In The Flow of Time – August 13, 2024
Ah, history, she can teach a thing or two…
I doubt this event will make it into the story, but… it is instructional. We flash back to June 2 1858, the Know Nothing “riot” in New Orleans. Armed men under the command of Capt. J.K. Duncan, an officer in the United States Army, marched to Jackson Square and occupied the court rooms in the Cabildo. For the next five days, a standoff existed between the city government and members of the Native American Party (the Know Nothings). There was an election coming up, and Voter Fraud!!!! On June 7 the Native American Party candidate won the election for New Orleans mayor.
The Native American Party (or simply the American party) got their popular name because when questioned, the standard answer was “I know nothing.” They were populist, nativist, xenophobic, Protestant (no Catholics). The primary motivation behind them was fear of German and Irish immigrants, the Romanist conspiracy. The Papists were going to take over the country. (I swear to god I bet someone said they were emptying their prisons and asylums, not sending their very best.)
Catholicism is “the ally of tyranny… the enemy of the railroad, the caucus, and the school.” There were riots, church burnings….
“At its height in the 1850s, the Know Nothing party, originally called the American Party, included more than 100 elected congressmen, eight governors, a controlling share of half-a-dozen state legislatures from Massachusetts to California, and thousands of local politicians. Party members supported deportation of foreign beggars and criminals; a 21-year naturalization period for immigrants; mandatory Bible reading in schools; and the elimination of all Catholics from public office. They wanted to restore their vision of what America should look like with temperance, Protestantism, self-reliance, with American nationality and work ethic enshrined as the nation’s highest values.”
We all know what REALLY goes on in convents… So they started an investigation into the widespread sexual immorality among the nuns. Turns out, the key reformer was using committee funds to pay for sex.
Does ANY of this sound the least bit familiar? Anti-immigrant? Mass deportations? Wrapped in the flag? Traditional “American” values? Mandatory Bible reading? Bullshit investigations? Threats of violence? The Know Nothings are often considered among the laughing stock of American history. They were not. Know-nothing hatred has a long history.
Learn more about the nativists here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/immigrants-conspiracies-and-secret-society-launched-american-nativism-180961915/
