Know-Nothings

Cultural  

1. A party opposed to the holding of public office by immigrants or Roman Catholics. The Know-Nothings, also known as “nativists,” insisted that only true, “native” Americans should serve in the government. The party was quite successful in the 1850s but split over the slavery question. Its official name was the American party. It picked up the “Know-Nothing” tag because its members, maintaining secrecy about the party's activities, customarily answered questions with, “I know nothing.”

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Today, the term know-nothing is usually applied to bigots.

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Know-Nothings

By the late 1850s, because he had been claimed by the Know-Nothings for their own, Brother Jonathan was no longer a viable national symbol.

From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2022

The resulting backlash took the form of a new political party, officially the American Party, better known by its nickname, the Know-Nothings.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 15, 2019

Spreading rapidly across the North after 1853, the Know-Nothings often stunned established leaders by routing conventional candidates with massive blocs of votes delivered without warning to political unknowns.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

First the Know-Nothings, or American party, whose xenophobia and anti-Catholicism got them elected in droves in New England in the early 1850s.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2017

The candidate for Governor nominated by the Republicans at Worcester, himself joined the Know-Nothings, and labored to defeat his own election.

From Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 by Hoar, George Frisbie