CHAPTER II.

THE NATIVE AMERICANS AND KNOW NOTHINGS.

(1835-1860.)

NATIVE AMERICANS.

During the early thirties the number of immigrants arriving was steadily and rapidly increasing. A large percentage of them were from Ireland and a correspondingly large percentage were Catholics. Catholicism in colonial days and in the early days of the States had been in disfavor. In several States legislation against the Catholic religion had been enacted. The Carolinas had a law preventing a Catholic from holding office, and New Hampshire had a similar provision in her constitution. With the influx of foreign Catholics a long dormant feeling of hostility toward them was aroused, and during this particular period of the agitation against the foreigner, antiCatholicism was the moving element.

The first actual anti-Catholic outbreak occurred in 1834, when the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown was burned.

This hostility next took the form of a political movement, and in 1835 there was a Nativist candidate for Congress in New York City; in the following year a Nativist, Samuel F. B. Morse, was there nominated for mayor. Out of a vote of 26,000 cast, he received about 1,500.

In other sections of the country the same sentiment was manifesting itself. In Germantown, Pa., and in Washington, D. C., in 1837 Nativist societies were formed. In Louisiana the movement was organized in 1839, and in 1841 a state convention was called. It was at this convention that the Native American Party, under the name of the American Republican Party, was established.

In Philadelphia in 1844 anti-Catholicism led to riots which lasted for three days, and the grand jury asserted that they were the result of "the efforts of a portion of the community to exclude the Bible from the public schools." Similar outbreaks were quite general throughout the country. In Washington a very large and respectable meeting composed of native Americans of all parties was held in the theater on Louisiana avenue on Tuesday evening July 11, 1837, upon a call of upward of 700 members, and a constitution was adopted and officers elected.

The principal articles of the constitution were as follows:

First. We bind ourselves to cooperate, by all lawful means, with our native citizens in the United States to procure a repeal of the naturalization law.

H. J. Desmond, The Know-Nothing Party, Am. Catholic Quarterly Review, Vo. XXVII, p. 752.

Niles Register, vol. 73, Aug. 5, 1837.

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Second. We will use all proper and reasonable means to exclude foreigners from enjoying the enrollment or honor of office, whether under the State or General Government.

Third. That we will not hold him guiltless of his country's wrong who, having the power, shall place a foreigner in office while there is a competent native willing to accept.

Fourth. That we will not in any manner whatever connect ourselves or be connected with the local politics of the country, nor aid, nor be the means of aiding, the cause of any politician or party whatsoever, but will exclusively advocate, stand to, and be a separate and distinct party of Native Americans, for the cause of the country, and upon the principles set forth in the above preamble and these articles.

Fifth. That we will not, in any manner whatever, connect ourselves or be connected with any religious sect or denomination, leaving every creed to its own strength and every man untrammeled in his own faith, adhering for ourselves to the sole cause of the natives, the establishment of a national character, and the perpetuity of our institutions through the means of our own countrymen. Sixth. That this association shall be connected with and form a part of such societies throughout the United States as may now or hereafter be established on the principles of our political creed.

In 1844 the " Order of United Americans was established in New York. The Republic," the organ of the society, says of it:

A band of patriots

* who will not slumber until the American people are reunited, renationalized, and the prosecuting spirit of foreign influence is driven effectively from among us.

In 1851 there were 54 chapters of this order in New York State, 13 in New Jersey, 3 in Connecticut, and 1 each in Massachusetts and California.

In 1845 the Nativist movement claimed 48,000 members in New York State, 42,000 in Pennsylvania, 14,000 in Massachusetts (a Nativist mayor in Boston), and 6,000 scattered through the other States. In Congress it had 6 Representatives from New York and 2 from Pennsylvania. The first national convention of Native Americans was held in Philadelphia in 1845; 141 delegates were present, and a national platform was adopted. In 1847 a convention was held at Pittsburg, and Zachary Taylor was indorsed for the Presidency, though no nominations were made. The chief demands of this convention were a repeal of the naturalization laws and the appointment of native Americans only to office. For a few years after 1847 the Mexican War, the attempt to extend slavery to the Territories, and the discovery of gold in California occupied the public attention, and not much was heard about the dangers of foreign immigration. . While these different societies were stronger in local politics than in national and were organized chiefly to aid in controlling local affairs, their few Representatives in Congress tried to make nativism a national question. As a result of their efforts, the Senate on the 4th of July, 1836, agreed to a resolution directing the Secretary of the Treasury to collect certain information regarding the immigration of foreign paupers and criminals. In the House on February 19, 1838, the following resolution was agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to consider the expediency of revising and so amending the laws on the subject of naturalizing foreigners as to require a longer term of residence in the United States previous to their admission to the rights of American citizenship, and greater checks and securities against frauds in the means and process of obtaining naturalization.

"The Republic, New York, Vol. I, p. 44.

Congressional Globe, Vol. II, p. 187 (25th Cong., 2d sess.).

Resolved, That the same committee be further instructed to consider the propriety and expediency of providing by law against the introduction into the United States of vagabonds and paupers deported from foreign countries, for whom no place of residence and means of employment and certain support for a reasonable time after arrival have been previously prepared, and requiring that the owners and masters of vessels by whom such persons shall be brought into the country shall be held liable for their relief if left in distress after being landed.

This resolution was referred to a select committee of seven members. They were Messrs. Hamer, of Ohio; Garland, of Virginia; Rhett, of South Carolina; Lincoln and Reed, of Massachusetts; Hoffman and Russell, of New York. The report of this committee was the result of the first congressional investigation of any question bearing upon immigration.

a

To this select committee were referred memorials of the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New York; Washington, Kings, and several other counties of New York State; that of the city of Boston; citizens of Sutton and Milbury, Mass.; that of the Native American Association, of the city of Washington; and several others from different States, praying for a repeal of the naturalization laws and the passage of a law preventing the immigration of paupers and criminals.

The complaints of the memorialists were that the number of emigrants from foreign countries was becoming so large that the peace and tranquillity of our citizens were being jeopardized, if not the permanency of the civil, religious, and political institutions of the United States; that many immigrants came from the poorhouses and penitentiaries, sent here at the expense of foreign Governments, and would necessarily become burdensome to our citizens, to the harm of our destitute and unfortunate citizens, and that many others were lunatics.

The committee sent inquiries to the mayors of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans, and to presidents of Native American associations in New York and the District of Columbia. The questions asked concerned the number of immigrants arriving at the different cities, from what country they came, what proportion were paupers; who paid their transportation; was there any particular class of foreigners coming into the United States which was dangerous to her institutions; are any frauds practiced in securing naturalization papers; and what proportion of the inhabitants of poorhouses are foreigners.

Answers to these inquiries were received from the Native American associations of New York and Washington, and from the mayors of Boston and New York. Thus, it is evident that the information used was very partisan, Boston and New York being strongholds of the antiforeign movement. The committee contained four Members from New York and Massachusetts, and their report was the one submitted. The two southern Members and the Member from Ohio. did not concur.

Naturally this partisan committee saw in these replies a combination of facts which demanded the attention of the people. They recommended immediate legislative action, not only by Congress, but

• Report No. 1040, Twenty-fifth Congress, 2d sess.

also by many of the States, so that the existing evils could be remedied and impending calamities averted.

One of the interesting recommendations of the Native American Association of Washington was that a system of consular inspection be instituted, a plan that in recent years has been repeatedly recommended to Congress. Their plan was to make the immigrant, upon receiving his passport from the consul, pay a tax of $20. The committee, however, did not include this provision in the bill it introduced. The bill presented on recommendation of the committee provided that any master taking on board his vessel, with the intention of transporting to the United States, any alien passenger who was an idiot, lunatic, maniac, or one afflicted with any insurable disease, or anyone convicted of an infamous crime, should be fined $1,000 or be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than three. It was further provided that the master should forfeit $1,000 for each alien brought in who had not the ability to maintain himself.

That Congress would not consider even this bill indicates that notwithstanding the agitation of the time the general sentiment was in favor of immigration. Representative Beatty, of Pennsylvania, remarking on the report and bill as presented, termed the doctrine 22 monstrous. During the next ten years no attempt was made to secure legislation against the foreigner.

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What was undoubtedly the real sentiment of the country toward immigration at that period was expressed by President Tyler in his message to Congress June 1, 1841. He said:

The old States contain a territory sufficient to maintain a population of additional millions, and the most populous of the new States may even yet be regarded as but partially settled, while of the new lands on this side of the Rocky Mountains, to say nothing of the immense region which stretches from the base of those mountains to the mouth of the Columbia River, about 770,000,000 acres, ceded and unceded, still remains to be brought into market. We hold out to the people of other countries an invitation to come and settle among us as members of our rapidly growing family, and for the blessings which we offer them we require of them to look upon our country as their country and unite with us in the great task of preserving our institutions and thereby perpetuating our liberties.

As a consequence of the sudden and great increase of foreign immigration caused by certain political and economical disturbances in Europe between 1848 and 1850, the old dread of the foreigner was revived, and in the early fifties the Native Americans again became active. The new, like the earlier movement, was closely associated with the anti-Catholic propaganda. The new organization assumed the form of a secret society. It was organized probably in 1850 in New York City, and in 1852 it was increased in membership by drawing largely from the old-established Order of United Americans. Its meetings were secret, its indorsements were never made openly, and even its name and purpose were said to be known only to those who reached the highest degree. Consequently the rank and file when questioned about their party were obliged to answer, "I don't know," so they came to be called "Know Nothings."

a H. R. 873, Twenty-fifth Congress, second session.