PAGR III. CAUSES OF THE SUCCESS of the KNOW NOTHINGS The Catholics Endeavor to Get a Division of the School IV. HEIGHT OF KNOW NOTHING SUCCESS, 1857-58 The Last National Convention The Campaign of 1857. The Governor Proceeds to Baltimore 59 61 62 62 63 65 8888 66 68 68 69 Correspondence between Governor Ligon and Mayor Swann The Governor Withdraws The Election of 1857 Contested Elections. A Second Know Nothing Legislature, 1858 The Governor's Message Debate in the House of Delegates Act for a Constitutional Convention Work of the Legislature Baltimore Election, 1858 Result of this Election. V. DOWNFALL of KnowNOTHINGISM, 1859-60 Increasing Disorder. His Reply. The Mayor and City Council Refuse to Surrender the Police Force to the State Commissioners Decision of the Court of Appeals. APR 20 1850 History of the Know Nothing Party in Maryland. I. INTRODUCTION. When Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in 1832, he was struck by the great freedom of the people in forming associations of all kinds, and especially upon the liberty with which political associations were formed. Commenting upon this he said: "It cannot be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for political purposes is a privilege which a people is longest in learning how to exercise. If it does not throw the nation into anarchy, it perpetually augments the chances of that calamity. On one point, however, this perilous liberty offers a security against dangers of another kind; in countries where associations are free, secret societies are unknown. In America there are numerous factions, but no conspirators."1 What would have been the surprise of De Tocqueville if he had visited the United States two decades later and seen a secret oath-bound organization sweeping all before it in a triumphal march through the United States. Such an organization was the "Know Nothing" or American party. 'De Tocqueville: "Democracy in America," I, 236. 'After the secret machinery was discarded, the party called itself the "American" party. However, it was always popularly known as the "Know Nothing" party, and will always be referred to as such in this monograph. The official name of the order and of the party was always the American party, and not the "Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner," as stated by Mr. James Ford Rhodes in his history. Mr. Rhodes has taken his description from Hamble Obscure in its origin, its growth and membership known only to its officers, it first made its strength felt by its successes in local elections, where in many cases persons who had not been candidates were elected to office, or in other cases the members of the party split the old tickets and voted for the candidate favorable to their views. A unique phenomenon, indeed, in American politics was this new organization. With all its proceedings shrouded in secrecy, it managed to exist for several years before any accounts of it, except the vaguest generalities, found their way into the newspapers. The call for a meeting was never published, and the members were merely notified by bits of white paper stuck on fences and lamp-posts and scattered over the streets. In the early stage there was no public propaganda of its beliefs, and its membership was recruited and extended merely through personal solicitation. A member of the order would feel his way cautiously in conversation with a friend, and if he found him favorably disposed, would undertake to conduct him into the august presence of "Sam,” this being the name by which the order was popularly known. This name was acquired from the fact that one member on meeting another would ask as a pass-word: "Have you seen Sam?" The answer would show whether the person questioned was a member of the order. All over the country extended the secret party, the organization rising from the local Council in the ward or county, through the Superior Council of the large cities, the State Councils, and culminating in the National Council. To the inquirer who asked of the member who had attended a meeting, where he had been, the answer was invariably, "I don't know," and the same answer was given to all inquiries concerning the object and purposes ton's "History of the Campaign in Virginia in 1855," a contemporary work, very bitterly opposed to the Know Nothings. I have been assured by the recording secretary of the National Council and several of the surviving members of the party, that it never had any other name officially than the American party. |