No Foreign Despots on Southern Soil: The Know-Nothing Party in Alabama, 1850-1857

Abstract

No Foreign Despots on Southern Soil:The Know-Nothing Party in Alabama, 1850-1857 Robert Farrell (bio) On july 28, 1851, samuel f. rice announced his candidacy for Alabama's Seventh Congressional District.1 Instead of representing one of the established political parties, however, Rice ran as a "southern rights" candidate, demanding that Alabama immediately secede from the Union because, he believed, an abolitionist spirit dominated northern voters.2 The federal government no longer benefited the South, Rice argued, and southerners could not hope to protect their property, especially their slaves, from northern abolitionists. Secession, he insisted, should occur as soon as possible.3 Though Rice lost his bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851, he found a new political home four years later in in a budding nativist political party. Samuel F. Rice provides a case study for the American or "Know-Nothing" Party in Alabama.4 Like many Know-Nothings, he desired an alternative to existing political parties because he was convinced that the Whigs and Democrats encouraged abolitionism to grow in [End Page 99] the United States by extending the right to vote to immigrants and foreign-born Catholics.5 Rice sarcastically argued: If our opponents are correct in their high estimate of foreigners, why do they not at once reduce the period for naturalization from five years to one year, or one month, and import without delay enough of them to vote down the Abolition party, and to deliver the South and the republic from all troubles and dangers? If foreigners are indeed the friends of slavery and of Southern Rights, they ought to be brought over the ocean speedily and in large quantities, for they are needed.6 By 1855, Rice and other Alabama Know-Nothings maintained that the American Party's focus on the dangers of foreign influence provided the most effective way to curb abolitionist power in America. By restricting foreign influences, the South could successfully destroy abolitionist fanaticism and remain within the Union. In taking this position, Rice demonstrated the importance of nativism to the success of the American Party in Alabama.7 Reflecting existing nativist cultural values, such as anti-Catholic sentiments, Alabama Know-Nothings embodied broader conservative trends already existing within the South.8 Political nativism in Alabama, however, demonstrated different priorities than northern Know-Nothing policies. Southerners emphasized anti-foreign ideology more than anti-Catholic prejudice when crafting public policies. While anti-Catholic bias certainly existed in the South as an acceptable cultural value, it proved dangerous to Know-Nothing political aspirations because of southerners' insistence on maintaining [End Page 100] a strict constructionist application of the Constitution.9 Moreover, states' rights ideology profoundly shaped Know-Nothing attitudes towards immigration policies in Alabama more so than the ideology shaped the party's northern counterpart. Know-Nothing policies proved attractive to Democrats as well as former Whigs. While most southern Know-Nothings originally belonged to the Whig Party, a realistic possibility existed for a new political alliance between Know-Nothings and secessionist "Fire-Eaters" based on nativist ideology.10 The American Party and Fire-Eaters [End Page 101] shared philosophical outlooks regarding the role of foreign-born Catholics and immigrants in American politics. Furthermore, during the mid-1850s, Fire-Eaters and moderate Democrats were divided over the timing and necessity of secession.11 Internal divisions within the Democratic Party and philosophical similarities between Know-Nothings and Fire-Eaters threatened Democratic hegemony in the South. In response, Alabama Democrats attempted to portray their party as more faithful to conservative political and cultural values. To solidify their claim as the most conservative party, southern Democrats in Alabama radicalized their ideology concerning states' rights and slavery. While southern Democrats had been willing to compromise on slavery before 1850, they became increasingly unwilling to do so, hoping to ensure Fire-Eater support in state elections. Thus, the Democratic Party in Alabama became increasingly unwilling to compromise on slavery due to their political battles with southern nativists, which contributed to secession and the outbreak of the Civil War. These intra-state political battles and cultural tensions demonstrate the importance of the Know-Nothing Party in Alabama and national politics. The American...