16. Winning more than one-fifth of the popular vote in the 1856 presidential election, the Know-Nothing Party was a savagely anti-immigrant and xenophobic political movement during the 1850s
Initially beginning under several disparate banners, including the American Republican Party and Order of the Star Spangled Banner, the Native American Party, later renamed the American Party and known colloquially as the Know-Nothing movement, was a nativist political party active during the 1850s. Believing in Romanist conspiracy theories alleging Catholics in North America were seeking to subvert liberties and religious freedoms, the movement sought to organize so-called “Native Americans” – those whose white ancestors predated the revolution – into a political force against immigrants and defend the Protestant faith.
Acquiring their popular moniker from their semi-secret nature, with members asked about their activities supposed to reply “I know nothing” – a response quickly lampooned by their political opponents – the American Party attempted to exploit the collapse of the Whig Party following the Kansas-Nebraska Act and force an opening for a new political party. Electing fifty-two Representatives in the 1854 elections, achieving also a high point of five Senators, former President Millard Fillmore ran on the party’s ticket in 1856, winning 21.5% of the popular vote. Declining after the 1856 elections, following the decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford its members splintered between the Republican Party and the Constitutional Union Party.