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disambiguation: A now defunct political organization of 19th century American opposed to suffrage for immigrant Catholics and what they saw as overly easy access to citizenship
Important distinction: NOT all profiles associated with this project were members of the Native American Party. Some are merely central to the discussion as they were players in central events such as the Kensington Riots
This project stems from an examination of members of the Native American Party who were officials of the Party in the era of the Kensington Riots of May, 1844. But any documented member of the Party may be added.
Five Thousand Military Under Arms. Fourteen Killed and Fifty Wounded.
The U. States Government applied to for Aid. The Governor and Commander-in-Chief at the Head of the Volunteer Forces. From A Full and Complete Account of the Late Awful Riots in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia: John B. Perry, 1844.
"By 1852 the Know-Nothing party was achieving phenomenal growth. It did very well that year in state and local elections, and with passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 it won additional adherents from the ranks of conservatives who could support neither the proslavery Democrats nor antislavery Republicans. When Congress assembled on December 3, 1855, 43 representatives were avowed members of the Know-Nothing party." ~• Britannica
~• These were complicated times. A nativist of 1840 could by 1860 have become a member of any Party. The Whigs were gone, the Native American and Know Nothings had to choose the Democrats or the (new) Republican Party.
"Nativists used songs to stir the party faithful and spread their message. As the nation’s leading center of sheet music publication, lower Manhattan was well-equipped to serve the anti-immigrant American Party, also called the “Know Nothings,” with printings of songs such as the “K N Quick Step.” "
"Paving the way for the Know Nothing movement were two men from New York City. Thomas R. Whitney, the son of a silversmith who opened his own shop, wrote the magnum opus of the Know Nothings, A Defense of the American Policy. William “Bill the Butcher” Poole was a gang leader, prizefighter and butcher in the Bowery (and would later be used as inspiration for the main character in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York). Whitney and Poole were from different social classes, but both had an enormous impact on their chosen party—and their paths crossed at a pivotal moment in the rise of nativism." Smithsonian magazine
My focus here has been almost solely on the early movement as it existed in Pennsylvania prior to the birth of the name Know Nothing, particularly Philadelphia where two riots took place in May and July of 1844.
Please contribute members from other regions.
~• Michael M. van Beuren, vol. curator (Sep. 2022)
~• “ Natives were pulling support away from both of the older parties.” as Chronicled in the press of the day (in Fires of Philadelphia)
Peleg Barrows Savery Democratic 1849 – 1851 ~• was once a Whig/"Hermaprodite"
Samuel G. Hamilton (Native American2) Philadelphia County 1852-1854
project originator's note: one of my great uncles of that generation was, as a young man, a member of the First Montgomery Troop which was called up to restore the peace after the first day of rioting. see Sgt. Jesse Weber Bean (CSA) . He even wrote about the rioting in a letter to his brother, Edwin. Their father served in the Pa, House and Jesse's father-in-law represented Philadelphia in the State Senate.