open until
the regular state ticket was chosen. Then they voted to sup-
port it and went home. The regular state convention had
several hundred delegates present. It organized under the
presidency of James W. Barker and passed to the nomination
of a state ticket for the fall election. For the governorship
the delegates were of one mind and the choice was made by
viva voce vote. On other offices ballots were taken. The
completed ticket was as follows :
Governor Erastus Brooks, of New York.
Lieut.-Governor Lyman Odell, of Livingston.
Canal Commissioner Amos H. Prescolt, of Herkimer
Prison Inspector James P. Sanders, of Westchester.
Clerk, Court of Appeals .... Alexander Mann, of Monroe.
All of these were men who had become known for their
work in aid of the Know-Nothing cause. Brooks was editor
of the leading Know-Nothing newspaper of the state, and had
for a year been looked upon as the logical nominee of his
party for the governorship.^ Odell was the nominee of the
nativist legislators in the recent speakership contest at Albany.
Sanders was the unsuccessful candidate in 1854 for the same
office to which he was now nominated. Prescott and Mann
were local leaders. Prescott had served in the legislature and
was on the state committee of his party. The nominees were
^ Tribune, 1855, November 7, p. 4.
1 88 POLITICAL NATIVISM [386
all good representative men. Besides the state ticket, the
convention also formed an electoral ticket to represent the
Fillmore and Donelson forces. The members follow :
Daniel Ullman, Silvester Gilbert,
Jesse C. Dann, Charles B. Freeman,
William H. Vanderbilt, William Greenman,
Roswell Graves, Theodore S. Faxton,
Joseph H. Toone, Alexander McDowell,
Benedict Lewis, Jr., Samuel J. Holly,
Gilbert C. Deane, Henry H. Babcock,
Henry Grinnell, B, Davis Noxon,
Alexander M. C. Smith, John Knowles, Jr.,
Richard S. Gray, Barzillai Slosson,
Abram Hatfield, Lewis H. Culver.
Andrew Conger, Truman Warner,
Rufus W, Watson, Jonathan Child,
Charles Whiting, Abel Webster,
Orsamus Eaton, John T. Bush,
Leonard G. Ten Eyck, Nelson Randall,
Daniel A. Bullard, James G. Johnson.
Henry N. Brush.
After the Rochester convention the state campaign began.
The national campaign was already in full swing at this time,
and up to election day it completely overshadowed the state
contest. There was no new issue in the state administration
to be decided and nothing important to draw away attention
from the great national issue of the relations between the
North and South. The latter was the real point of the whole
struggle. The work of the anti-Southern leaders had been
successful in forcing their issue to the front and practically
excluding nativism from the popular interest. Nativism
might yet, perhaps, be a potent issue in some of the country
districts where the Know-Nothing organization was a recent
invader, but in the older regions of nativist work the doctrines
of the movement had lost their hold to a great extent. Thou-
sands of the voters who supported nativism in 1855 were
turned into the Republican column. Many of the newspapers
287] THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856 IN NEW YORK jgo
which had fought against the Seward coaHtion in the former
campaign now joined the current of the hour and worked for
the Fremont ticket or else for the Democracy. The Whig
Party was gone, leaving a remembrance of itself in the group
of Old-line Whigs, whose state convention of August 14th en-
dorsed Fillmore/ But this remnant of the Whig Party was
only a shadow. The Republican organization was making
good its claim to the place that the Americans had sought to
reach, that of permanent antagonist to the Democracy in place
of the old Whig Party. The movement was showing itself to
be a real party. Fillmore's candidacy had been hopeful of
success before the anti-Fillmore convention of June. After
that event the futility of his prospects became manifest as the
campaign went on. The presidential question settled down to
the choice between Fremont and Buchanan. The nativist
vote was appealed to for help by both Republicans and Demo-
crats, each side trying to profit by the nativist antipathy for its
rival. While Democrats worked upon the nativist hatred of
Seward and sectionalism, the Republican press worked upon
the nativist dislike of the Democracy. There seems to have
been some slight effect of these efforts, for the nativist presi-
dential ticket ran 5,000 votes lower than the state ticket. The
averages on state tickets were as follows :"
)
King-Selden ticket :
Republican Party
Radical Democrats \ 266,300 votes.
Anti-Fillniore men
Parker-Vanderbilt ticket :
Democratic Party 197,200 votes.
Brooks Odell ticket :
Nativist party I 129,700 votes.
Whig Party i
I Times, 1856, August 15, p. i.
^ From official canvass broadside. Liberty Party omitted, having cast about 160
votes in the state.
90
POLITICAL NATIVISM
[38B
This election showed conclusively that the nativist poHtical
movement was on the wane. In 1855 ^^ had been strong
enough to cast 34 per cent, of the total vote of the state, while
now it cast only 22 per cent. Such a loss was appalling to
those who had hoped for the future success of the American
organization. It showed that organized nativism could not
withstand the steady pressure of the slavery issue. It showed
that the backing of popular favor was being withdrawn from
under the fabric of the Know-Nothing Order. The loss to
the nativist party in New York was not in any one section, but
was distributed all over the state. In a few counties there
was a slight increase of the nativist vote over that of 1855,
but it was not significant. The election was a Republican vic-
tory. On the state ticket the Know-Nothings were weaker
than either of their rivals. They elected only eight assembly-
men to the legislature and only two members of Congress.
In the coming year the nativist organization would have no
influence whatever either in state administration or in public
legislation. They had failed to harvest any results from the
power won by them in the campaign of 1855. The state can-
vass showed the following poll and percentages for governor
in the counties of the state:
Per ctnt.
Albany 31.-
Alleghany ii . ,
Broome 11 . .
Cattaraugus 14 . .
Cayuga ...... 19 • .
Chautauqua 19 • •
Chemung ^5 • •
Chenango ^3 • >
Clinton 23 . .
Columbia 23 . .
Cortland 12 . .
Delaware 23 . .
Dutchess 18
Erie 28 . .
Vote.
S.655
Essex . .
987
hranklin .
'^ZZ
Fulton-Hami
1,064
Genesee .
2,091
Greene . .
2,142
Herkimer .
796
Jeflerson .
1,205
Kings . .
1,388
Lewis . .
2,005
Livingston
658
Madison .
1,981
Monroe . .
2,023
Montgomery
5'S52
New York
Per cent. Vote.
20 .
. 1,011
30-
. 1,260
21 .
. 1,178
20 .
. 1,216
26.
• 1.555
17
• 1.355
9-
. 1,090
29.
. 8,777
II .
• 495
29 .
. 2,132
II .
. 958
21 .
• 3.197
28.
. 1,744
28 .
21,423
389]
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NE W YORK
Niagara 26 . . 2,025
Oneida 9 . . 1.746
Onondaga 12 . . 1,994
Ontario 27 . . 2,283
Orange 21 . . 2,209
Orleans 27 , . 1,502
Oswego II . . 1,391
Otsego 12 . . 1,310
Putnam 19 . . 477
Queens 34 . . 2,304
Rensselaer 35 •• 4,913
Richmond 29 . . 957
Rockland 30 . . 937
St. Lawrence .... 11 . . 1,422
Saratoga . . . . 28 . . 2,685
Schenectady 34 • • 1,258
Schoharie 25
Schuyler 16
Seneca 26
Steuben 17
Suflfolk 31
Sullivan 39
Tioga 8
Tompkins 21
Ulster 40
Warren 21
Washington 24
Wayne 17 ,
Westchester 29
Wyoming 10
Yates 9
191
1,700
641
1,3"
2,116
1,95 «
2,068
464
1,470
4,739
818
2,059
1,568
3,750
642
389
The lesson of the canvass of 1856 was easily read by the j
leaders of political nativism. It told them that their move- |
ment was dying as a national party and as a state organization.
It told them emphatically that the new Republican Party was
in the ascendant, and that Know-Nothing voters were desert-
ing nativism to join the new favorite. Their fight to restrain
the exodus from the secret councils had been only partially
successful. If political nativism in New York hoped to hold
itself in place as a factor in state politics it must find some new
source of strength, either in principles or organization. Some
voices were raised to ask the abolition of the secret system,
while others asked a new platform, and still others advised a
return to the old method of endorsing nominees of other par- t
ties. The work of change, if any there was to be, would fall \
upon the Grand Council of February, 1857. ""''
The Grand Council met at Troy on February 24th and after
organization turned first to the election of officers for the
ensuing year. Friends of James W. Barker proposed to put
him again at the head of the secret order, but the Council
chose Jesse C. Dann, of Erie, as president. For vice-
president the choice of Henry B. Northrup, of Washington,
192 POLITICAL NATIVISM r^QO
and for secretary that of C. D. Brigham, of Albany, were
made. That element which desired to reform the Order and
improve its political prospects by an alteration or destruction of
the secret system soon found voice in the Council proceed-
ings. At the second day's session a delegate from Brooklyn
opened an attack on the secret system, but the debate which
began was interrupted by the report of the committee on plat-
form which had been laboring to satisfy the demands for
improvement in the American Party principles. Ever since the
adoption of the "Binghamton platform " in August, 1855, ^^^t
document had been the formula of American principles in
New York. But now nativism needed to declare itself again
as to its position on the slavery issue. The committee accord-
ingly brought in a new platform which re-stated the old
neutral position of the Order as to slavery and closed with a
savage criticism of the Republicar^ leaders who represented
that issue. The Grand Council voted to adopt the platform
as reported. Then the debate swung back again to the sub-
ject of the secret ritual. Delegate Parsons, of Albany, offered
a resolution abolishing all oaths, obligations and degrees in
the party. This resolution seems to have passed, but not for
immediate effect. Instead, a committee of five headed by
Parsons was given the duty of reporting a revised and simpli-
fied ritual to the next Grand Council. With this action the
Council left the subject. Next came the election of two dele-
gates to the National Council. Then after a resolution de-
nouncing Senator Seward for certain compliments to the
foreign element, the body adjourned. The demand for
changes in the Know-Nothing system had been juggled at
this session instead of approved. The Grand Council made
no change whatever in the secret system. By seeming
acquiescence in the demands for changes, these demands had
really been put off to another day, while the secret system
remained as before. The new platform of the party was as
follows :
39 1] THE CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NEW YORK £93
Resolved^ That we emphatically affirm the Binghamton Platform, consisting of.
eight sections.
[Here follow those sections in full.]
Resolved, That while the American Party in the State of New York tolerater-
free discussion and free expression of individual opinions on the various political
questions of the day, yet under every political complication the pure question oi
Americanism shall take precedence of all others.
Resolved, That we are now, as we ever have been, unalterably opposed to the
extension of slavery into territory from which, by the Missouri Compromise, it had
been excluded forever.
Resolved, Triat we are opposed to the use of the power of the general govern-
ment to extend the institution of slavery, and are willing that the natural laws which
govern emigration shall decide that great question without the least interference
of federal authority.
Resolved, That the recent exposure of corruption at Washington, the gross
venality of political leaders and the present effort of the State Senate to strip the
American Canal Board of its power, are in direct violation of the spirit of the Con-
stitution and reveal the objects and character of those who profess to be apostles
of humanity and freedom, and should open the ears of every honest man to his
true position while aiding to elevate them to places of trust and power.
The National Council for which the New York Grand
Council elected delegates met at Louisville in June, 1857.*
Among its members were Erastus Brooks as National Vice-
President, with James W. Barker and Stephen B. Cushing as
regular delegates from New York. The defeat of Fillmore
had ended the political usefulness of the National Council, and
since its value as an administrative head of a secret society
was gone long before, the members now decided to close it
forever. The national officers were elected for another year
and a national committee was provided for with power to re-
convene the Council if there seemed need of it in the near
future. On June 3d the National Council adjourned sine die
and with this act ended finally the national organization of the
Know-Nothings, after a meteoric career of only three years.
The Council never met again. In July, 1 857, the National Presi-
dent appointed a national committee of thirteen members as the
Council had provided.' New York was represented in it by -
^ Herald and Times reports.
^Herald, 1857, July 19, p. 4.
194 POLITICAL NATIVISM [392
Erastus Brooks and James W. Barker, but it is not on record
that the committee ever took any official action.
The final disbandment of the National Council was fresh in
the minds of the New York Know- Nothings when the Grand
Council met again for its semi-annual session in August at
Brooklyn. There seem to be no available statistics as to the
strength of the secret order at this time. In the earlier life
of the Order the grand-president was accustomed to report
the increase of membership from time to time, but during its
decadence there was a reticence as to such facts that can be
easily understood. The regular August session of 1857 began
on the 25th. After organization the president delivered the
annual address. Among other suggestions he advised that
the whole system of council organization be dissolved, and
that the Order become in form as well as in name a political
party, governed only by committees and conventions. At the
conclusion of his address the proposal came before the Coun-
cil for consideration. The debate soon showed two ideas of
change. Some desired with the grand-president to abolish
the council system and with it the secret ritual, while others
wished to keep the council system, but without the secret rit-
ual. A delegate from Onondaga finally brought about a vote
on the question of organization, and the council system was
saved. This left the fate of the ritual yet undecided. The Par-
sons committee now reported on the simplified ritual which
the preceding Council had empowered it to make. Since the
February session the committee had formulated, printed and
distributed to subordinate councils a new ritual. This new
form was not wholly satisfactory and failed of adoption, and at
the close of discussion the secret procedure of the Order was
wholly abolished by formal vote. An order was also passed
that in future the Grand Council should meet only once a year, in
each successive August. Following is the text of the resolu-
tion that ended the secret system :^
» Herald^ 1857, August 26, p. i.
393] ^^^ CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NE W YORK 195
Resolved^ That the oaths, obligations and degrees of this Order be dispensed
with, and that hereafter members be admitted by signing the platform and reso-
lutions passed by the State Council, and assenting to the following pledge : You
do hereby promise upon the honor of an American to be true and faithful to the
principles of the American Party.
This abolition of degrees and oaths took away all the ties of j
pledged brotherhood that had made the Know-Nothing Order *
a real fraternity of American citizens. The members of the
American organization would not in future have any special
duties toward their fellow-members, and since the existence of
such duties is the essential feature of a brotherhood, the
American organization would be henceforth only a non-secret
society of the simplest type. After August 25, 1857, it is no
longer proper to refer to the Know-Nothing Order as existent
in New York. At the same time the vague term " Know-
Nothing " as a synonym for " nativist " was very commonly
used so long as any American organization existed. The
abolition of the secret ritual received very little notice at the
time it occurred, because its mystery had long since been
stripped away by hostile critics. Nevertheless, the formal
change made by the Council was an important landmark in j
the story of political nativism.
The peculiar system of secret political work which thus
found its ending after seven years of energetic activity stands
out in the history of the nation as an abnormal feature of
American politics. It has been, during its life and since its
death, subjected to bitter criticism, reproach and ridicule.
Yet it is not to be dismissed with a gibe and a fling merely
because it has passed away. The same influences that created
it then still exist to-day. Within recent years the politics o
New York state, and possibly also those of the nation, have
felt the effects of a similar secret system. The influence of
secret societies in American politics has, in fact, been almost
continuous, though none other ever reached the gigantic
growth attained by the great Know-Nothing society. The
1^6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [394
latter stands out in such bold relief in the nation's history on
account of the national character of its effort. Usually the
secret organizations of the American people have been local
in their efforts.
The end of the Know- Nothing secrecy in New York state is
an appropriate point at which to review the nature of this sys-
tem, whose success was so brilliant and so brief It is well, by
way of preface, to note that there was no necessary connection
between the secret system in politics and the principles of
nativism. Organized secrecy has been used to forward other
than nativist doctrines, and nativist principles have been often
promoted without the aid of secrecy.
_ What was the origin of the secret system ? It was an effort
to offset clannishness of one sort with a clannishness of another
kind. There existed in the American community a minority
group of persons who differed in race, thought, life and re-
ligion from the mass of their fellow-citizens, and who yet
gained distinct advantages for themselves by acting together.
The American-born population as a whole was not by nature
clannish nor jealous of the foreign-born minority, but in a
considerable portion of the natives both these feelings existed.
The jealous element sought a medium of expression. Already
there existed in the community a form of association called
the secret society, which was essentially an artificial clan,
founded on an artificial sense of brotherhood. The secret
society system naturally offered itself and was accepted as an
offset to the racial group. There was no proscriptive feature
of the Know-Nothing clan which was not duplicated by the
racial group to which it was opposed. The difference was
1 that in the one case it was a matter of written rule, while in
(^ the other it was a matter of instinct.
^- Why did the system expand ? In New York city it expanded
I because it furnished an easy remedy for the more objectionable
forms of race- clannishness. In economic effort natives were
at liberty to traffic with the foreign people or not as they
395] ^^^ CAMPAIGN OF i8s6 IN NEW YORK igy
pleased, and could easily avoid contact when desirable. In
social effort the native-born were equally free to seek or avoid
social intercourse with the foreign element as preference might
dictate. But in political effort the contact was unavoidable. ^
If aliens were insolent in office and bullies at the polls, if they
packed party primaries and made conventions farcical, the rem-
edy was less easy to find. Some nativists believed in the rem-
edy of meeting force with force, and from this plan, when car-
ried out, came the riots of the great cities. More conservative j
men preferred a peaceable way of checking evils, and saw thej
means in the use of secret politics. Had the anti-foreign
movement been an open one, it probably could never have
attained strength; for every member would have been a
marked man, denounced by his party, attacked at the polls and
injured in his business. In the secret system the minority
could act without exposing individuals. These facts explain
local expansion, but they apply less to the state at large. In
1854, by a sudden leap, the secret system spread far beyond
the bounds of local effort. It took a gigantic stride toward
power as a state and national organization. This expansion
requires a different explanation. The whole nativist move-
ment in state and national affairs was a politicians* movement
rather than a popular one. The leaders in politics welcomed
the issue of nativism as an escape from the chaos that was
growing in party conditions. They accepted with it the secret
system because the two had necessarily at first to be taken
together. The hold of the secret system on state and na-
tional politics was nevertheless insecure. In most cases the
secret system was shaken off as soon as circumstances would
permit. There is a double answer, then, to the question
why the Know-Nothing Order spread. In the politics of the
great cities the secret system expanded because it furnished a
convenient medium for desired reform. In the politics of the
nation and the states it expanded with the growing issues
which it represented because at first it could not be separated
from them.
IqS political N ATI V ism [396
Was the secret system a public danger? The Know-
Nothing Order was a well-hated institution while it lived.
Unsparing criticisms were launched against it by those
whose plans it frustrated. Yet, in general, the critics were
not specific in their charges. The personal respectability
of the Order in New York state was unquestioned. It
was never charged against the secret system that it was a
refuge for the disorderly, the disreputable or the corrupt.
In fact, the peculiar machinery of the Know-Nothing
Order could hardly have been worked successfully except
by intelligent, well-meaning and law-abiding men. The use
of the ritual and the maintenance of discipline were condi-
tioned upon these qualities. It is doubtful whether a society
of this sort could ever have been a public danger by reason of
its personnel. Commonly the attacks on the Know-Nothing
Order were directed against its secrecy of action. Occasion-
ally the secrecy of membership was touched upon, but little
stress was laid on this latter feature, since it was largely a
matter of individual taste whether or not a person should
avow his connection. As to secrecy of action, the critics de-
clared in general phrases that it was dangerous to the com-
mon weal for large bodies of men to act in secret on political
matters. At the same time this dictum was not supported by
specific references to abuses arising from secret action. The
complaint originated chiefly among those politicians whose
schemes were upset by Know-Nothing secrecy, and who ap-
pealed in self-defence to the jealousy of American voters. The
apologists of secrecy answered pertinently that political party
committees were secret in action and no one expected them
to be otherwise; that a Know-Nothing council was a political
committee sworn to uphold American institutions, and that it
used secrecy for a certain good and unconcealed reason.
This reason, they explained, was the necessity of fighting the
secret machinations of the Roman church with like subtlety.
Inadequate to the real facts as this reason was, it passed as an
397] THE CAMPAIGN OF 1836 IN NE W YORK 199
excuse. Logical attacks on secrecy were made difficult, also,
from the obvious fact that secrecy was seemingly justified
when it secured a plurality of votes. Viewed from the stand-
point of later years, it can be seen that the real danger of sus-
tained secrecy in politics lies partly in the fact that issues and
men may be withheld by it from the public scrutiny, and be
put in power without due debate, and partly, also, in the fact
that organized secrecy gives undue influence to minorities.
Yet even these objections hardly hold against an organization
in state politics, for a sustained secrecy of men and measures
in a political contest extending over a wide area is practically
impossible. They hold good as to local politics. It is right
that any issue which seeks recognition should let its character
and support be known, so that the opposition may array itself
for a fair fight. The system of political secrecy, then, would
seem to be a real public danger, though practically limited by
the inability to sustain secrecy with a popular large support.
Did the secret system enslave the voter ? It is a favorite
charge against secret societies of all sorts that they take away
the free-will of their members. The Know-Nothing Order
was criticised on this ground, and its oaths and higher de-
grees were cited as evidence. The general charge of limiting
the free-will of individuals is one to which nearly every organi-
zation, secret or non-secret, must plead guilty. Else there
were little virtue in organization. In its general form, there-
fore, the charge is misleading when used as a reproach. When
the attack upon societies is made upon the specific point of
using oaths, then it can be considered more closely. In
practice, all secret societies are voluntary societies whose
members may withdraw and lay aside both the active duties
imposed upon them by the terms of their membership, and the
advantages connected with that membership. Secret society
oaths seldom refer to this right of withdrawal, but are usually
phrased upon the tacit assumption that no withdrawal will
occur. Wherever an oath of association attempts, therefore,
200 POLITICAL NATIVISM [3^3
to regulate the action of members while outside of active mem-
bership, it is contradictory to practice. The Know-Nothing
oath of the first degree was not so phrased as to be perpetu-
ally binding. This was the oath taken by the ordinary voter
who came into the society. He was in no way bound, there-
fore, to limit his own free-will, except so long as he might
choose to do so by keeping his membership. With regard to
those Know-Nothings who progressed to the second or third
degrees, the case was somewhat different. Here the member
bound himself to keep the oath " through life." By theory,
the taker of these degrees lost his free-will for the rest of his
life, whereas, by practice, he threw off his limitations by sim-
ple withdrawal from the organization. The charge against
the higher degrees was that they gathered to themselves the
real control of the society, and left the general membership
only the power to follow the self-elected leaders. The actual
fact in the Know-Nothing Order was that the first-degree men
were the ones who decided all definite political action. The
higher-degree men had no power to coerce the general mem-
bership in any way, and among all the complaints that were
voiced against the Know- Nothing system in New York at
various times by dissatisfied members of the Order, there is
nowhere an allegation that the higher degrees were possessed
of undue power. There was one slight element of truth in the
charge against the higher-degree men. It was this, that in the
Know-Nothing Order, as in all societies, there were cliques of
leaders, and that these cliques usually held the upper degrees.
This condition of affairs was precisely what the Know-Noth-
ing system desired. It was intended that the real leaders of
the Order should be tagged and labeled, so to speak, that
they might be recognized and treated as such.
What were the results of the secret system ? Since the
machinery of political effort was only a medium, it was to be
expected that the results produced would follow very closely
the character of the group who used the machinery. The
399] '^^^ CAMPAIGN OF 1856 IN NEW YORK 2OI
leaders of the Know- Nothing society during its rise to power
were earnest and sincere. Their machinery gave the well-
intentioned voter more power than he received from the great
political parties. The secret Order brought new men to the
front and did something in the way of purifying politics. It
made its mistakes, as was natural, but on the whole its influ-
ence upon politics was good. At the height of its power it
fell more into the hands of professional politicians, some of
them being men of its own creation. It was then that intrigue
and unfairness destroyed the virtues of the secret system.
Yet, from first to last, with all its errors and weaknesses, the
record made by the secret system in New York state was not
unfavorable to it. It did not encourage lawlessness, corrupt the
franchise or stifle public opinion, and all these offenses were
chargeable against the open political organizations of the day.
Can a secret movement be successful? There seems to be
nothing to prevent a repetition in American politics of the
phenomena of a secret political movement. Under favoring
conditions some well-organized society might meet as startling
a growth and sudden success as did the secret order of the
Know- Nothings. There are several conditions, however,
which make it very doubtful whether such a system could be
other than transitory. The preservation of strict secrecy by
a large organization is difficult if its enemies are active. It
would be practically impossible for any political society to
keep its character or aims secret for more than one campaign.
The most that it could do would be to keep secret its methods
of work. More important for its success than aught else
would be its ability to hold the confidence of the public. It is
safe to say that no secret movement in the political field could
avoid the chill of jealous suspicion from the moment that it
made its demand for recognition. By patriotic professions
that suspicion might be held in check, but it would be a bur-
den which would have to be borne. The inevitable tendency
of such movement would be, as it was in the Know-Nothing
202 POLITICAL NATIVISM [400
Order, ultimately to sacrifice the element of secrecy in some
moment of need, in order to appease criticism and gain sup-
port. This has been the experience of the secret societies
which have endeavored to organize voters. The instinct of
the American people may be said to be in the main opposed
to secret organization for political effort. In the constant war-
fare of politics every voter is a combatant, and no man likes
an opponent whose strength or whose motives he cannot
gauge.
CHAPTER IX
1854-1860
The local history of the nativist movement in New York j
city possesses a special interest not attached to its existence '
in any other part of the state. It was here that it had its yt.
origin and its greatest real strength. Probably there was no
other place in the state where the movement was so largely | /
based upon actual antipathy for the foreign element which it \
desired to limit. In New York city, too, lay the strength of
the earlier governing cliques of the Know- Nothings and
kindred orders. Their personal influence in the secret associ-
ations to which they belonged kept them in their place. In
the local columns of the New York press can be read more
clearly than anywhere else, the evolution of the secret move-
ment and the causes of its decay.
The story of nativism as a local force in New York city
may be taken up again in the summer of 1854, when it was
differentiated from the wider interests of the secret order by
the entry of the latter into the field of state politics under the
direction of President Barker. The managers of nativism at
this time were not the less attentive to New York city on
account of having the whole state to engage their attention.
On the contrary, their personal interest lay more in city poli-
tics than in state affairs. The situation in the local politics of
New York city at the opening of the campaign of 1854 was
very similar to that in the state at large. There were two old
parties broken up into factional groups, and three organized
movements, striving to gain recognition for their respective
issues. Anti-slavery had no organization devoted to it in
401] 203
It;
204 POLITICAL NATIVISM [402
local politics. The three local issues were nativism, temper-
ance and municipal reform. Each one of these was organized
and insistent. Of this trio, nativism was undoubtedly the
strongest when the campaign began. The nativist secret
societies in the city were now in their time of growth. Their
members were enthusiastic and sincere. Bound to the doc-
( trine of political action by the strong tie of an oath, the
organized nativists were an important element within the lines
of every other political organization. They dominated the
< Whig and temperance organizations. They were strong in
the Hard-Shell Democracy and in the city-reform movement.
Even in the Soft-Shell Democracy, with its predilection for
the foreign vote, the nativist influence made itself heeded by
the party managers. Not merely in numbers, but in organi-
zation as well was nativism strong. In July, 1854, the Know-
Nothing managers created the machinery of the city com-
mittee with its descending hierarchy of executive workers.
Over each ward was a council-president, over each election
district was a superintendent, and over each ten voters was an
assistant pledged to muster his men at the polls.' This sys-
tem was calculated to poll every vote that was at the ser-
vice of the Order. In this effort the Order was supported
by the O. U. A., whose leaders desired their executive system
to work in harmony with that of the Know-Nothings. The
Executive Convention of the O. U. A. on August 14th also
parceled out the executive members into ward groups for
more effective action than before."
Under the inspiration of expected success a new step in the
evolution of secret politics developed. Hitherto it had been
the idea of both the secret orders to await quietly the action
of the older parties in local politics, and then, after the party
action had made tickets, to endorse or condemn the various
nominees. The original plan of organized nativism was to act
^Herald, 1854, October 30, p. i.
' Executive records of O . U. A.
403] LOCAL NATIVISM IN NEW YORK CITY 205
as a monitor of the old parties by using the balance of power.
Now, finding themselves possessed of unaccustomed strength,
the leaders of nativism took up a new plan. They contem-
plated taking the initiative themselves. They would make
their nominations in the secret societies, and then use the ma-
chinery of the older parties to bring these nominations before
the world. By the close of August the daily press had learned
that Barker and other leaders of the Know-Nothings were
working to secure secret nominations, which were to be rati-
fied by the Whig city convention, packed with Know-Nothings
for that special purpose.* Barker desired the mayoralty. The
nativist vote was in August estimated at 8,000 to 10,000,* suf-
ficient under the circumstances to elect whichever party nomi-
nee it might choose to endorse.3 If, therefore, a Know-Noth-
ing nominee could be foisted upon any of the evenly- balanced
party groups, he was certain of election. The matter was com-
plicated, too, with state politics, for there was a scheme on foot
by which the nativists and Silver-Gray Whigs were to capture
the Whig state convention, and to that end the nativists in
New York city must control the Whig primaries. To meet
this danger of nativist domination the older party managers
bestirred themselves. At the Democratic primaries, which
came first, the Know-Nothing influence was noticeable, but
not threatening. At the Whig primaries of September 12th
the Know-Nothings, aided by the O. U. A., triumphantly se-
lected delegates to their liking. So confident had the nativist
movement become that the O. U. A. Executive Convention of
September 6th directed its members to work to give Thomas
R. Whitney the Whig nomination for governor. When, after
the Whig primaries, it was learned that nativism had failed of
success in the interior of the state, the Whitney boom at once
collapsed. Closely following the contest at the primaries
* Herald, 1854, August 29, p. 4.
* Argus, 1854, September 2, p. 2.
* Tribune, 1854, September i, p. 4.
2o6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [404
came the nativist fiasco in the Whig state convention, and
then the nomination of a Know-Nothing state ticket by the
October Grand Council. The effect of these events was again
to advance the nativists a step in evolution. It was now
felt that the orders in New York city need not even struggle
to secure control of the mechanism of the older parties, but
might more easily take responsibility and put forth nominees
independently. This was an entire abandonment of the earlier
policy of nativism.
In October came the nominations of local tickets by the va-
rious parties and movements in city politics. The plans of the
opponents of nativism now began to show themselves. On
every hand the strength of nativist sentiment was recog-
nized, and concessions were made to it. At the same time
the managers of the older f>arties showed no intention of
adopting alliance with the ambitious clique at whose head
stood the Know-Nothing grand-president. The two factions
of the divided Democracy united locally. It was clear enough
that unless a fusion were made the party would lose the city
patronage, and so the fusion took place. On October 9th the
i two factions united on a mayoralty candidate in the person of
Fernando Wood, member of the Know-Nothing Order and
one of its city committee. The Democracy thus paid tribute
' to the nativist idea. On October 10th the Whig city conven-
tion was held, and resulted in the nomination of another mem-
ber of the secret order, John J. Herrick. The Whig Party
also paid its tribute to the newer movement by this act. The
nativist idea was now triumphant in New York city. Both of
the older parties bowed low before it. There was a difference,
however, between the nativist idea and the nativist organiza-
tion, and, while the former had won its fight, the latter still
had before it a battle for supremacy. The nominations of
Wood and Herrick were of no advantage to the Barker clique,
who controlled the Know-Nothing Order, and their plans were
not abandoned. The temperance convention, manipulated by
405] LOCAL NATIVISM IN NEW YORK CITY 207
nativists/ met on October 13th, and brought James W. Barker
before the public as its nominee. The Executive G)nvention
of the O. U. A. followed, on October 16th, with a secret ticket
headed by Barker's name. Then, on October 19th, the execu-
tive committee of the Know-Nothings completed the work by
also selecting a secret ticket with Barker as chief member.*
The contest for the mayoralty now lay between the Know-J
Nothings and the united Democracy. In the short campaign
that followed the nominations the ties that bound men to-
gether as Whigs or Democrats dissolved under the pressure of
new issues. Each nominee on the tickets of the older parties
found it to his interest to seek support from the adherents of
one or more of the organized movements. The result was a
marvelous criss-cross of influences, which divided the former
compactness of the older groups into subdivisions on new
lines of cleavage. Party tickets lost all unity of meaning or
purpose. They were mere lists of office-seekers, each one of
whom represented certain issues or certain cliques. State
politics also intruded into the local canvass with suggestions
as to the advantages of this or that choice.
In this scramble for advantage the nativist ticket, like the
others, lost much of its identity. Three nominees. Barker,
Ebling and Taylor, were grand officers of the Know- Nothing
Order, and were looked upon as really representative of nativ-
ism, but the other five nominees were more closely attached
to the older party systems. The chief fight was over Barker's
name. All the bitterness of the city campaign was over the
mayoralty. Despite the splendid service which Barker had
rendered to the nativist movement, he had his opp>onents even
in the ranks of the Order which he led. One ward council re-
» Post, 1854, October 31, p. 2.
• Mayor, James W. Barker ; Recorder, John H. White ; Judge, Sidney H.
Stuart; Surrogate (Alfred Mclntyre withdrawn), Alexander W. Bradford ; Reg-
ister, John J. Doane ; District Attorney, Cbanncey Schaffer ; Street Commissioner,
Joseph E. Ebling; Almshouse Governor, Joseph S. Taylor.
2o8 POLITICAL NATIVISM {A^
fused to endorse his nomination. This was the council to
which belonged Herrick, the Whig nominee/ In other coun-
cils the opponents of the Barker clique took an attitude of hos-
tility somewhat less pronounced. Barker nevertheless had the
great mass of the organized nativists behind him in his claim
for office. It was hoped that he might, by combining the
nativist and temperance vote, win success. Barker had been
identified with the temperance movement before he became
prominent in nativism, but his devotion to the latter issue had
weakened his hold upon the former. His friends had man-
aged to keep control of the Temperance City Alliance, and to
use it to bring him out as a candidate, but they could not
keep all the temperance men in line, and a considerable seces-
sion of Temperance Independents took place, who refused to
support the Alliance ticket. The following estimate of
Barker's strength, made just before election by a friendly
journal, shows upon what elements Barker based his hopes."
The estimate figured his following to consist of ii,ooo mem-
bers of the Know-Nothing Order, 3,000 members of the
O. U. A., who were not Know-Nothings, 2,800 Protestant Irish
members of the A. P. A., who were not Know- Nothings, 2,500
temperance men, not Know-Nothings, making a total of 19,300
votes. Barker actually polled 18,547 votes, and the foregoing
^^ \ estimate was probably not far wrong. The effort of the
^c^ Whigs to injure Barker's chances by nominating the Know-
■ i}^ Nothing Herrick was soon proven a failure, and the Whig
J, ticket fell into the background. The municipal- reform move-
jZ.
ment drew most of the anti-nativist Whigs to its support, and
the reform ticket threatened serious rivalry. The real danger
^' to Barker, however, was from the united Democracy, now
desperately struggling to keep its grasp upon the city
patronage.
The campaign work of the nativist managers was done
1 Courier- Enquirer t 1854, November 2, p. 2.
« Ibid.
4.07] LOCAL NATLVISM IN NEW YORK CITY 209
quietly under the cloak of council secrecy. There were no
parades, no press arguments, no ostentatious efforts at vote
winning. The existence of a nativist ticket could not be kept
secret, and no effort to that end was made. For two weeks be-
fore election the Know-Nothing nominees were regularly adver-
tised in the local press under the caption of" People's Ticket."'
Beyond this, however, the open work did not go to any
extent. The support of Barker by the Protestant Irish is 2Xi\
interesting feature of the time.^ It is another instance of the
fact that nativism, though nominally opposed to all foreigners, p(
was nevertheless tolerant of Protestant foreigners, and received
continued aid from them. Barker himself was a member of J
an A. P. A. lodge.
Election day came on November 7th. The nativists went
to the polls quietly, but mustered their forces with theprecise-
ness of developed discipline, thanks to the newly created ma- .
chinery of the Know-Nothing city committee. Such was the
complexity of local tickets at this election, that no very certain
figures as to political groups can be made, but the official
canvass indicates the following approximate strength of the
various elements in the contest : 3
Nativist movement about 13,520 votes.
City-reform movement about 11,430 votes.
Soft-Shell Democrats about 12,160 votes.
Hard-Shell Democrats about 9,380 votes.
Whig Party about 7,300 votes.
Agrarian movement about 3,020 votes.
Temperance (Alliance) movement about 1,920 votes.
Temperance (Independent) movement . . , .about 1,380 votes.
The knowledge that a heavy vote was being polled for Bar-
ker made the nativists very sanguine of success by election
night. The first returns seemed to show his election, and the.-
1 Times, 1854, October 27, p. 5.
' Courier- Enquirer, 1854, November 4, p. 2.
'Official city canvass in Times, 1854, December 5.
210
POLITICAL NATIVISM
[408
/
rejoicings over that event mingled with the popular joy over
the supposed success of the Know-Nothing state ticket. Later
returns, however, told a different tale. Wood appeared to be
elected by a very narrow plurality. The election of four of
the nativist nominees did not appease the wrath of the Know-
ings over the result on the mayoralty. At once the word
was passed around that Barker had been counted out by fraud,
and on the evening of November 9th an immense indignation
meeting took place at City Hall Park. A committee was here
appointed to investigate the matter. Five days later a second
mass-meeting heard a report of progress from the committee.
Then, while the county canvass slowly dragged along, the
nativist committee appeared before the canvassing board and
presented evidence of alleged fraud against Barker's vote ; but
their mission was vain. The board refused to go behind the
returns, and the law was such that there was no alternative
but submission. Wood, therefore, took his seat with full legal
title, but the fairness of the count which made him mayor re-
mained a matter upon which opinions differed.
With the final decision in favor of Wood the local campaign
of 1854 was ended and popular politics were laid aside until
the spring should bring round the beginning of new contests.
In the interval nativism stirred itself in the city government
with efforts to secure the discharge of foreign-born employees
of the almshouse and police service, but this plan failed.
CDutside of civic affairs nativism had little to do except attend
the regular meetings of its secret lodges and swell the annual
parade on February 22d. The warfare over, street-sermons
had ceased. The Irish element had yielded to the inevitable
and accepted the existence of nativist sentiment as a fact.
Just once during the winter of 1854-55 was there a hint of
racial conflict again. A feud among the cliques of the
rougher element resulted in the killing of the pugilist Poole
early in March. Because some Irish roughs were concerned
in the affair, the friends of Poole took opportunity to rouse
409] ^ ^<^^^ ^^ 7IVISM IN NE W YORK CITY 2 1 1
race-feeling on the subject and there were threats of retalia-
tion/ On St. Patrick's day, which came a few days after the
murder, the city authorities thought it advisable to keep the
militia at their armories ready for service." The day passed
without riot and in a little time the feeling died away again.
The incident showed that the force of nativist antipathies was
not yet spent.
With the spring of 1855 came the usual preparations for the
fall elections. Organized nativism was still growing and the
Barker clique still directed its political fortunes. During the
latter part of the winter the clique had been reaching out for
more power and had won it. In the fall of 1854 there had been
only two effective political societies in New York, the Know-
Nothing Order and the O. U. A., but during the winter the
accessions to nativism raised into importance the hitherto
petty societies of the American Star Order and the Allen-
branch Know-Nothings. It was useless for the Barker clique
to seek power in the Allen branch, for that was outspokenly
antagonistic. In the American Star they were more fortunate.
The election of Jacob B. Bacon to be grand-president of that
society brought about a re-organization of it in March, 1855,
into a form which placed it in control of the Barker clique.
Its members now began to be known as " Templars." About
the same time a similar change was agitated in the political
system of the O. U. A. and finally accomplished. Coincidently
there appear in the O. U. A. two factions respectively friendly
and hostile to the Barker clique. The inference seems fair
that the Barker clique was seeking to capture the O. U. A.
executive system also. Up to this time the local nativist
movement was united in sentiment and action. From the
beginning of 1855 there had begun to appear a faint line of
cleavage on the slavery issue, but in the spring of 1855 the
cleavage was not distinct enough to threaten the unity of the
^Herald, 1855, March 11, p. i.
« Times, 1855, March 19, p. 4.
212 POLITICAL NATIVISM [410
movement. The issue was forced upon the Know-Nothing
Order by the adoption of the Cincinnati ritual in November,
1854, with its new third-degree oath. The acceptance of that
ritual in New York in January was followed by some with-
drawals of members,'^ but in spite of this the Know Nothing
managers kept their forces well in hand so that the rift was not
apparent. In May, with practically a united sentiment behind
them, they began to draw the nativist secret societies of New
York city into a formal confederation for unity of political
action. The scheme contemplated a representative city con-
vention composed of delegates from each one of the nativist
societies. The convention was to act by approval of local
tickets and to co-ordinate all the societies in support of such
nominees as might be so approved. The adoption of this
plan would, of course, be a step toward creating a distinct
American Party, including all the nativist societies, but not
superseding any of them. A temporary convention held this
project under advisement at repeated sessions in May, and
finally on June ist it appointed a committee headed by James
W. Barker, to carry out the plan by organizing a new conven-
tion of the secret orders on June 1 3th.'*
At this time organized nativism was really the only political
force in the local field which was both strong in numbers and
united in feeling. The older parties were both divided. The
Democracy, after successfully placing Fernando Wood in the
mayor's chair, had relapsed into its former duality and now
sullenly watched with unfriendly eye the vigor of nativism.
The local Whig Party, after long preserving outward unity
despite its internal dissensions, finally, in May, also split in two
parts, respectively for and against Seward.3 The Know-
Nothing Order secretly aided this division.* The prospects
* Courier- Enquirer^ 1855, March 18, p. 2.
« Herald, 1855, June 2, p. 4.
8 Herald, 1855, May 25, p. 4.
* Times, 1855, May 31, p. 4; June ii»p. I.
4 1 I ] L OCAL NA TIVISM IN NE W YORK CITY 2 1 3
of the new nativist political confederation were therefore of
the best. On June 13th the convention of delegates met with
power to act as a central body. The Know-Nothing Order,
as the dominant group in nativism, seems to have led in carry-
ing out this new effort. The O. U. A. probably sent delegates
also/ but there was some opposition in the Order to co-
operation with the Know-Nothings. Grand Sachem Butler
declared officially, but ambiguously, that "while secrecy in
council is just and commendable, mystery is ever to be con-
demned," and advised that the O. U. A. should not " hold
confederate action with any mysterious body."^ On July 2d
the Executive Convention endorsed this advice, but after a
running fight through several sessions between the friends and
opponents of confederation, the friends seem to have prevailed.
The executive minutes do not give the reasons for this oppo-
sition. While this struggle was going on the American con-
vention did its work and launched the American Party. The
new party was not coherent or centralized. Practically the
organized nativist movement had merely taken a new name
without changing itself in any essential point. This conven-
tion was only a symbol of harmony of action and singleness
of purpose on the part of the societies.
Coincidently with the apparent unifying of the local nativist
movement an element of disunion at this time appeared in the
shape of the slavery issue. During the preceding winter the
followers of nativism had become aware that an unrelated issue
was being forced upon them. This came about when the Na-
tional Council adopted the Cincinnati ritual. At that time,
however, the interest in the slavery question seems to have
been so small that nativism felt no effects from the intrusion.
During the spring of 1855 public interest began to turn more
closely to the new issue, and when, in June, the news came of
the new pro-slavery platform imposed upon the Know-Nothing
Order by the Council at Philadelphia, it became plain that na-
* Executive records, O. U. A. ' Gildersleeve Coll.
214 POLITICAL NATIVISM [412
tivists would not all accept it willingly. Although a great
mass-meeting, on June i8th, in City Hall Park, ratified the
new platform, its action did not bind the sentiment of individ-
uals nor close discussion. Anti-slavery men outside the Order
stigmatized Barker as a pro-slavery man and tool of the
South. The slavery issue, thus stimulated, intruded itself into
the Know-Nothing councils and joined itself with the growing
opposition to the Barker clique. Soon there were two factions
in New York city, one headed by James W. Barker and the
other by Daniel Ullman.' The shelving of the Philadelphia
platform by the Grand Council of the state, in August, 1855,
was the first important set-back received by the Barker clique
during its control of the Order, and the Ullman faction was
instrumental in bringing it about.
Before its defeat in the August Grand Council the ruling
clique had brought about the nomination of a local ticket.
The nativists still exercised influence in the Whig Party in the
summer of 1855, and the Neiv York Tribune, which, in the
middle of August, still considered itself a Whig organ, ven-
tured to guess that they would try to use the Whig conven-
tions to make nominations. The nativists used their own ma-
chinery instead. On August 20th a group of nine distinct
conventions met on the same day to consider different offices
and select nominees. The multiple number of these bodies
was arranged to allow each council full expression for the dif-
ferent places involved. The completed ticket included eleven
Whigs and six Democrats.'' While these nominees do not
seem to have been personally objectionable, their selection was
1 Tribune, 1855, June 20, p. 4.
'Justices Superior Court, Murray Hoffman, Lewis B. Woodruff; Judge Com-
mon Pleas, Alexander Spalding ; Judge Marine Court, Arba K. Maynard ; Sher-
iff, Joseph H. Toone; Clerk, Robert Beatty, Jr.; Comptroller, John S. Giles;
Corp'n Counsel, Louis N. Glover; Almshouse- Governor, Isaac J. Oliver; Street
Commis'r, Joseph S. Taylor ; Repairs Commis'r, Joseph Southworth ; Inspector,
George W. Morton; Coroners, Frederick W. Perry, Samuel A. Hills, Cyrus
Ramsay, John Witherell.
413] LOCAL NATIVISM JN NEW YORK CITY 215
the signal for revolt. The overthrow of the Barker policy at
the August session of the Grand Council probably aided the
change. An anonymous pamphlet now appeared, whose ob-
ject was to attack the ruling clique as a sort of secret con-
spiracy. In a curious way, however, the writer of the pam-
phlet awkwardly confounded the personal clique which he at-
tacked with the whole society of the " Templars," to which
the clique belonged. Forthwith the unlucky Order of the
American Star, whose members were the so-called " Tem-
plars," became an object of attack. The Tribune reprinted
the hostile pamphlet in full,' and the Times aided the work by
an exposition of the American Star ritual.'' Editorial articles
were written to show that the Know-Nothing Order was the
victim of a hitherto unknown higher degree. The " Templars "
were represented as a group of secret conspirators, whose
sole object was to control the Know-Nothing Order. These
attacks, in themselves, were absurdities, but they were patent
signs of revolt against Barker and his friends. From words
the enemies of the clique now passed to deeds. In Washing-
ton Chapter, O. U. A., to which both Barker and Bacon be-
longed, there were charges laid against them for the purpose
of securing their expulsion.^ In the O. U. A. Executive Con-
vention vigorous attacks were made on the local ticket on the
ground of clique dictation, but the friends of the ticket, after a
contest, forced the endorsement of it. As a sequel to their
success came repudiations of the ticket from several O. U. A.
chapters. It was about this time, too, that the hostile element
in Barker's own Know-Nothing council moved to expel his
friends from membership.^ The position of Barker as a nativ-
ist leader grew more and more precarious as the campaign
went on.
1 Tribune^ 1855, September 5, p. 7.
2 Times y 1855, September 5, p. i.
3 Times, 1855, September 22, p. i ; October 15, p. i.
♦ Times, 1855, September 20, p. 8 ; October 17, p. i.
2l6 POLITICAL NATIVISM [414
In spite of internal troubles the work of the nativist cam-
paign went on energetically. In 1855 the Know-Nothings af-
fected far less of secrecy than ever before. In actual fact the
secret order was rapidly losing its secret character by the
work of unfaithful tongues among its membership. Many of
the inner details of Know-Nothing politics were printed in
the daily press. The New York Times for many successive
weeks regularly reported the secret sessions of one of the
ward councils, to show the flimsiness of the mystery which
overhung the doings of the society.' When it is considered
that some of the ward councils had over a thousand members,
it is perhaps astonishing that there could be even a pretense
of secrecy in New York city. There were changes going on
in the secret organization. There was a new current setting
away from old methods, old leaders, and even from old princi-
ples. The ward politicians who now crowded into the secret
councils carried on there the same sort of work that they were
accustomed to do at party primaries. The managers of the
nativist campaign adopted the regular system of the older
party campaigns. The secret society was turning into an
open political party. In the city campaign of 1855 no attempt
was made to keep either the nativist nominations or nativist
membership a secret. One of the features of campaign work
was a system of political clubs in every ward of the city,
guided by a central body called the National Club." For the
first time in New York state the secret movement used public
speeches and torch-light processions to further its work. To
this point had the ultra-secret Know-Nothings come.3
The cohesion of parties in New York city reached its low-
est point in the fall of 1855. At least sixteen local tickets,
^ Times^ 1855, May 24, 31, June 6, 11, 19, 26, July 11, 19, August i, 3, 9, 10,
15, 29, September 12, 20, 26, October 2.
'^Herald, 1855, October 6, p. i.
' The Allen-branch Know Nothings kept to old methods. Their ticket is in
Tribune^ 1855, October 10, p. 5.
415] L OCAL NA TIVISM IN NE W YORK CITY 2 1 7
representing various parties and issues, were in the field, and,
as in 1854, there was a scramble of office-seekers for multiple
nominations. Very few of the sixty-two aspirants who were seek-
ing the sixteen local offices were contented with being named
on a single ticket, and the result was a marvelous confusion. In
this chaos neither the Whig nor the Republican organization
was strong enough to make a real contest. The strongest com-
bination in the field was that made by certain candidates who
secured the backing of both of the Democratic factions. Next
to them came those men who were backed by the nativist and
the temperance movements together. When election day
came the Democratic combination won place for those whom
it favored, but the nativist combination was strong enough to
elect half of the American ticket. As usual the Protestant!
Irish and German vote was cast in support of the American I
ticket at this election.' Evidently the nativist movement was "
still gaining strength as a local force in New York city. For
this election it is difficult to estimate at all closely, even from
the official canvass, the real strength of the various political
groups that were in the field. Out of the sixteen local tickets,
only ten seem to have been clearly distinct as factors in the
result. Their approximate strength was as follows :^
Nativist movement about 18,770 votes.
Soft-Shell Democrats about 1 2,880 votes.
Hard- Shell Democrats about 11,280 votes.
Whig Party about 4,300 votes.
Republican movement about 3, 140 votes.
City-reform movement about 3,010 votes.
German Democrats about 1,910 votes.
Half Shell Democrats about 1,390 votes.
Temperance movement about 900 votes.
High-License movement about 670 votes.
The intrigues of presidential aspirants succeeded imme-
1 Tribune^ 1855, November 17, p. 5; Times, 1855, November 9, pp. 2, 8.
'Official canvass in Times, 1855, December 6, p. 6.
2i8 POLITICAL NATIVISM [416
diately upon the intrigues of local nominees and took up the
attention of the Know-Nothing councils. George Law, the
contractor, familiarly known as " Live- Oak George," was
now in the field as a presidential possibility. An intense riv-
alry between the partisans of Law and those of Fillmore soon
showed itself. James W. Barker appeared as a supporter of
Law, and, having declined in advance a re-election as grand-
president, he began to regain something of his old popularity
in the city councils. His own council, nevertheless, refused to
send him again as a delegate to Grand Council.^ The work
of Law's men brought good results in the city. The Live-
Oak clubs, devoted to Law's interest, became crowded with
the younger element, and at the district conventions held to
elect delegates to the National Convention the Law men easily
carried the city. All their work, however, was resultless.
The ambitions of Law were checked by the nomination of
Fillmore on February 25, 1856. When the news came of the
action of the Convention the Americans of New York city
promptly accepted the new ticket and swung out their cam-
paign banners. An immense mass-meeting on the 29th gave
enthusiastic welcome to Donelson, the vice-presidential nom-
inee.
This harmony was not to be lasting, for under the surface
of events the opponents of Fillmore at once began their work.
Beginning in March * the managers of Law's canvass re-gath-
ered some of their supporters and in May the Law men and
anti-slavery men worked together in the ward councils to elect
delegates to appear for them in the anti- Fillmore conventions
that had been called.^ As a consequence of this work new
dissensions sprang into being in the Know-Nothing Order.
The growth of the anti-Fillmore movement steadily developed
ill-feehng and antagonism. On June 12th, when the anti-
» Times, 1856, January 23, p. i.
^Herald, 1856, March 22, p. 8. » Herald, 1856, May 11, p. i.
417] ^ OCAL NA Tl VISM IN NE W YORK CITY 2 1 9
Fillmore national convention met at New York the delegates
found themselves attended by an angry crowd of their Know-
Nothing brethren. The latter were massed about the conven-
tion hall and their derisive yells punctuated from time to time
the proceedings of the session. The new dividing line within
the Order grew more distinct than ever before when the anti-
Fillmore national ticket was made with Fremont's name upon
it. The Fremont men captured the National Club, on which
the local party depended for campaign work, but at another
session the Fillmore men drove the club president into the
street and regained control.^ The ward council to which George
Law belonged expelled him from the Order.^ These incidents
were symptoms of the new alignment that was going on. The
effect of it was to weed out the anti-slavery and other dis-
affected members, and the absorption of these by the Republi-
can movement left the nativist organization composed of faithful
Fillmore men. The O. U. A. joined with the Know-Nothings
in support of Fillmore.3 The secession of the North Americans
from the Order at the August Grand Council received no sup-
port from New York city. The ward councils kept their
allegiance to the regular grand body.
In September, 1856, the city campaign opened. Fernando
Wood, by shrewd management, succeeded in getting a re-
nomination from the regular committees of the united Dem-
ocracy, but he was unpalatable to some of the local leaders and
his selection created a new schism in his party. An irregular
faction of anti-Wood Democrats set up an opposition candi-
date for the mayoralty. This split gave the Americans some
hope of electing a mayor. On October 6th, when the local
conventions were held, Isaac O. Barker, president of the board
of aldermen and cousin of James W. Barker, received a
mayoralty nomination from a convention over which the latter
^ Herald, 1856, June 22, p. i ; Times, 1856, June 25, p. i.
' Times, 1856, July 14, p. 4. ■ Times, 1856, August 2, p. 2.
220 POLITICAL NATIVISM [4 1 8
presided, and headed the city ticket/ At this campaign there
were fewer political groups in the city than in the preceding
year. The city contest turned upon the question of Wood's
fitness for office. As mayor of the city and as a party man
Wood had shown himself ambitious, clever and audacious.
He had set himself the task of controlling the local Demo-
cratic organization and had done his work with enough suc-
cess to create some bitter enemies. Barker, the American
nominee, was experienced, popular and respectable, and he
attracted support to the nativist ticket by his character. Un-
fortunately for those who opposed Wood, the opposition ele-
ments could not be brought to unite upon one candidate.
Each political group stubbornly held to its own man. In
consequence. Wood easily carried the masses with him and
won the mayoralty again. Nativism in this campaign made
! little pretence at secrecy. It had almost reached a likeness to
the every-day form of political party. It had its clubs, its
f^ f%^ banners, its processions and its mass-meetings, and this adop-
Ji^ tion of new ways seemed to be justified by the poll of a larger
vote than it had ever before mustered in New York city. In
the state at large the decline of the nativist movement had
begun some time before the election of 1856, but in the metrop-
olis the climax was at the election of that year. Until that
time nativism splendidly held its own in the city. The aver-
ages for the local contest follow : "
Democratic Party about 32,480 votes.
Nativist party about 23,470 votes.
Republican Party , about 13,400 votes.
Anti-Wood Democrats about 5,850 votes.
City-reform movement about 3,640 votes.
After the excitement of the presidential campaign came a
' Mayor, Isaac O. Barker ; Judge, John H. White ; Almshouse-Govemor, Ben-
jamin F. Pinckney ; Corp'n Counsel, Louis N. Glover.
'Official canvass in Tribune^ 1856, December 5, p. 3. In this election there
was evidently great use of split tickets, but apparently without organized support.
l:
419] L OCAL NA TIVJSM IN NE W YORK CITY 221
decline of popular interest in politics. The winter of
1856-57 was devoid of political features. The decline of the
Know-Nothing Order was by this time generally recognized
as a fact and politicians began to turn away from it. By the v
summer of 1857 ^^e nativist secret societies of New York /
city were going to pieces rapidly. Those members whose '
interest in the ideas of nativism was only superficial began to
drop away from the movement as soon as the tide of success
turned. The secret societies lost heavily when once the
change became apparent. In August, 1857, the Know-Noth-
ing Order lost its secret system by the action of the Grand
Council, and though the ward councils kept their organization
in the face of the change, yet about half their membership fell
away. The O. U. A. chapters suffered equally by the deser
tions from their ranks. The lesser societies of the ** Templars "
and Allen-branch Know-Nothings disappear from public
notice. The fate of these latter societies is not clear. An
organization of this sort dies obscurely as a rule. First there
comes a loss of membership, followed by retrenchment of
expenses and removal to cheap quarters. Then the society
meetings pass out of public notice and are held irregularly.
Finally a knot of faithful ones yield to the inevitable and
decree their own dissolution. It is uncertain how long the
" Templars " and Allen Know-Nothings kept their societies
alive, but it is clear that they lost all political importance in
Amid this crash of organized nativism the political lead- j
ers of the movement turned toward the local Republican \
Party with friendly mien. The old bitterness between the
two movements was now passing away. The masses of
organized nativism had by this time become tinctured by anti- '
slavery ideas and at the same time the attitude of the Repub-
lican Party had been affected by the influx of recruits from
nativism. After the losses met by the nativist movement in
New York city, its only hope^of success in local elections was
222 POLITICAL NATIVISM [430
to exchange support with Republicanism, and if possible, to
overpower the Democracy by united forces. Late in Septem-
ber this plan of operation was advocated by a mass-meeting of
nativists in one of the city wards and seemed to meet general
approval.^ The practical working out of the idea was slow.
During October the city conventions of the two organizations
held frequent sessions, accompanied by negotiations between
those interested. Eventually, by a series of mutual accom-
modations, a union ticket was perfected bearing the names of
eight nominees, of whom each party furnished four.* Similar
fusion of forces took place in the legislative districts of the
city. This began the merging of the American and Republi-
can movements in New York city. Never again after 1856
did the nativists enter the field with a full local ticket and
depend on their own strength alone. Their power was gone.
In 1857 ^^^ after, their leaders sought advantage only by com-
bination. The fusion of 1857 was not as fortunate in results
as its makers had hoped. Its whole strength proved to be
only 21,700 votes, far less than the vote of the Democracy.
The fusion failed to elect a single nominee. The vote of the
nativists on the local ticket this year cannot be separated from
that of its allies, but the local vote on the several state tickets
gives a clue to the relative strength of parties. The averages
are as follows : 3
Democratic Party about 37,680 votes.
Republican Party . . about 13,560 votes.
Nativist party about 8,480 votes.
The weakness of organized nativism was now apparent to
all. In 1857 a new city charter went into effect in New York
which separated the elections of city officers from those of
1 Tribune, 1857, September 28, p. 6.
' Judge Superior Court, Benjamin W. Bonney ; Judge Marine Court, William
H. Browne ; Recorder, Alexander Spaulding ; District Attorney, Daniel UUman.
' Official county canvass in Times ^ 1857, November 26, p. 7.
42 1 ] LOCAL NATIVISM IN NEW YORK CITY 223
county officers. The latter continued to be chosen in Novem-
ber, while city officers were elected a month later. After the
November election of 1857 the local parties at once turned to
the mayoralty contest. The Americans on November 9th
nominated James E. Cooley for the office with the evident
intention of forcing his nomination upon their new political
allies. This plan was frustrated by the appearance of a strong
independent movement which put forward Daniel F. Tiemann
as nominee. Tiemann had been one of the leaders in the
early nativist movement of 1843-47. When the Republicans
joined the adherents of Tiemann the nativist nominee, Cooley,
withdrew from the race. The nativist vote was thrown for
Tiemann and aided his election on a small plurality.
The break-down of organized nativism went on steadily into
the year 1858. The Know-Nothing Order had now passed
away. The ward councils remained, but they were non-secret
political clubs exercising the powers of party primaries. The
O. U. A. tried to stem the tide of dissolution by an attempted
re-organization of its executive system, but the effort was a
vain one.^ The chapters of the Order were now breaking up.
On October nth the Grand Executive Convention met for
the last time. All political work then centered in the grand
executive committee. Other nativist secret societies in New
York were also feeling the strain of reverses caused by whole-
sale withdrawals. The whole fabric of organized nativism
was giving way. In the local elections of 1858 the coalition
of Americans and Republicans was brought about easily.
The two party conventions delegated powers to a joint com-
mittee which divided the offices of the local ticket between the
parties. Each convention then nominated men for the places
at its disposal. The Americans had four offices for them-
selves.* This year the fusion ticket gained a support of 29,450
^ Gildersleeve Coll.
^ Clerk, W. F. Davidson ; District Attorney, Rufus F. Andrews ; Coroners,
Samuel Hall, J. S. Schofield.
>G
224 POLITICAL NATIVISM [422
voters, but still it fell short of the Democratic strength and
failed to put its men into office. On the state ticket the voters
of the city divided as follows : ^
Democratic Party about 40,850 votes.
Republican Party .... about 21,590 votes.
Nativist party about 7,120 votes.
Temperance movement about 50 votes.
In the city elections of December the Republican and Amer-
ican fusion fell apart on one office and the American nominee
secured a personal vote of 12,290, composed of various ele-
ments."* At this election, owing to a split in the Democracy,
the Republicans were for the first time able to carry an elec-
tion in New York city.
The story of local nativism grows more and more brief.
In due time the campaign of 1859 came on and again a local
fusion of Americans and Republicans was arranged, which
was continued in the city election of December. In both
elections the identity of the nativist forces was merged, but
the canvass on state ticket showed the following local poll for
the November contest : 3
Democratic Party about 34,300 votes.
Republican Party about 18,200 votes.
Nativist party about 4, 1 10 votes.
Finally, in i860 came the memorable presidential contest
with its re-arrangement of parties. The local leaders of the
American movement cast in their lot with one or the other of
the great national organizations. True to the traditions of the
American movement, many of them joined the new Union
movement with Bell and Everett as their national ticket.
This was mostly true of the element led by Erastus Brooks.
* County canvass in Tribune, 1858, December 3, p. 3.
" Almshouse -governor, Frank C. Wagner.
'Official county canvass in Tribune, 1859, November 26, p. 3.
423] LOCAL NATIVISM IN NEW YORK CITY 22$
Some others gravitated to the Republican Party. It was noted
by the daily press among its minor political items of the cam-
paign that an American county convention met on October
9th, and adjourned without making nominations.' In a very
few cases there seem to have been American nominations in
assembly districts. Practically, however, the American Party
was blotted out in the excitement of the national campaign.
This was the end of the American Party in New York
city, but it was not the end of organized nativism. The
remnants of the O. U. A. kept a feeble hold on life during the
stress of war time, but ended finally in 1866, having had no
political influence since 1859. Then, about 1866, a new na-
tivist organization began in New York city. It was a secret
society modeled after the Know-Nothing Order, and headed
by James W. Barker, the former Know-Nothing leader. At
first called the Order of the American Shield, it soon took the
name of the Order of the American Union.* This society
planned for political action, but was never effective in effort.
It lived a number of years, but failed to meet popular favor,
although it is said to have found foothold in sixteen states.
It died out about 1880. Then the new American Patriotic
League essayed to revive nativism and failed. It gave place
to the more recent American Protective Association.
' TrUune, i860, October 11, p. 8.
' Information from former members.
CHAPTER X
THE LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, 1857-1860
The campaign of 1856 left the American movement in New-
York state exhausted, but the leaders of its state organization
were not yet ready to acknowledge the futility of further
effort. In the summer of 1857 it began to be seen that the
year would be a " quiet " one, politically. In the field of
state politics there was a reaction against the forced sen-
timent of anti-slavery and also the usual apathy following a
presidential contest. The re-arrangement of parties which
had kept the political world in a ferment for four years past
seemed to be now about completed also. The leaders of
political nativism viewed these new and unusual conditions
with hopefulness. It was thought that the reaction against
anti-slavery might bring former Know-Nothings back to the
fold from which they had strayed, while lack of interest in
politics might keep from the polls the unorganized voters of
the opposition forces. Sanguine nativists dreamed of re-claim-
ing the membership that the movement had lost and of again
making a grasp at the control of the state. Less sanguine
and more practical leaders saw that much could be gained in
any event by a large poll of their party in November, even
though the state were not carried. There was consequently
no real opposition to the plan of setting up an American
ticket for the fall election. The matter was thoroughly talked
over by the delegates at the August Grand Council.
In obedience to the call of the Grand Council a state con-
vention met at Syracuse on September 15, 1857.' The grow-
' Account from Herald and Times reports.
226 [424
425] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, 1837-1860 22/
ing weakness of the party was made apparent by the absence
of delegates. A full convention would have had one delegate
from each assembly district, but eighty-eight districts were un-
represented. The convention organized with Henry B. North-
rup, of Washington, as president, and passed at once to the
nomination of a ticket. Seven state offices and one judgeship
were to be filled by the people at the coming election. The
American convention named candidates for each of these
offices, dividing the honors evenly between former Democrats
and former Whigs. The completed ticket stood as follows :
Sec'y of State James O. Putnam, of Erie.
Comptroller Nathaniel S. Benton, of Herkimer.
Treasurer . Lyman Odell, of Livingston.
Attorney- General Henry H. Ross, of Essex,
Engineer Roswell Graves, of Kings.
Canal Commis'r Goldsmith Dennison, of Steuben.
Prison Inspector ..... John M. Stevens, of Westchester.
Judge, C't of Appeals .... Hiram Ketchum, of New York.
After the selection of a ticket came the adoption of resolu-
tions as to the political ideas of the American organization.
These resolves were in effect a regular campaign platform, and
this marked yet another step in the tendency of the Americans
to approach the common party model, for heretofore the making
of platforms had been part of the work of the Grand Council.
The present convention formulated the following document :'
Returning our devout and humble acknowledgement to Almighty God for His
protecting care and fostering mercies in the past, we invoke His continued assist-
ance to enable us to act the part of good citizens and patriots by a watchful over-
sight of our free institutions and a zealous maintenance of our civil and religious
rights, so that this glorious Union, bequeathed by heroes and martyrs, shall forever
remain an altar to Liberty and an asylum for the oppressed.
Resolved, That the American Party of ihe state of New York is a component
part of the great family of American freemen who believe in the right of native-
born citizens to shape the policy, administer the government and make the laws
of their own country ; who furthermore, cherish the Union as a sacred legacy of
the past, to be maintained at any sacrifice; and who, finally, in the spirit of their
^Text in Times, 1857, September 16, p. I.
228 POLITICAL NATIVISM [426
revolutionary sires, are prepared to swear upon the altar of Liberty eternal hostility
to every form of oppression.
Resolvedy That the American Party of the state of New York demand the enact-
ment of a registry law for the protection of legal voters and the purification of the
elective franchise from foreign influence controlled by unscrupulous politicians.
Resolved^ That the American Party of the state of New York believe that the
Bible should be read by all men and that, therefore, it is a proper text-book in our
public and common schools, not to be discarded by wise men who would inculcate
the sentiment of religious freedom in the youthful mind.
Resolved^ That the experience of the past five years has conclusively shown
that the e3*emption of railroads from the payment of tolls by the legislature of 1852
was unwise and impolitic, and that while the people of the state are suffering from
oppressive taxation, sound policy requires the re-imposition of the tolls on such of
those great monopolies as come in competition with the public works of the state.
Resolved, That we condemn the system of free passes, as furnished by our rail-
road managers to our legislative and judicial officers, and we recommend to the
next legislature the passage of a law making it a penal offense for railroad corpora-
tions to offer, or for state officers to receive, such free passes.
Resolved, That we express our entire confidence in that greatest of state im-
provements, the Erie canal, believing it fully competent, if properly and econom-
ically managed, to pay for its own enlargement and discharge any debt incurred
for its benefit without resorting to direct taxation ; and we declare ourselves in
favor of its speedy and immediate enlargement, and our firm determination to
resist to all time its sale or any other disposition of it whereby it will pass out of
the control of the state.
Resolved, That the unwise, unjust and infamous legislation of last winter, as
shown in the passage of laws for the benefit of monied monopolies in opposition
to the direct interests of the people ; as shown in nearly exempting the railroads
of the state from taxation and heaping this burden upon the people ; as shown by
way of enormous appropriations of money for the benefit of party favorites, whereby
the taxes of the state are increased more than 125 per cent, the treasury empty
and the state bankrupt; as shown in the control which an avaricious and unscrup-
ulous lobby, headed by Republican politicians, exercised over the legislature ; as
shown in sacrificing the canal interests and canal revenues of the state to the all-
powerful interests of railroad corporations ; as shown in not passing a registry law
as the people desired, the so-called Republican Party, under the management of
an Albany Central Regency, has forfeited the respect of honest men of all parties
and deserves that it should receive the entire condemnation of the people.
Resolved, That the mis-called Democracy of the day, by its truckling to the
powers of popery and foreignism and its combination with Republicanism to defeat
Americans, and thereby subvert the wishes of the people, as witnessed in the com-
bination in the Assembly of 1856 in the election of the speaker and in the more
recent act by which their leaders struck hands with a renegade American to strip
427] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, i8s7-i86o 220
the Canal Board of the state of the power vested in them by the people, deserves
and should receive the condemnation of all men.
Resolved, That we, the Americans of the state of New York, fully persuaded of
the justness of our cause and the correctness of our principles, will firmly adhere
in every emergency and under all circumstances to the great and distinctive doc-
trines of the American Party, as laid down in the Binghamton and Troy platforms,
repudiating all alliances and combinations which involve any sacrifices of princi-
ples or abandonment of those demands which we believe so vitally important to
the welfare of the state and of the whole country.
The foregoing platform was adopted by vote of the
American state convention, and then, after appointing a new
state committee, the delegates adjourned. The new com-
mittee was composed of Zopher Mills, of New York;
Samuel J. Wilkin, of Orange; Henry Q. Lansing and L.
Sprague Parsons, of Albany ; John N. Wilder, of Saratoga ;
N. B. Milliman, of Washington ; Richard F. Stevens, of Onon-
daga ; J- N. Starin, of Cayuga ; Addison M. Smith, of Otsego,
and Lorenzo Burrows, of Orleans. The action of the Syra-
cuse convention placed the American Party in an attitude of
emphatic independence. The denunciations of rival parties in
its platform and the thoroughly nativist personnel of its ticket
made clear the fact that its spirit was not broken by its recent
losses. The American state ticket was a very strong one per-
sonally. Nearly every nominee had previously held public
office with distinct success. Putnam, of Erie, had served as
state senator. Benton, of Herkimer, had been secretary of
state. All the others on the ticket were well-known men.
The opponents of the party had no fling to make against the
nominees that it set up. With this ticket the American organ-
ization entered the contest of 1857.
The campaign of this year was singularly lifeless. Each
party that was in the field affected to have issues, but the
voters did not respond to those which were offered. The Re-
publicans tried to use the slavery issue, but with indifferent
success. The Democrats raised the cry of mismanagement
and corruption at Albany, but failed to excite universal horror
230 POLITICAL NATIVISM [428
thereat. The Americans pointed out to the voters the short-
comings of both their rivals. The campaign was not a battle
of issues, whatever the party managers might claim/ It was
rather a battle of organizations. As the campaign progressed
it became evident that there were changes going on among
the voters. Many Democrats who had supported Fremont
and other Republican nominees in 1856 came back to their
old party in 1857. The similar movement from the Republi-
can ranks back to the American Party, for which the nativists
had looked, did not take place. Instead of it a movement
went on away from organized nativism. In October there
came reports from various points in the state of local alliances
between the American and Republican forces. In New York
and Kings counties, the strongholds of nativist activity, a fu-
sion of this sort took place. It indicated a drawing together
of the parties, and was significant. It showed that the people
could no longer be greatly swayed by the old arguments of
nativism. While these changes were quietly going on, the
public as a whole showed little real interest in politics. It was
still so when election day came around. Everywhere there
was apathy and indifference. More than a hundred thousand
voters stayed away from the polls altogether. The party
averages footed up as follows : ^
Democratic Party about 195,300 votes.
Republican Party about 177,600 votes.
Nativist party about 66,300 votes.
The indifference of the people had worked a great change
in the political situation by this showing. While the Dem-
ocracy gained enough votes to keep its average equal to that
of 1856, the Republican vote shrunk one-third and the Amer-
ican Party, still more unfortunate, lost one-half of its poll. In
1856 the nativist movement cast 22 per cent, of the total vote,
1 Times, 1857, September 25, p. 4.
'Official figures in Times, 1857, November 25, p. 3.
429] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, i857-j86o 23 1
but in 1857 ^t cast only 15 per cent. Its actual weakness
could not be concealed after this showing. In the light of the
November canvass its whole campaign looked like a mere
piece of bravado. It no longer had innate strength. Its ulti-
mate absorption by its great rivals was a certainty. The only
question was as to the length of time which the process of
absorption would occupy.
After the futile campaign of 1857 the nativist party sank
out of public notice until the steady round of time roused poli-
ticians for the recurring annual struggle. In the summer of
1858 the politics of New York began to feel the first faint
hints of the next presidential contest. It was the year for
election of the governor, and the governorship was prized by
party managers as an aid to party strength. More than that,
the election would be, in the eyes of the nation, a test of Re-
publican strength in New York. The gossips of the political
world still viewed Senator Seward as a presidential possibility,
but the election of 1857 ^^^ "^t augur well for Republicanism
in New York, and if the election of 1858 did no better, the
prospects of Seward would indeed be clouded.^ Organized
nativism received due notice in connection with this situation.
The fusion of Americans and Republicans on local tickets in
several counties during the campaign of 1857 had established
a vague sort of kinship between the parties. No one dreamed
now of the American Party carrying a state election by its own
efforts. People were only interested to know whether the
Americans would join the Republican Party in the present
campaign or whether they would hold back for another year.
The implacable hostility that nativism had exhibited toward
Senator Seward still existed to a very considerable extent. If
that hostility could be overcome the fusion of the two parties
would almost certainly carry the state. If it could not be
overcome then the success of Republicanism would be in
doubt.
'^Herald, 1858, October 18, p. 4.
232 POLITICAL NATIVISM [430
The annual session of the American Grand Council wds held
this year at Albany.' It convened August 24th, with fifty-seven
counties represented. After the president's address the elec-
tion of officers made Henry B. Northrup, of Washington, pres-
ident, Goldsmith Dennison, of Steuben, vice-president, James
W. Husted, of Westchester, secretary, and Richard F. Stevens,
of Onondaga, treasurer of the state organization. After this
election the matter of calling the annual state convention came
before the Council. This was the point around which the inter-
est of politicians centered. The state convention of the Re-
publican Party had already been called. It was to be held on
September 8th at Syracuse. A delegate in the Grand Council
moved that the American state convention be held at Syra-
cuse on September 8th. The purpose of the motion, plainly
enough, was to pave the way for an alliance of Americans and
Republicans in the state campaign. The debate upon the
proposition showed the existence of two very earnest but
opposing groups in the Grand Council. On one side there
was a friendliness for Republicanism that looked with satis-
faction upon the prospect of a close political alliance. On the
other side was an equally strong dislike for the party whose
leaders had so long been the outspoken foes of nativism. The
debate was vigorous. When the vote was taken the friends
of the Republican alliance were victorious by 163 ayes to 63
noes. This ended the work of the council session.
In accordance with the call of the Grand Council the con-
vention met at Syracuse on September 8th.^ It organized
with Daniel Ullman as presiding officer, and its first business
was formally to receive a committee sent to it by the Repub-
lican convention. The Republicans desired a conference for
the purpose of agreeing upon a common platform. It was the
first step toward merging the weaker party into the stronger.
Before the day's session closed, the American convention had
* Account from Tribune report.
' Account from Herald report.
43 1 ] ^A TER STA TE CAMPAIGNS, 1837-1860 23 3
appointed a conference committee and the committee had be-
gun its work. In the American convention, as in the Grand
Council of August, there were two factions respectively favor-
ing and opposing the new alliance. In the Republican con-
vention the general opinion seems to have favored the union
of the parties. But while the assembled delegates were thus
friendly to a fusion, some of the Republican political leaders
were not so. Their objections can only be guessed at, for no
one stood forth to fight the plan openly. On the morning of
September 9th, when the two conventions again took up their
work, each body received a report from its conference com-
mittee giving the results of the committees' session. The con-
ference had drawn up a platform in which were embodied the
anti-slavery ideas of Republicanism, together with a slight hint
of nativism. In deference to the American Party the anti-
slavery doctrines had been softened in expression. The
nativist portion was a demand that one year should intervene
between naturalization and voting. When this new platform
was presented to the American convention the delegates
promptly ratified it and awaited results. In the Republican
convention the new platform was juggled out of existence by
the skill of some hidden wire-puller. Instead of being placed
before the convention it was sent to committee and returned
in a revised form for approval. Then, being sent to the Amer-
ican convention in its new form, it was greeted with an indig-
nant burst of anger because of the changes which had been
made. It was now too late to go back over the ground and
correct the blunder. Both conventions proceeded at once to
the nomination of state tickets. The Americans put in nom-
ination some of their best known leaders, and so effectually
ended all chance of coalition. The ticket follows :
Governor Lorenzo Burrows, of Orleans.
Lieut. -Governor Nathaniel S. Benton, of Herkimer.
Canal Commis'r James R. Thompson, of Genesee.
Prison Inspector William A. Russell, of Washington.
234 POLITICAL NATIVISM [432
There was no struggle in the convention for these places
because there was no hope whatever of election to office. The
tender of a nomination at this time was only a compliment.
As usual, a new state committee was created before adjourn-
ment. Its members were George Briggs, of New York,
William B. Lewis, of Kings, John C. Feltman, of Albany,
Orville Page, of St. Lawrence, N. R. Ford, of , M. T.
B. Fisher, of , Jacob B. Faurot, of Ontario, and Gus-
tavus A. Scroggs, of Erie.
There is almost nothing to say of the campaign of 1858 so
far as the nativist movement is concerned. The American
ticket was only a device to keep the party from going to
pieces. There was no effort to gain new adherents for the
movement, because it was understood that such effort would
be vain. The most that could be hoped was that the mainte-
nance of the American Party would prevent Republican suc-
cess. The pride of the nativist leaders was much hurt by the
slight put upon them by the Republican convention in Sep-
tember. They wished Democratic success now, rather than
Republican. Their work toward this end showed, when elec-
tion day came, that the American vote could still be held
together and the process of disintegration checked, if not
overcome. There was still too much vitality in the party to
permit the utter disappearance which its opponents had
prophesied. It was still to be considered as a factor in state
politics, in spite of its weakness. In actual poll the Americans
showed very slight change from 1857. -^^ this election the
voters of the state who had stayed at home in the fall of 1857
showed a revival of interest in politics. Both of the greater
parties profited by the revival, but the Republicans were the
most favored and were able to carry the state. Following
were the averages on the state canvass : ^
1 Official footings in Tribune ^ 1858, November 20, p. 5.
433] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, i8s7'i^(>o 235
Republican Party about 249,800 votes.
Democratic Party about 230,100 votes.
Nativist party about 61,800 votes.
Temperance movement about 2,500 votes.
One effect of this campaign upon the American Party was
to make plainer the dividing line between those who approved
and those who disliked Republicanism. The side which
leaned toward the Republicans was headed by Gustavus A.
Scroggs, of Buffalo, while the more staunch adherents of
nativism looked to Erastus Brooks for leadership. The slight
put upon the Americans at Syracuse set back the friendship
for Republicanism, but as the months passed on that senti-
ment seemed to recover itself somewhat. When the regular
annual session of the Grand Council came again, both ele-
ments of the party were on the ground. The Council of 1859
met at Geneva on August 23d.' The press reported 140 dele-
gates at the sitting, but very little detail of the Council session
came to the public. New officers were elected and a state
convention called. Also, two delegates, Erastus Brooks and
Lorenzo Burrows, were chosen to attend an American national
convention, if one were held. The new state officers were:
President, Gustavus A. Scroggs, of Erie ; vice-president,
Amos H. Prescott, of Herkimer, and secretary, James W.
Husted, of Westchester. There seems to have been no clash
of opposing ideas at the session.
The American Party had its last campaign in 1859. On
September 21st its last state convention met at Utica.^ Under
the presidency of Erastus Brooks it adopted an address and
platform. The selection of a state ticket was sent to commit-
tee for recommendations. The state organization had given
up the idea of an independent state ticket a year previous, but
circumstances had forced it to break its plans at that time.
This year there were no obstacles whatever to the adoption of
* Account from Herald report.
• Account from Herald reports.
236 POLITICAL NATIVISM n^^
a new policy. In its weakness the nativist organization now
proposed to go back to the old system used in the infancy of
the nativist movement. It would set up a ticket composed of
names selected from the tickets of the greater parties, and as
a " balance-of-power party " it would hold its huge rivals at its
mercy. The committee on state ticket did its work on this
plan. It reported back to the convention a list of nine nomi-
nees for state offices, five of whom were on the Republican
ticket and four on the Democratic. None of them were
known to have shown any special favor to nativism in the
past. The ticket did not, in fact, represent the issues of the
American movement, nor did the committee present it as such.
Like the state ticket of 1858 it was a device to hold together
the nativist vote and win such prestige for the organization as
it might. It was made up as follows :
Sec'y of State David R. Floyd -Jones, of Queens.
Comptroller Robert Denniston, of Orange.
Treasurer Philip Dorsheimer, of Erie.
Attorney-General Charles G. Myers, of St. Lawrence.
Engineer Van Rensselaer Richmond, of Wayne.
Canal Commis'r William L. Skinner, of Herkimer.
Prison Inspector Noble S. Elderkin, of St. Lawrence.
Judge, C't of Appeals . . . Henry E. Davies, of New York.
Clerk, C't of Appeals .... Charles Hughes, of Washington.
When presented to the convention there was a vigorous ob-
jection to the name of Dorsheimer, who was German by birth.
Although the American Party had abandoned before this its
wholesale condemnation of all persons of foreign birth, still it
was rather a novel step for it to present an alien as its prefer-
ence for a state office. Nevertheless after some debate the
committee ticket was adopted by the convention. Scroggs
brought this about by his championship of the cause of his
fellow-townsman. After the ticket the convention appointed
the usual state committee and adjourned. The new committee
was composed of Erastus Brooks, Joseph W. Savage and
435] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, t857-iS6o 237
Frank C. Wagner of New York, L. Sprague Parsons, Henry
Lansing and G. Y. Johnson of Albany, N. B. Lord of Jeffer-
son, William A. Russel of Washington, Harvey Smith of
Rensselaer, J. Matteson of Oswego, Orville Page of St. Law-
rence, Richard F. Stevens of Onondaga, M. Strong of Monroe,
Lorenzo Burrows of Orleans, Elam R. Jewett of Erie, and E.
S. Sweet of Tioga.
In the campaign that followed, the American Party took no
considerable part. Its wholly artificial character was so
apparent that it lost heavily among those who had till now
held themselves faithful to its fortunes. Some of its leaders,
among whom was the state secretary, made a formal protest
against the mixed ticket and circulated the protest in the
party .^ In the O. U. A. there was an earnest outcry against
the nomination of Dorsheimer. In response to this revolt the
American state committee issued a circular defending the
ticket.' Five reasons were alleged for the nominations : first,
the wish to return to the old idea of holding a balance of
power between the greater parties ; second, the wish to secure
good men for office; third, the idea of punishing the Repub-
licans for efforts to weaken the Canal Board when it was under
American control ; fourth, the hope of allaying the anti-
slavery agitation ; fifth, and most important of all, the frankly
avowed desire to break down the calculations of the greater
parties in order to demonstrate that the American Party
was not a nonentity in politics. The circular, between the
lines, was an acknowledgment that the sole issue of the
American organization was that of its own existence. Its
break-up during the coming presidential campaign was almost
certain, but its leaders wished to maintain their hold upon it
until that time and to keep it apart from either one of the two
great parties. The party continued to lose heavily in the
'^ Heraldy 1859, September 29, p. 6.
'Text in Tribune, 1859, October 5, p. 5.
238 POLITICAL NATIVISM [4^5
campaign of 1859, but it polled a vote of unusual significance
at the November election. The two great parties happened
to rival each other closely enough in their vote so that the
dwindling American organization, despite its losses, actually-
held the balance of power. With one exception its nominees
were elected by reason of its endorsement of their names.
Thus in its last effort at a state campaign the party scored a
success. The party averages follow : '
Republican Party about 251,300 votes.
Democratic Party , . . . about 227,600 votes.
Nativist party about 23,800 votes.
r
The politics of the national campaign of i860 began very
early in the year to shape themselves around the central
debate on the great sectional issues. The leaders of the
American Party in New York unhesitatingly took sides when
occasion required. The nomination of Bell and Everett by a
>. national convention on a " Constitutional Union " ticket en-
listed the prompt support of some of the best known nativists.
When, in July, i860, a state convention of the Union move-
ment was held at Utica, the list of those present included
Brooks, Scroggs, Burrows, Prescott and several other well-
known Americans.^ At that convention it became evident
that the portion of the party which accepted the leadership of
Brooks would support the new movement Scroggs, the up-
state leader, also had his following in the party, and though he
appeared at the Utica convention in July, it was yet generally
understood that his sympathies were with Republicanism.
The annual Grand Council session was accordingly looked
forward to by the politicians of the state with the liveliest
interest. It was felt that the nativist party would be manipu-
lated by its leaders so as to aid either the Bell national ticket
or the Lincoln national ticket, and that the process of manipu-
* From vote as given in Tribune Almanac.
* Herald, i860, July 13, p. 4.
437] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, i8s7-i86o 239
lation would not be without interesting features for the world j
outside. "^
In the matter of interest the anticipations of party men were
not disappointed. When the Grand Council came together
on August 28th at Schenectady there were two factions keenly
looking for advantage.^ President Scroggs and Secretary
Husted favored the Lincoln ticket, while Vice-President Pres-
cott favored the Bell ticket. The Republicans thus had the
official machinery of the session in their hands although they
were outnumbered on the floor of the Council. At first Pres-
ident Scroggs refused to announce the place of meeting but a
squad of Bell men were set to watch his every motion, lest the
Lincoln men should quietly open the Council with their fellow-
delegates absent. Under this scrutiny the president yielded
and the Council was formally opened with both factions pres-
ent. The next step was the critical one. Scroggs attempted
to appoint the usual committee on credentials. Since this
committee would have power to bar out delegates from the
session its make-up was important. The Bell men were deter-
mined that Scroggs should not name the committee, and his
efforts to do so were howled down. When he persisted in his
effort he found himself surrounded by an excited mass of del-
egates who forced him to yield the gavel to Vice-President
Prescott, known to be a Bell man. Scroggs and his friends
then left the Council. Under Prescott's leadership the re-
mainder of the council session was peaceful. There were 168
delegates at this last session of the Grand Council. They
elected officers for the ensuing year in the customary way,
choosing Amos H. Prescott, of Herkimer, for president, Jesse
C. Dann, of Erie, for vice-president and William D. Murphy,
of Albany, for secretary. Then came the work of delivering
the votes of the organization, so far as official action could do
it, to the new Union movement to which the American Party
leaders had given their allegiance. A resolution was passed
' Account of Council session from Herald and Tribune reports.
240 POLIIJCAL NAT IV ISM [438
by the Council endorsing the action of the Union movement in
naming a state ticket of presidential electors, and this was fol-
lowed by another resolution formally pledging the support of
the Council to Bell and Everett. This officially merged the
nativist movement into a different political group. But while
these things were being done by the regular Grand Council
the bolters, led by Scroggs, had no mind to be ignored with-
out protest. They gathered together in another place and
organized themselves into a rival Grand Council, following the
regular procedure of the party. They elected officers for the
ensuing year : Gustavus A. Scroggs, of Erie, to be president,
A. J. H. Duganne, of New York, to be vice-president and
James W. Husted, of Westchester, to be secretary. They
passed a resolution declaring that since there was no Amer-
ican ticket in the field, either state or national, the members of
the party should be free " to vote as their judgment and con-
sciences may dictate." Then they named a new state com-
mittee and adjourned.
Both of these groups of delegates realized thoroughly that the
organization which they represented was at its end. Many peo-
ple thought that for the past three years it had been kept alive
for this emergency. Neither one of the rival grand councils
provided for a state convention to follow, though both bodies
appointed state committees as had been the custom. The reg-
ular Grand Council gave to this new committee power to call
a session of the Council at such future time as it might fix.
The committee was composed of Erastus Brooks, L. W. Parks,
Frank C. Wagner and George Briggs, all of New York,
L. Sprague Parsons, S. H. Calhoun and C. H. Adams, all of
Albany, Harvey Smith, of Rensselaer, Abel Smith, of Schen-
ectady, N. B. Lord, of Jefferson, Richard F. Stevens, of Onon-
daga, M. Strong, of Monroe, Lorenzo Burrows, of Orleans,
Jesse C. Dann, of Erie, Harlow Hakes, of Steuben, and E. B.
Sweet, of Tioga. The naming of a new committee was at the
same time largely a pretence. The adjournment of the two
439] LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS, i8s7-i86o 24 1
grand councils was the final end of the old Know-Nothing
organization in New York state. By the usual custom the
Grar^d Council should have met again one year afterward in
August, but when the next August came round the nation
was absorbed in war and there was no room in popular
thought for political nativism. The nativist party in New N
York state politics ended on August 28, i860. ^
CHAPTER XI
ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM
In final comment upon that political nativism which strug-
gled for recognition during the quarter century from 1835 to
i860 it is as unfair to speak with entire harshness as it is
difficult to speak with complete sympathy. As an issue that
failed of success and as a doctrine from which the American
democracy turned away, it stands condemned by its own fail-
ure. Yet, even as a rejected political issue it has an import-
ance in history as one of the great forces which have aided
in rounding out the ideals of the nation. In looking back
upon nativism and its efforts, a curiously contradictory feature
suggests itself. From the modern standpoint its aims seem to
have been narrow, proscriptive and un-American, while in
their day thousands of earnest men deemed them to be most
thoroughly patriotic and truly American in character. The
explanation of this contradiction gives a reason for the study
of rejected issues. The real work of nativism was to force
public opinion to a judgment upon certain propositions, and in
so doing to secure a decision as to whether or not the ideas
which it represented were entitled to be considered as *' Amer-
ican " in character. Political nativism was a curiously blun-
dering effort to shape public opinion. It put forth views
which were neither soundly logical nor consonant with the
liberal tendencies of American society. For this reason,
largely, they did not succeed. There can be no question as to
the sincerity and patriotism of the men who forced nativism
into the field as a political issue. They believed most fer-
vently that the influences they opposed were undermining the
242 [440
44 1 ] ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM 243
whole Structure of American life. If these men were narrow
and prescriptive they were at least honestly so. If they were
un-American, it was because the public consciousness had
not revealed itself enough to teach them where they stood.
It was the judgment of the people upon their work which
eventually decided that nativist ideas were not wholly to be
accepted as really American. The movement of nativism had
its brief hour of strength ; it stirred men's minds profoundly
for a time and then it passed away, having accomplished little
of what it had tried to do. Yet, as it disappeared, it left be-
hind it a deeper insight into the theory of American life and
a firmer faith in American institutions, both resulting from
its agitation. It left behind it, too, more definite ideas and
broader sympathies to solve the problems connected with the
coming of foreign peoples to American shores.
Nativism was antagonistic to the Roman Catholic church.)
This antagonism was its most cherished feature. The Cath-
olic church in the United States had then a membership very
largely of foreign birth, and was in the position of a foreign
institution transplanted to American soil. In some states it
was dominated by the American element, but in New York it
was the symbol and strength of foreign influence. There it
held itself aloof from too close contact with American
life, and it steadily opposed the adoption of American methods
in its work. It organized its people into a distinct community
and it encouraged clannishness based upon religion. This
aloofness was the real grievance against the church and caused J
it to be denounced as an un-American organization. Had the
nativist movement placed its arguments clearly on this basis
it could have more easily defended its policy, but it pre-
ferred to adopt the theory of papal hostility toward America.
This latter idea came from the Brutus letters of 1834, whose
theories tinged anti-Catholic teachings through the whole
period of nativist effort. From the hints given them by
Brutus the nativist agitators learned to picture the Pope as an
244 POLITICAL NATIVISM [442
ambitious despot longing to overthrow republican institutions.
They learned to portray the Roman church as an engine of
terrible power, directed by a crafty and unscrupulous priest-
hood which desired the subjection of a free people to its
malevolent sway. AH this could hardly be else than the ex-
aggeration of enmity, but still it was used by nativism because
it proved effective in agitation. At the time when nativism
flourished, the American people were not yet fully convinced
of the permanency of the structure they had raised. The
public mind was distrustful of European governments and was
easily played upon by suggestions of foreign conspiracy.
This made the cry of papal hostility a useful one. There was
no good evidence to be adduced as proof of the statements
made against the papacy. Search was made for proof, but it
was not found. The best argument on that line was one
which started with evidence that Catholics owed obedience to
the papal throne, then proved that the papal curia was an enemy
of republicanism in Europe, and finally drew inference that
the papacy must be an enemy of republicanism in America
also. The obedience owed by American Catholics to the pap-
acy was a matter of suspicion. The public did not yet fully un-
derstand the dual nature of the papacy as a civil and a spiritual
power, and thought it only natural that a sovereign Pope should
mix in politics wherever he had spiritual subjects. This agita-
tion of nativism on the basis of papal enmity was a false issue
covering up the real one, for the actual offence of the Catholic
church was its non -conformity to American methods of church
administration and popular education. These were the points
upon which nativism attacked the church specifically. Keep-
ing always at the front the idea of papal enmity, the theory of
nativist attack was that of crippling the power that was inim-
ical to America. It was argued that if church property
could be wrested from priestly control, if religious and secu-
lar education could be entirely separated and if Catholic in-
fluence in politics could be broken down, then the power of
443] ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM 24$
the Catholic priesthood would be less dangerous. It was the
intention to force American methods upon the church system,
making it conform to familiar models. The nativist attacks on
the Roman church are most intelligible when interpreted as
efforts to enforce conformity on points where church work is
likely to touch politics.
In the matter of church administration the nativists wished
to force lay trustees upon the church. The American idea of
popular control of public institutions had been carried into
the workings of American religious bodies. In the earlier
days of the American Catholic church the idea of lay trustees
was voluntarily adopted, but later the clergy threw its influence
against the idea and favored the episcopal control of church
property. The effort of the nativists was to re-instate the lay
trusteed in power. Of course the theory of attack was that of
limiting the power of the papacy in America, but the attack was
really an effort to enforce conformity. Nativism did not fail in
its effort entirely. Whether it was right or wrong in demand-
ing the change as it did, is perhaps still open to debate. The
question as to lay trustees still reappears occasionally as a
problem in church administration. It is certain that the
change demanded by nativism was not undesirable from an
American standpoint. The only question is as to the propriety
of insisting upon it.
In the matter of popular education the nativists steadily
opposed the grant of public money to aid Catholic schools,
and they opposed also the elimination of the Bible from public
school exercises. The school controversy of 1840-42 in New
York city brought a minute discussion of these problems in
public education, but after all had been said, the question re-
mained beclouded by the fact that neither side could agree
with the other on the proper relationship of religious and
secular education. The fact was that the Protestant American
people had distanced the Catholics in evolution of education.
By developing the Sunday-school system they were able to
246 POLITICAL NATIVISM [444
separate secular from religious education without harming the
latter. Catholics, meanwhile, were dependent upon the old
parish-school system with its mingling of the religious and
the secular. When, therefore, the Catholics demanded school
moneys they were stopped by the reminder that only non-
sectarian schools could profit by public aid. The nativist
opposition to the Catholic views of school matters did not fail
to plead as excuse the aggressiveness of the papacy. Never-
theless the whole question of school-money turned on con-
formity to American customs in education. Time has ap-
proved the nativist position on this point. The matter of
Bible reading in the public schools became a feature of the
school controversy when cited by Catholics as evidence that
the public schools were not as wholly unsectarian as their
friends claimed. Protestant churchmen denied that any use of
the Bible could be sectarian, and on this contention nativism
took the Protestant side. This question, too, has outlived
political nativism and shows itself yet from time to time. It
would seem now, viewing the matter broadly, that nativism
was wrong on this point. It is logical that separation of
religious and secular work, if made at all, should be complete.
In connection with school matters political nativism in New
York never called for the abolition of church schools. Sev-
eral Protestant denominations had their own schools, and no
one questioned the right of Catholic schools to exist. It was
only held that Catholic church schools, like the Protestant
schools, should be self-supporting.
In the matter of political influence the nativists attacked the
Catholic church by efforts to keep Catholics out of public
office. Viewed as partisan policy this idea would have been
proper enough, for a political movement must necessarily
block the acquirement of office by its opponents wherever
possible. Not satisfied with this reason, however, the nativists
based their proscription upon the unproven charge of Catholic
hostility toward American ideas, and here they placed them-
445] ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM 24/
selves in the wrong. American opinion has never sincerely
approved the application of religious tests for public office.
It was right to vote down a Catholic candidate because he
might favor objectionable issues, but it was wrong to vote him
down for no reason except his religious affiliation. The
nativist theory of this attack upon the church was again that
of limiting the power of the papacy. Unlike other attacks,
however, this was hardly an effort to secure conformity. It
was more of a proscriptive measure which hid the feeling of
race-antagonism that underlaid it. It was an excuse for dis-
criminating at the polls against Irish office-seekers.
Altogether the nativist efforts against the Catholic church
were very well calculated to diminish ecclesiastical power.
Leaving out of the question the identity of the church against
which the attacks were directed, this idea cannot be called un-
American. Before the period of nativism there was a diminu-
tion of ecclesiastical power in the Protestant churches by in-
fluences within their lines. The nativists tried to effect the
same end in the Catholic church by efforts from without.
American opinion then and since has been persistent in view-
ing clerical bodies as unsafe guardians of the people's priv-
ileges. The trend of practice has been away from clerical
control of church property, of popular education or of political
work. The nativist desire to enforce conformity with Ameri-
can practice in this respect is not to be wholly condemned.
The warfare of political nativism against the church was
waged solely at those points where Catholic methods were
opposed to the American social and political ideas. On purely
religious matters political nativism never trespassed, although
the fulminations of religious preachers and writers usually
accompanied its activity. Catholic doctrines in religion were
viewed with indifference by nativists at the same time that
they gave closest attention to the church as a social organiza-
tion. The line was, of course, indefinite between the church
as a religious organization and the church as a social organiza
248 POLITICAL NATIVISM [445
tion. Catholic writers, as a rule, seem not to have been able to
discriminate between the two conceptions, and they complained
bitterly of the American inconsistency which talked of religious
liberty, and yet warred against a church. In later years the
same charge of inconsistency has been made in answer to at-
tacks upon the Mormon church as a social organization con-
trolling social customs. Nevertheless, despite all protests,
American opinion discriminates between church organization
as a means of grace and the same organization as a director
of social law. The position has been practically held that
minorities may not plead conscience as valid excuse for break-
ing with settled conditions of society. The war of nativism
upon the Catholic organization was not after all inconsistent
with the American understanding of religious liberty.
Nativism was opposed to the possession of political power
by the foreign element without regard to the church afifilia-
tions of that element. In the larger cities of the country where
the foreign-born population was considerable, the Irish and
German people formed distinct social groups. Although they
were hardly in touch with American ideas, were possessed of
few responsibilities as citizens, and were the cause of unusual
public expense, yet they were insistent upon political priv-
ileges. In most cities there were districts where the foreign
element was in full control. In some cities the foreign vote
could be so marshalled as to hold the balance of power be-
tween the parties. Under these circumstances the leaders of the
foreign element received recognition by the political managers,
and became party workers or office-holders, American-born
citizens did not like the presence of foreign representatives in
office. It was felt that these men would act according to the
ideas and wishes of their foreign kindred, rather than accord-
ing to those of the American community. Nativism, therefore,
attacked the foreign element in its possession of political influ-
ence. As cause for its attack nativism alleged the danger that
American customs would be crowded out by foreign ones if
447] ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL AATIVISM 249
foreigners secured control of the political machinery of the
community. More especially it was declared that the un-
American Catholic church would secure undue advantages
from the rise of the foreign element in politics. This wholej
claim of danger to American ideas pre-supposed that the for-
eigners against whom the warning was uttered were persons
unassimilated to American life. At the same time, however,
nativism nominally arrayed itself against all the foreign-born
whatever might be their social position. In theory it recog-
nized no differences among foreign persons. Nativist theory
in this respect was illogical, and nativism in action did not live
up to its theory. Its grievances and its arguments on the
question of foreign birth took their full meaning only when
applied to the clannish foreign element. In political work, ^i?
also, nativism easily joined hands with Americanized foreign- 4"^*^
ers and viewed them with hearty friendship. It made no
secret of the fact that its professed enmity for foreign birth
was not wholly real. The real object of attack was the for-
eigner who sought to exercise political power over an Ameri-
can community with whose ideas he was not in sympathy. In
its warfare against this class of the foreign-born, nativism en-
deavored to strip away such conditions as favored the en-
croachment of foreign ideas upon American custom. It
sought to reduce the foreign political influence to less dan-
gerous proportions. This effort was directed upon three
points, the decrease of the foreign vote, the reform of election .
abuses, and the barring of foreigners from office. Nativism j
set up the idea of a homogeneous body-politic as its end
In the matter of decreasing the foreign vote the nativists ad-
vocated restriction of naturalization so far as voting was con-
cerned. They were willing to concede civil rights to the for-
eign immigrant at an early date, but not the elective franchise.
The reduction of the foreign vote was urged on the ground
that foreign-born voters used the ballot without a knowledge
of its effect and at the behest of leaders whose leadership was
250 POLITICAL NATIVJSM [443
in itself to be deplored. This reference to leaders was di-
rected partly toward the mercenary politicians of the foreign
quarters, but more largely toward the Catholic clergy, whose
supposed connection with politics was always distasteful to
Americans. The specific mode proposed for reducing the for-
eign vote was to require of foreigners twenty-one years of resi-
dence before voting. It was argued that this would corres-
pond to the period of preparation for citizenship that was
required of the native- born, but the argument was fallacious
and weak. The nativist idea of reducing the foreign vote has
not been endorsed by American opinion of later years. The
nation has refused to believe that the foreign-born as a class
are dangerous to national well-being, and it has condemned
the test of birth to prove character of citizenship. The refusal
of the franchise to all foreigners is deemed now to be an unfair
mode of striking at clannishness, since it punishes the inno-
cent with the guilty. Nevertheless, it is well to note that the
principle of the thing is not unrelated to that of certain
more recent legislation directed against Chinese and African
blood to protect the dominant race.
In the matter of reforming election abuses, the nativ-
ists sought to secure order at the polls and to eliminate fraud-
ulent votes. These reforms were urged on the ground that
the foreign element profited by fraudulent increase of its vot-
ing power, that foreign bullies terrorized the native vote and
that unnaturalized aliens took part in elections. It was pro-
posed that the election bully be suppressed, and that illegal
votes be barred out by an official registry of legal voters. In
reality this attack on election abuses was impartial in its aims.
It struck at fraud without inquiring as to the birth-place of the
offenders. In point of fact, a considerable portion of the of-
fenses against the franchise in the days of nativism were com-
mitted by native-born citizens, and the reforms asked by nativ-
ism were measures of good order and decency that applied to
all. Public opinion has since approved the wishes of nativism
in this direction.
449] ANALYSIS OF POLiriCAL NATIVISM 25 I
In the matter of barring foreigners from office, the nativists
pleaded the danger of giving power to men who would use it
to aid the advance of foreign ideas. They took the ground
that holders of public office must be thoroughly conversant
with the wishes of the community over which they exercise
authority. Here again the nativist complaint presupposed
that the objectionable foreigners were unassimilated, and its
error lay in the broadness of the dictum that all the foreign-
born should be refused office. The nativist plan was to edu-
cate public opinion to vote down foreign-born candidates.
Nativism did not advocate exclusion by statute, but only
by popular action. The weakness of the plan was the evident
unfairness of making nativity a test of privilege and punishing
Americanized foreigners for the offences of the clannish element.
It was proper, perhaps, to declare against office-holding by
persons not in sympathy with American ways, but it was cer-
tainly wrong to insist that foreign birth was conclusive evi-
dence of such lack of sympathy. Later years have not en-
dorsed the nativist plan of refusing office on the score of
foreign birth alone.
In one other way nativism sought to express opposition to
the foreign element. It desired to prevent the immigration of
paupers and criminals from Europe. On this point it was
working more for social and economic than for political reform.
The migration of the refuse of European society to America
brought increased taxes and lower standards of social action.
Nativism suggested a correction of the evil and its suggestion
has in later years been fully approved.
The real character of American nativism is hardly to
be estimated from the theories that it formulated as ex-
planation of its efforts. Without a better key to its real
nature it is difficult indeed to understand how this movement
could take so tremendous a sweep of action as it did and yet
possess as a basis so fallacious a set of arguments to justify it.
It is possible, however, to understand it better than by a test
252 POLITICAL NATIVISM [450
of its theories. Nativism in the great cities was primarily and
raBove all things a phenomenon of racial antagonism. This
I is the explanation of its inconsistent combination of strong
' action and weak excuse. Sometimes critics detected the real
motive of the movement, but the platforms and official utter-
ances of the nativists never cared to specify the feeling. It was
because of this element of racial hostility that nativism could
announce a sweeping program of exclusion of foreigners and
Catholics from office and that it could obtain support for it, not
^ only from Americans-born but from foreign-born citizens as
'^V-x well. It was because of its embodiment of racial hostility that
nativism could concentrate upon the Catholic church, as a visible
symbol of foreign clannishness, the enmity and hatred of a
public which boasted of its religious tolerance. It was for the
same reason that the offences of foreigners against the franchise
were met by an indignation which had never been called forth
against native-born offenders. Such was the real character
j of nativism in the great cities where the foreign element was
[ large. Outside of the cities its character was somewhat dif-
ferent. In the rural districts there were no masses of foreign
population clannishly asserting themselves in defiance of
American ways. The nativist political movement in national
and state affairs was a sham and a pretext. The nation as a
whole was never nativist in feeling. Probably no one state, as
a whole, was ever genuinely worried over the existence of the
foreign element. In state and national campaigns nativism
was a politicians' movement rather than a popular one. Its
issues were convenient for use at some particular crisis and
for a time were accepted and advocated on that account. In
the country districts, however, nativism had no enduring basis
in general public sentiment. These facts explain the marvelous
rise and the no less marvelous collapse of nativism in its na-
tional organization. It was a mere device of politics.
Was nativism justifiable? It was a truth that the foreign
people who were crossing the Atlantic by thousands were
45 l] ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL NATIVISM 253
bringing with them and perpetuating ideas and conditions that
were inharmonious with those evolved by two centuries of
American society. Foreign conditions of lawlessness, poverty
and immorality were apparent. Foreign ideas of the relation
of the individual to society, of the relation of church and state,
of the use of public office and political opportunity, of the
proper sphere of clerical influence, were seen to be different
from those of Americans. Foreign lawlessness and poverty
were temporary and would probably yield to the pressure of
better environment, but foreign ideas as to church, state and
society seemed persistent and even aggressive. Therefore na-
tivism took its stand in opposition. It demanded that the
new people should take up the ideas of American society. It
asked of them good conduct in politics, submissiveness to law,
separation of church from politics, adoption of unsectarian edu-
cation, rejection of clerical control and abandonment of for-
eign customs and sympathies. In short, nativism demanded!
that the new people lose their social identity and aid their own j
absorption into American society. Whether or not these de-
mands were extreme must be a matter of opinion. Popular
instinct seems, however, to favor the idea of a homogeneous
society. Nativism strove to create a homogeneous electorate
with the idea that a homogeneous society would follow. Its
attack upon the Catholic church was an effort to weaken the
support of foreign society. The Catholic church itself was not
untouched by nativism, though a hint of the fact at one time by
a Catholic writer brought down a storm upon him/ In the ^^
main the church was foreign in personnel, ideas and methods,. I
and its attitude invited attack. Whether or not nativism was
justified depends, therefore, on the right of immigrants to bring
new ways to American society. The American argument sup-
posed that republican America was more advanced in its social
structure than Europe, and that the adoption of European
ideas meant social retrogression. Americans had no protest
"^ Brownson's Review^ 1854.
254 POLITICAL NATIVISM VAt^2
to make against European culture and experience, but only
against European ideas of the position of the individual in
society. If the American faith in itself was wrong, then per-
haps the whole attitude of nativism was also wrong.
What results had nativist effort? As barren of success as
the work of nativism seems when it is looked back upon, it
yet was not resultless. It brought about a thorough discus-
sion of the attitude to be taken by the American people to-
ward the immigrants from foreign lands. In the earlier years
of the Republic the nation took the position of undiscriminat-
ing welcome to all, preaching that individual liberty was
a right of residence. It was the abuse of that liberty and
the opposition of the foreign-born to American ideas that
brought a re-examination of old theories and an attempted re-
shaping of policy. It is rash, perhaps, to try to formulate the
" views " of a great nation, but so far as American opinion can
be judged it seems to have decided this, — that foreign ideas may
be followed by foreigners resident in America, but those ideas
must not attempt any career of conquest in American society.
Social clannishness, ecclesiastical domination and race combi-
nations in politics exist by sufferance, but they are emphatically
non-American ideas to be reprobated on broad groundsjof
public policy. This opinion is the contribution of nativism to
the evolution of American democratic ideals.
SOUROKS
In the American political system the political party is an
organization almost entirely extra-legal in character. It is
seldom recognized by the public records of the community.
In the study of a partisan movement, therefore, the ordinary
sources for political history very largely fail. The story must
be made up from the records of the organization itself, if any
exist, from the private papers of men who directed its work
and from the newspaper files which chronicled its various
moves in the never-ending game of politics. The nativist
political organizations had records of their own in their day of
activity. There were, presumably, minutes of the sessions of
its state committees and state conventions, of its local execu-
tive committees and party conventions in the localities where
it existed. There were certainly, during a part of the nativist
period, records of the secret bodies of one sort or another in
which the voters and adherents of the movement were organ-
ized. Of these two sorts of records very little seems to be
now extant. The writer has found no manuscript record
whatever of committee or convention, and but small material
for the secret system. The great Know-Nothing Order has
left hardly a trace of itself in the way of records. Many of its
official documents were re-printed by the daily press at the time
they were issued, and these have been valuable aids in work,
but as to manuscript material the writer has found nothing.
The records of the Know-Nothing Grand Council are pre-
sumed to have passed from one grand secretary to another
till the Grand Council ended ; but the late Hon. James W.
Husted, who was the last regular secretary of the state organ i-
453] 255
256 POLITICAL NATIVISM \AIA
zation, left no material of the sort among his private papers at
the time of his death, and the real fate of the Grand Council
records can only be guessed. The records of the State
Chancery of the Order of United Americans are known to
have been burned by the last grand secretary after the Order
had gone to pieces. The records of the Executive Conven-
tion and grand executive committee of the United Americans
were more fortunate in their fate, and fell into the hands of the
last grand sachem of the Order, Mr. Charles E. Gildersleeve,
now of New York city, in whose possession they yet remain.
The same gentleman has the records of two of the subordinate
chapters of the Order.
The paucity of actual records of executive work on the
part of the nativists has been partly relieved by the existence
of collections of documents bearing indirectly upon the sub-
ject. The writer has had access to the collection of Mr.
Gildersleeve, which includes, besides the records above-named,
a mass of miscellaneous material bearing upon the history of
the United Americans. He has also been favored by access
to the collection of Mr. Henry Baldwin, of New Haven, Conn.,
in which there is considerable material relating to the early
American Republican movement, as well as matter relating to
the United Americans. The private papers of James W.
Barker, the Know-Nothing leader, were in private hands at
Louisville, Ky., some years ago and were known to include
documents relating to the Know- Nothing movement, but their
present location is uncertain. The private papers of Hon.
Erastus Brooks, the later leader of the American Party, are in
the hands of the family in New York city. Inquiry as to
these elicits the fact that they contain no material which can-
not be obtained from the newspaper files of the time.
The use of public records in this work has been small.
The printed journals of Congress and of the New York legis-
lature have been useful aids in following the course of
nativist attempts at law-making. The same is true of the
455] SOURCES 257
printed proceedings of the common council of New York
city. Within the pages of these records can also be traced
the appearance of those petitions which usually mark the rise
of popular interest in any particular topic. Another class of
public records which are of especial importance in the study
of parties is that of official canvasses of votes, for it is by the
popular support of its tickets that the strength of any political
organization must be judged. The local canvasses of New
York city previous to 1854 are not known to be extant as
public records and their figures have to be supplied from the
daily press. In 1854 and afterward the official canvasses were
usually published in full by the city, and can be readily found
in newspaper files. The figures of the official canvasses are
also given by Valentine's manuals of the corporation of the
city of New York, but these are not always reliable. The
official canvasses of the state in 1854 and after were usually
published by the New York press in full text.
So far as secondary authorities are concerned there is little
information to be gathered on the subject of nativist political
effort, although there is a wealth of printed material on the
principles and grievances of nativism. The earlier nativist
movement of 1843-47 did not become strong enough to call
out any extended history of its work, while the later move-
ments of the Know-Nothing period remained almost un-
chronicled because of its secret character, which forbade pub-
lication of details. Only two works, those of Whitney and of
Carroll, make any useful reference to the Know-Nothing soci-
ety. The following books have been used in the preparation
of this work :
«*An American." Imminent Dangers to the Free Institutions of the United
States through Foreign Immigration. New York, 1835. ^' ^' Hist, Soc.
Library.
Carroll, Anna Ella. The Great American Battle, or the Contest between
Christianity and Political Romanism. New York, Auburn, 1856. Columbia
University Library.
Kehoe, Lawrence, editor. Complete Works of the Most Rev. yohn Hughes
258 POLITICAL NATIVISM [456
D, D., Archbishop of New York. 2 vols. New York, 1866. N. Y. Public
Library, Astor Branch.
Lee, John Hancock. The Origin and Progress of the American Party in
Politics. Philadelphia, 1855. Columbia University Library.
Morse, Samuel F, B, Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United
States. Seventh edition. New York, 1852. Columbia University Library.
Orr, Hector. The Native American^ a Gift for the People. Philadelphia,
1845. Columbia University Library.
Shea, John Gilmary. History of the Catholic Church in the United States.
New York, 1888, 1890. Columbia University Library.
Smith, Thomas E. V. Political Parties and Their Places of Meeting in Ne^v
York City. New York, 1893. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
Smith, "William C. Pillars in the Temple, or Sketches of Deceased Laymen
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York, 1872. Private copy.
Tisdale, W. S., compiler. The Controversy Between Senator Brooks and
"\Johnr Archbishop of New York. New York [1855]. N. Y. PubHc Library
Astor Branch.
Whitney, Thomas R. A Defense of the American Policy as Opposed to the
Encroachments of Foreign Influence. New York [1856]. Columbia University
Library.
By far the greater part of the material here used has been
gleaned from the newspaper files of the period in which nativ-
ism essayed its political role. In this line of research, also,
there have been difficulties. In the earlier period of nativism,
when it was an open movement, the daily press was not ac-
customed to chronicle political news with any fullness. In the
later period of nativism, when it was a secret movement, the
daily press was disposed to say much, but had not the facts to
tell. In every period when nativism was active there were
newspapers devoted to its service with varying degrees of
heartiness, but those which were most typically and completely
nativist in sentiment were usually short-hved, disappearing
with the movement on which they were founded. Of those
papers and magazines of New York state which were friendly
to nativism, and which might be styled the mouth-pieces of
the movement, few are known to exist in files to-day. The
lack of such files is not a serious matter, however, for the
457] SOURCES 259
columns of those which fought nativism are fully as useful for
purposes of research, providing that proper allowance be made
for the natural bias of the papers. In the preparation of this
work the following files have been used :
The Albany Argus ^ 1842-45, 1854. Cornell University Library.
The American (Poughkeepsie), 1845-46. Baldwin Collection, New Haven,
Conn.
Evening Gazette, 1845-46, continued as Gazette and Times , 1846-47. N. Y.
Hist. Soc. Library.
Evening Mirror, 1847, ^^SS- N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, 1835-36, 1844-45, '^^54-55-
N. Y. Public Library, Astor Branch. N. Y. Hist, Soc. Library.
New York American, 1835-37, 1841. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
New York Citizen and American Republican, 1844, continued as New York
American Republican, 1844. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
New York Commercial Advertiser, 1836-37, 1841-42, 1853. N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Library.
New Yorker, 1837-40. N. Y. Public Library, Astor Branch.
New York Evening Post, 1835-36, 1841, 1845, ^852-54. N. Y. Public Lib-
rary, Astor Branch.
New York Herald, 1836-60. N. Y. Public Library, Astor and Lenox Branches.
N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
New York Journal of Commerce, 1841-45, 1853. N. Y. Society Library.
N. Y. Public Library, Astor Branch.
New York Observer, 1836, 1840-43. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
New York Times, 1852-57. N. Y. Public Library, Astor Branch.
New York Tribune, 1841-46, 1853-60. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library. N. Y.
Public Library, Astor Branch.
The O. U. A., 1848-49. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
-- The Plebeian, 1844. N. Y. Society Library.
The Republic, 1851-52. N. Y. PubHc Library, Astor Branch.
Rochester Daily American, 1844-45. ■'^- ^ • ^^^s^- ^o^* Library.
The Sun, 1843. Office Sun Publishing Company.
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