jan 1, 1851 - American, or Know Nothing Party forms

Description:

An anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political party formed in 1851 that arose in response to mass immigration in the 1840s, especially from Ireland and Germany. In 1854, the party gained control of the state governments of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

The new party drew primarily from former Whigs in the South and about equally from Whigs and Democrats in the North. Many northern Know-Nothings had an antislavery or free soil outlook.

Effects: this party and Stephen Douglas's (Illinois dem) proposal of a new application of popular sovereignty pushed the Whig party to collapse and the Union to fragment

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