A political movement fueled by the hate and fear of unabashed bigotry.
Its members strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church. The majority of white Americans followed Protestant faiths. Many of these people feared Catholics because members of this faith followed the teachings of the Pope. The Know-Nothings feared that the Catholics were more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. More radical members of the Know-Nothing Party believed that the Catholics intended to take over the United States of America. The Catholics would then place the nation under the Pope's rule. The Know-Nothing Party intended to prevent Catholics and immigrants from being elected to political offices. Its members also hoped to deny these people jobs in the private sector, arguing that the nation's business owners needed to employ true Americans.
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/...
Read that again but replace the anti-Catholicism with Islamophobia.
Some say that the Tea Party Republicans are a resurgence of the anti-government Militia Movement of the 1990s, or the John Birch Society of the 1960s, or even the very last remnants of the Southern Confederates.
They claim to be the inheritors of the revolutionaries that fought for independence (they are more Tory than Yankee, but that is for another post).
Most strikingly, today's Tea-Baggers resemble yesterday's Know-Nothings.
Then: I know nothing but my Country, my whole Country, and nothing but my whole Country.
Now: I want my country back.
Emerging from the failing Whig Party, the Know-Nothings were extreme and eventually violent.
The Know-Nothing party was an outgrowth of the strong anti-immigrant and especially anti-Roman Catholic sentiment that started to manifest itself during the 1840s. A rising tide of immigrants, primarily Germans in the Midwest and Irish in the East, seemed to pose a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans. In 1849 the secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner formed in New York City, and soon after lodges formed in nearly every other major American city.
http://www.britannica.com/...
A movement that wrapped itself up in the flag, the Bible, xenophobia, racial supremacy and the false sense of entitlement to political power in a changing nation.
Citizen Know Nothing (may have been related to "Joe the Plumber")
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The majority of Know-Nothings came from middle and working-class backgrounds. These people feared competition for jobs from immigrants coming to the United States. Critics of this party named it the Know-Nothing Party because it was a secret organization. Its members would not reveal the party's doctrines to non-members. Know-Nothings were to respond to questions about their beliefs with, "I know nothing." The Know-Nothing Party adopted the American Party as its official name in 1854. The Know-Nothing Party quickly grew in popularity in the North, where most recent immigrants to the United States resided. In 1854, Know-Nothing candidates even won control of the Massachusetts legislature.
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/...
Sounds like the anti-Mexican hysteria along the southern border doesn't it?
The movement fostered an environment of blatant anti-Irish Catholic bigotry. A hate so powerful that it lingered well into the Kennedy presidency.
Their symbols were strongly nationalistic.
So what happened to the Know-Nothings? As the nation was tearing itself apart over the issue of slavery so was this emerging party. On the eve of the Civil War most went on to join a new political party, the Republicans.
http://www.novelguide.com/...
Even though the political movement disappeared into the Republican Party, its hateful spirit was rekindled within the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War.
Today's Tea Party movement is not new or novel. It represents a vein of fear, hate and resentment that has existed with humanity since the beginning. No one should be surprised that the Republicans, without any new ideas or vision, fell into it. After all, fear and hate are the paths of least resistance.