"Throwing off the shackles of party" : the rise and fall of the Know-Nothing Party in Pennsylvania, 1852-1858

The most important factor determining the fortunes of the Know-Nothings innPennsylvania was popular anti-party sentiment. Although the Know-Nothing order'snoriginal raison d'etre was nativism, Pennsylvania Americans rose to politicalnprominence in the state through their oft-repeated argument that the established partiesnwere no longer representative of the views of the electorate. To be sure, reformistnappeals had been the staple of third and emerging political parties prior to the rise ofnthe Know-Nothings. What aided the Know-Nothings' reformist agenda, however, wasnthe emergence or re-emergence of a number of issues that cut across traditional partynlines or the established parties had difficulty staking a position on. The reticence andnequivocation displayed by the Whig and Democratic parties on such issues as slaverynextension, temperance and the sale of the state's public works, provided strongnevidence of the Know-Nothing claim that the old parties cared more for their ownninterests. Pennsylvania voters, therefore, convinced of the sagacity of the Know-Nothings'nanti-party appeals, deserted the established political parties and lent theirnallegiances to the one organisation that seemingly had staked out popularlynrepresentative positions on the issues that most concerned them- the Know-Nothings.n n While the Know-Nothings wasted no opportunity to speak on issues that thenestablished parties hoped to ignore, the order's position on these issues, for the mostnpart, constituted little more than an attack on the established parties for their failure tonaddress the concerns of the electorate. Indeed, when the order was forced to confrontnan issue, Know-Nothings often found themselves working at cross-purposes. The mostnserious example of this occurred with the Nebraska bill and the controversy over thenfurther extension of slavery. Having vested their political fortunes so heavily in theirnanti-party agenda, Pennsylvania Know-Nothings, moreover, were especiallynsusceptible from the appearance of any deviancy from this agenda. Another crucialnelement of the Know-Nothings' anti-party based program was their claim that thenestablished parties were motivated solely by the desire to further their own interestsnand concerns. As a force for political reform, the order's promise ran, voters could benassured that the Know-Nothings' only political motivation was to represent thenpopular will. During their failed attempt to elect a new U.S. senator, however, thenback-room manoeuvrings and political infighting that the Know-Nothings had pointednto as manifestations of self-interested motivations, characterised the order's behaviour in the first test of their devotion to their anti-party agenda. Consequently, just as antipartynism was the most significant factor in the Know-Nothings' phenomenal rise innPennsylvania, so too was it responsible for the order's equally precipitous demise.n