to break down the Whig and Democratic parties. The following sympathetic account of the movement is a chapter from Thomas Whitney, A Defence of the American Policy, pp. 280-287, New York, 1856. CHAPTER XXII. THE "KNOW NOTHINGS" ORIGIN AND RISE OF THE ORDER-ITS MISSION THE vast organization which is at present so numerous and powerful in the United States, vulgarly denominated "Know Nothings," was originally conceived and planned by a gentleman of New York, who, singularly enough, had never been associated with any other American political organization, nor actively engaged with either of the political parties. As early as 1849 this gentleman prepared and systematized his plan for uniting the National sentiment of the American people, against the foreign and papal encroachments so frequently occurring and concentrating in the political atmosphere, and began, among his immediate friends, the work of recruiting members and co-workers. But after more than two years of persevering effort his associates numbered scarcely thirty, all told. In 1852, a few active members of the Order of United Americans were induced to examine this new plan. They found a society consisting of forty-three members. The general objects of the association were the same as those of the O. U. A., but the qualifications necessary to obtain membership were far more restrictive, and the appurtenances of secrecy more specific and stringent, and although the plan was somewhat incomplete in detail, and unadapted to the government of an expanded organization, extending over and ramifying all the States and territories of the Union, it yet presented one peculiar feature calculated to promote a rapid, if not a healthy growth. It cost nothing to acquire and hold membership. Having no beneficial feature to demand funds for charitable purposes, it required no such fund, and as the plan did not seem to contemplate any systematic or stated meetings, or even the sub-division of the Order into "Councils," no provision had been made for room-rent. No fees or dues whatever were charged upon the members, the whole system relying on voluntary contributions for its pecuniary support. The groundwork had been laid out for an immense army, with a general and staff at the head, but without companies, regiments, or even a commissariat. The first requisite was members, the next a more solid and consecutive system of organization. It was evident that the plan, once well organized, pruned, and adapted more strictly to the republican spirit of the people, would afford a powerful auxiliary in promoting and disseminating the theory and demands of the American policy. Immediate measures were taken to increase the membership, and for that purpose the Chapters of the Order of United Americans were prolific of material. Meetings of the new Order were held at various places, almost every evening, and at each meeting many were added to its membership. Committees were soon formed, with proper dispensations to initiate members, and thus, nightly, two or three of these committees were engaged in the work of recruiting, and in less than four months the membership amounted to about one thousand persons. A system of national, State, and subordinate, or local councils was adopted, and several other amendments perfected in accordance with the necessities of a wide-spread and numerous organization. The effect was immediately visible. Like a vast body of pent up waters when the floodgates have burst asunder, the membership poured forth in torrents: councils were founded in the several wards of the city, thence in the interior counties of the State. Soon after the order was planted in some of the adjoining States, and eventually in every State and territory under the jurisdiction of the United States. The organization of the order in the several States occurred in the following order. In New York, April 4, 1852. State Council formed, December 7, 1853. In New Jersey, April, 1853. State Council, November, 1853. In Maryland, May 22, 1853. State Council, October 14, 1853. In Massachusetts, September 6, 1853. State Council, October, 1853. In Pennsylvania, December 10, 1853. State Council, in spring of 1854. In Ohio, in the fall of 1853. In Washington, D. C., January 23, 1854. In New Hampshire, February 6, 1854. State Council, June, 1854. In Indiana, State Council formed, February, 1854. In Rhode Island, March, 1854. State Council, July 10, 1854. In Maine, March, 1854. State Council, July, 1854. In Alabama, State Council, April or May, 1854. In Illinois, May 25, 1854. State Council, June 18, 1854. In Delaware, State Council, October, 1854. In Florida, State Council, December, 1854. In Arkansas, State Council, December, 1854. In California, State Council, formed fall of 1854. In Louisiana. (In this State there are two organizations; the first was started early in 1854; this has been repudiated by the National Council as spurious. The second, which is recognized as legitimate, was organized in September, 1854.) In Oregon, September, 1854. In Minnesota, State Council, formed in May, 1855. In New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska the order was established during the spring and summer of 1855. Thus, in about three years from the organization of the first council in the city of New York, we find this extraordinary political society, not only established, but exerting a powerful influence in every State and territory of the whole Union, and numbering in its membership at least one and a half million of legal voters! And among its adherents -the open advocates and exponents of its principles, we find many of the brightest intelligences, the ablest statesmen, and the purest patriots of the land. The principles which actuated the order were precisely the principles which actuated the American party in 1834 and 1844, and the objects sought to be obtained by the order were the objects sought to be obtained by that party. The success of the experiment has proven conclusively that when the popular mind is left untrammelled by partisan influences, and free to exercise its own proper functions, away from the corrupting sophistry of the demagogue, the patriotic sentiment will prevail, and a stern, inflexible spirit of nationality will preponderate over the mercenary or factional demands of a mere party. The advent of this organization was most opportune for the peace of the country, and the maintenance of the Union of States. The old parties had already exhausted their legitimate resources of cohesion, and become effete, and their components were gradually dissolving into a sectional slime, whose stagnant and fetid odors would have been poisonous to the national health. Already the current of political fraternity had ceased to flow across the geographical line, dividing the Northern from the Southern States, and as a natural result of estrangement, sectional hostilities were being engendered in their most noxious form. National parties had ceased to exist, except pro forma, and the whole political blood of the country was running in adverse directions, the one portion into a channel of aggression upon the sovereignty of the States, and the other into that of disunion. The advent of the American organization opened a new avenue to intersectional harmony. It broke down the imaginary line of Mason and Dixon, and re-established political inter-communication between the North and the South; it stoutly declared against both of the opposing factions, and fearlessly stood forth the advocate of State sovereignty, and the foe of the spirit of disunion. 156. THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM OF 1856 Political Text Book for 1860, p. 22, New York, 1860. PLATFORM: THIS Convention of Delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present Administration, to the extension of Slavery into Free Territory; in favor of admitting Kansas as a Free State, of restoring the action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson, and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for the offices of President and VicePresident, do resolve as follows: Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution is essential to the preservation of our Republican Institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the Union of the States, shall be preserved. Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a self evident truth, that all men are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior designs of our Federal Government were, to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction; that, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished Slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing Slavery in any territory of the United States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery in any territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained. Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism -Polygamy and Slavery. Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United States was ordained and established by the people in order to form a more perfect. Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protection of the life, liberty and property of every citizen, the dearest constitutional rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and violently taken from them their territory has been invaded by an armed force — spurious and pretended legislative, judicial and executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the Government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforced — ... murders, robberies and arsons have been instigated and encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunishedthat all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction and procurement of the present Administration, and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Union and Humanity, we arraign the Administration, the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists and accessories, either before or after the facts, before the country and before the world, and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages, and their accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment hereafter. Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a State of the Union, with her present free Constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of the rights |