Nativist poster

Maryland Historical Society

Nativism in America refers to a nation-wide movement based on hostility to Catholics and immigrants that was especially virulent in the city of Baltimore during the 1850s. Originally defined by anthropologists as a conscious effort to protect disappearing aspects of a traditional culture, in Baltimore nativism emerged as a powerful political and social movement. It grew in importance as Irish Catholics and Germans flooded into the city. By the 1850s nativism as promoted by the Know Nothing Party controlled the city.

Nativism in the 1840s
Often dated from the 1850s, organized opposition to immigrants and Catholics began in the 1840s with the creation of a newspaper, the Baltimore Clipper, and the formation of the American Republican Party. Both advocated extending the naturalization period for immigrants, reserving public offices for only the native-born, restricting the influence of Roman Catholics in politics and in schools, and regenerating the city's political life. Protestant ministers also preached the nativist message that foreigners were corrupting the city. From their pulpits they criticized Roman Catholicism in general and the Pope in particular for trying to take over America.

During this decade several secret societies such as the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Order of the United American Mechanics were organized. Their members circulated supposed exposés of the Catholic Church like Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures and Andrew Cross's Priest Prisons for Women. Both were lurid fictional accounts of rape and illegitimacy among priests and nuns, but they sold well in places like William S. Crowley's bookstore on East Baltimore Street, a mecca for the city's nativists.

The economic environment during these decades also encouraged the rise of nativism. By 1850 20 percent of Baltimore's population of 170,000 was foreign-born and that year 12,009 so-called "alien passengers" landed in the city from foreign ports. Many of these immigrants left the city to settle elsewhere, but some remained. To the natives, it seemed as if foreigners speaking strange languages with peculiar customs were taking over their jobs and their city. The organization of Catholic institutions such as Loyola College in Maryland in 1853 and the building of new churches as well as schools threatened Protestants. The latter were incensed when a Catholic delegate introduced a bill in the legislature to share public funds with parochial schools and when Catholics demanded the use of their Douay Bible in public schools attended by Catholics.

Political Nativism in the 1850s
In response, in the early 1850s Baltimoreans formed a new political organization called the American Party that sought to reform party politics and in their slogan, keep America for the Americans. They were not alone. Other cities in the United States with substantial Catholic minorities such as Boston, Louisville, and New Orleans also transformed what had been a prejudice and a conviction into a political party. The party was promptly nicknamed the Know-Nothing Party because when asked about their organization party members responded "We know nothing." Their roots had been in the secret societies of urban working-class males, especially in the Know-Nothing Order. But soon nativism appealed to all classes.

In 1854 Baltimoreans elected Samuel Hinks the eighteenth mayor of their city. For the next five years until they divided over issues of slavery and southern secession, the Know-Nothings ruled the city council and elected two mayors. In 1855 Baltimoreans elected nativists to every one of the city's ten seats in the Maryland House of Delegates, and to its seat in the state senate. Meanwhile the state as a whole elected a Know-Nothing governor, Thomas H. Hicks. In 1856 with the help of large majorities from Baltimore, Maryland was the only state in the Union to support the Know-Nothing presidential candidate Millard Fillmore. Despite their brief control in the state legislature, delegates were unable to pass their program extending the naturalization period.

The era of nativist control in Baltimore has often been associated with violence and intimidation at the polls. Frequently physical conflict took place on election days between Democratic and Know-Nothing clubs, both of whom were responsible for the violations. In 1857 the Know-Nothings threatened Democrats in Baltimore's First Ward with a cannon. Both Democrats and Know Nothings continued to take guns and knives to the polls and to use them. This inter-party violence led to over ten deaths and 150 injuries in the 1856 election; only the onset of the Civil War ended the violence. By the end of the 1850's concerns over slavery and secession replaced concerns over immigration, though the desire of a border city to avoid a civil war was one reason for the original popularity of the Know-Nothings. By 1859 a reform administration took over in the city. The secrecy that had helped the nativists earlier was not compatible with the openness required of a political party.

Baker, Jean H. Ambivalent Americans: The Know-Nothing Party in Maryland. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.

Billington, Ray. The Protestant Crusade, 1800-1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1938.

Overdyke, W. Darrell. The Know Nothing Party in the South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1950.

Schmeckebier, Laurence. History of the Know-Nothing Party in Maryland. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1899.