Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1994

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

History

Major Professor

Paul H. Bergeron

Committee Members

James C. Cobb, John Muldowny, William H. Shurr, Bruce Wheeler

Abstract

Scholars of the 1850s have focused their attention on national or state issues which fostered the development of sectionalism and disunion. Political parties which operated beyond the mainstream of national partisan rivalries have usually been treated as episodes peripheral to the national story. Consequently, the American party, despite its electoral success and goal to become a national party, usually has received only cursory treatment. More recently, some historians have begun to reassess the American party in terms of the socio-economic changes which distinguished the 1840s and 1850s. While these studies have improved our understanding of the American party in general, they address the party only within the limited scope of northern political institutions. To broaden this limited perspective and underscore the complexity of Know Nothingism, this study examines the development of the American party within the unique framework of southern municipal politics, and more specifically, in the context of four southern port cities: Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah. Focusing on the actions of the Know Nothing press, municipal officials affiliated with the American party, and their Democratic opposition, one can determine the extent to which the movement influenced southern politics in the 1850s. Examination of Know Nothing development in these cities reveals that in each community the party responded to local circumstances and created a hybridized form of the national movement. American party spokesmen also adopted the nativist, Unionist, and reform-oriented principles of their counterparts in the North. Introduction of Know Nothingism in the municipal political arena energized the local electorate and increased voter turnout for both the American and Democratic parties. Although the American party's popularity in these cities reveals that many residents were dissatisfied with the existing political order and were distressed over the more troublesome socio-economic problems of the day, the movement's failure reflected heightened concern over antislavery sentiment and the rapid expansion of the Republican party. Ultimately, association of Know Nothingism with the advent of Republicanism in the North galvanized public opinion against the movement and heralded the rapid demise of the American party as a force in southern politics.

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