Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-03-19
The Rise and Fall of Know.
Nothingism.

IncaIonS OF 1nat natura
impulsivencss and caprice, which ar,
thought by some wrong headed politica
economists to disqualify the FRENCH,PROP.
ulace for selfgovernment, have been oc
casionally illustrated in the political va
carries of''the universal Yankee nation
But these popular whims have always
been as short-lived in duration as they
were destitute of correct political data
and sound moral basis. The ~organiza.
tons to which they have given birth
have always self-contained the germ Of
speedy dissolution. Hence, we may
safely conclude that no policy will ever
be permanently engrafted upon our in
stitutions, the principles of which arc
not strictly in accordance with the orig
nal theory of universal liberation and
equality upon which our system Of gov
ernment is based.
Subsequent to the election of 1852, a
party suddenly sprang up, which, under
various absurd pretexts, proposed to
change in a very essential manner, those
conditions which constitute the impor-
tant franchise of citizenship of the Uni
ted States and under which their popu-
lation has been steadily advancing in
enterprise, general intelligence and pro-
ductive idustry. No actually existing
evils were pointed out in justification of
this change, but all the reasons advanc-
cd for it were events anticipated, fanci-
full, and prospective in their operation.
Yet such was the popular frenzy excited
by the description and contemplation of
these imaginary political calamities,
which, contrary to precedent, common
sense and analogy, were to spring from
the liberation, as American citizens, of
foreign-born subjects, that the question
for a time apparently overshadowed all
other political issues; and old party dis
tinctions, based upon vital and practi-
cal principles, were, to a considerable
extent, lost sight of and obliterated.-
The combined opposition to the Demo-
crazy, and even a bewiidered portion of
the Democracy itself, at once rallied un-
der this fanatical standard, and the un-
compromising adherents of the Consti-
tuition were Frustrated again and again
in the State elections which succeeded
the advent of the present National Ad-
m~inistration- But wherever the new
party triumphed, it invoked the the most
unti-repubiiean means for the attainment
of its questionable ends; it substituted
the machinery of secret organization
and midnight conclaves for the honora-
BILE code of open party warfare; it ap-
pealed to the passions, the national pre-
JUDGES and religious bigotry of its par
sans; and its successful carer in most
of our large cities was marked by frauds
upon the ballot, compulsive or merccnc-
ry suffrage, personal violence, riots and
bloodshed.
The present administration, with I'M
bending integrity aut fidelity to princi-
pie, set its face like a flint against the
Rcrnicious doctrines which threatened to
destroy MISUNDERSTANDING of republican
society, and substitute in its place an.
aristocracy of birth and religion. The
Democracy signalized its opposition to
them as a fundamental article of its par
ty creed; its champions took issue with
them before the people, and exposed the
rottenncss and unconstitutionality of
the whole scheme. AT length the hon
est portion of the Know Nothing party
began to see the delusion of which they
had been made the victims, and to real
ize' the folly of cooperating in a scheme
concocted merely for the aggrandizement
of leaders with whose demagogueism and
incapacity they were becoming thorough
ly Disguised. Sectional issues crept in
and divided its councils, overthrowing
the system of strict subordination by
which the national organization was
bound together and harmony of action
secured. Soon, State after State threw
Of their allegiance to the divided house,
and either returned to old party ties or
adopted ney issues; and finally the late
Presidential election gave the finishing
stroke, or corp dc grace, to the decayed
body polite which had fingered out thus
far an inglorious and miserable exis-
teace.
At the present day, but little more
than three years from The origin of this
movement, and less than two from its
eliminating point, Know Nothingism
exists but as a political myth, an obso-
lete idea. Wherever, in any of the
States, its adherents still retain the po-
litical ~ascendency, it is by virtue of 9TH
er issues to which this is merely secon-
Diary or incidental. The fragments Of
its ~stupendous organization may be
found, here and there, scattered over the
land, in a few isolated lodges, which,
FROM local causes, have survived the