KNOW NOTHING. — Protestant association (“American Protective Association”), whose members swore always to answer “I don’t know” (“Non so”) to questions put to them by outsiders concerning the names of the other members or concerning the existence and activity of the association. The people therefore called the association K. N., and Knownothingism the movement that brought it about. Its official name, however, was “National Council of the United States of North America”; it was founded around 1850 by bringing together various already existing anti-Catholic organizations, such as the “American Republicans,” the “Order of United Americans,” “Sons of America,” and so on.
Its purpose was to oppose Irish-Catholic influence in American political life, since many Irish immigrants, having become American citizens, took an active part in politics. Accordingly, the statutes stated that the purpose of the association was to resist the insidious policy of the Church of Rome and foreign influences against American institutions (art. 2), and moreover that only Protestants could be members of the society (art. 3). At the time of admission, the candidate also had to swear not to vote for or support for public office anyone who was not Protestant and born in America. Before long, the association allowed itself to be carried away by its sectarian spirit into illegal acts and even acts of vandalism, such as the burning and destruction of churches and attacks on convents. The campaign of defamation against Archbishop G. Bedini, apostolic nuncio in Brazil, while visiting the United States, should also be recalled. Despite such excesses, the K. N. enjoyed broad support for some time, and was able to present candidates for the House of Representatives, for the Senate, and even one, M. Fillmore, for the presidency of the Republic (1856). The good sense of the people, however, did not take long to react. The deathblow was dealt to the K. N. by Fillmore’s defeat and the election of his opponent G. Buchanan. It disappeared completely some time later, with the election of A. Lincoln as president of the Republic. It was reborn, however, in 1891 under the name “American Protective Association” (A.P.A.), and the anti-Catholic campaign was resumed with the same purpose as that of the K. N., but with such vulgar calumnies—for example, the publication of a papal bull ordering the massacre of all the Protestants of the United States—as to make it ridiculous even in the eyes of Protestants themselves. After McKinley’s election (1897), which it had opposed, it gradually began to disappear, only to be reborn a few years later together with the K. N. Ku-Klux-Klan (v.).