The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-07-23
The Posts Popular Reading Cour
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES.
Copyrighted. 1900. by Seymour Eaton.)

A~..
ton upon the narrow basis AZ s.ss'
idea not vitally connected win
political principles.
"A,nerie""s" or "know-Noth,,.
A unique episode in our poIbl,''
tory Is the career OF the Ams,se
! know nothing party. 1t was
odth-bound, nameless order.-n.'
even TO its members until ,h
reached the higher degrees In ~,
Its nominations were made bv 3.
tons OF delegates from the yarlor. ~
secretly held and OF absolute Y.
authority upon all members OF N.
No public announcements vera 49,
to the candidates. Sometimes h-s
chosen from the most acceptabla
on the tickets OF the great nara.
the calculations of the party nv.
were often mysteriously bronss.
naught, and elections were decidss
surprising manner by an unkno~.
calculable force dreaded by both
and democrats.
! The causes OF the rise of thl, a..
order may be traced back almos, y
adoption OF the constitution. IN h'S
when the line of division betwssn :,
alists und republicans began Il
fected by the character ana .au..
the immigrants who came from rss
| Many Of these were exilos fron
own land as unfriendly to its goyarrs
They were naturally attracted
strongly to the republican or DAM.
party, and naturally also disposItls,
resent alien influence in American
itics gained strength among ths -
elists. The alien and sedltion law, n.
in 1898 by federalist congress n
trate this In 1885 to 1887 a revival !.
feeling against giving political Mas
power to foreigners was attemn,.,1
New York city, where the foreign -
lation Was growing rapidly. For 81
years the idea OF nativism as o,,,
TO alienism Inquired more or less n
and local politics in several sthts, Il
led to occasional violence and n
bloodshed at the polls. n
But it was not until about 1859 u
the sectional slavery agitation VI, II
coming serious, that partisan iesIon,,
foreign political influence. having as,..J
new form, began to tlke das,I
hand in party struggles. The secret 4.
was variously designated. The real M
is said to have been THE Sons !, n
or the order OF the Star-spanelea III
nef' but 1t has come down in hlsto,r
the American" party, or more N
lariy the "know-no things." beeauss
members wheL questioned gave n. \
variable reply, 81 don't know" Thu n
sought o1me ere long to be knoz,
the placing and keeping of all polll,|
power in the hands of native protes,]
Americans, and the making OF copo,tl
10 Roman catholicism an issue IN AM
can politics. Advocacy Of these M
pies was OF course strongest In the ~
party. for the democratic ranks were n
stantly swelled by newly naturaItzsd /,
migrants, many Of whom were Cath,s]
IN the formation OF the republican nal
IN 1886 those wings who were unwlll,r,
20 the length proposed by the leader:
me new party in hostility to slavery n
hothlng left for them bur. to unite with a
antl-allen party-whlch had by that NJ
accepted the name American.
1t was only in the Middle and Soutsr
states that the Americans ever acuvlt]
much strength. In The South. where N
i've fec4ng was strong and the forsl
element almost nil. 1t practically took \
pace or the whig party. Its first appsE
ance as a National party was In 1895, IN
d secret convention adopted an impoa
pa form and EN- open convention non
mated Willard Fillmore for president.
tHe election which followed the eight es
loral votes of Maryland were all u
went to the ambitious American pad
tHough the popular vote was S74,5Si. Old
more, III 1860, the Americans" went ii
the presidential campaign and then n
appeared, having shown, as Horace Gid
ley said, about as many of the elems
OF persistence as an anti-cholea or /
ahll-potato rot party would have"
Inc Liberty and Free-SoiI Partie,
The American Anti-Slavery society \
came divided abou. 1889 into two sectia
over the question OF political action. II
Garrlsonlan abolitionlsts refused to reed
ME or 10 have any relations with N
tlohal government whose consttutl1
made compromises with the iniqultal
system OF slavery. The more moderil
wing favored poliiical methods OF worh1
against the evil and urged the nomInatl1
aud support of abolitionists for office,
convention of these seeeders, as they vi1
caIAed, met at Albany in 1910, mani
themselves the liberty party and non
mated James G. Birney for the pre-
aehcy. Though he declined the hoa1
some 1000 votes were never ,heless cast /
MN at the election. In 1914 Birney Y
again the nominee of the liberty pil|
and received $1,000 votes-enough, 1t u
De remembered, to defeat Clay and Ell
Polk.
Though the liberty party held a conr,
tlon In lS47 and nominated candidates
polislcal conditions OF the next year /
duced the leaders to abandon the orgi1
cation and join with the barnburners
form the free soil party. The new pa|
held a convention at Buffalo. Their ca1
principle, as promulgated in the prean]
10 their long platform, was declared 70
the securing Of free soil to a free p'|
PIE and they avowed a determined "
UNITY to any further extension OF slafe1
me vote cast for the free soil candla7
was 2Bl,263, nearly all being from the y
states Both of the old parties were m'
or less surprised and demoralizsd, y
'he whig candidate was elected.
The compromises OF 1850 were relee'|
by the free sellers. and in 1852 they "
the name of free democracy" and noa|
mated John P, Hale and George ". JUN
Iheir platform denounced both wings
MEMORIALS as each one wing "of the W
slave compromise party Of the Nau0]
me vote polled was but little more W
nalt that OF the preceding campaign
BEFORE another presidential election y
wings and free sellers, or free democl'
mad disappeared from congress. The p"|
mas a history of only about FIVE years.
the end OF that time 1t helped to form |
republican party.
II ~
C<N<. NHo@1