Know Nothing

KNOW NOTHING. - Protestant association ("American Protective Association"), whose members swore an oath always to answer "I don't know" to questions put to them by outsiders concerning the names of other members or concerning the existence and activity of the association. The people therefore called the association K. N., and Knownothingism the movement that gave rise to it. Its official name, however, was "National Council of the United States of North America"; and it was founded around 1850, bringing together various anti-Catholic organizations already in existence, 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 of the Irish immigrants, having become American citizens, took an active part in politics. Therefore in its statutes it was 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 furthermore that only Protestants could be members of the society (art. 3). Moreover, at the moment of admission the candidate had to swear not to vote for nor to favor for public office anyone who was not a Protestant and born in America. Very soon the association allowed itself to be carried away by its sectarian spirit into illegal acts and even acts of vandalism, such as burning and destruction of churches and attacks on convents. The campaign of defamation against Archbishop G. Bedini, apostolic nuncio in Brazil, during a visit to the United States, should also be remembered. Despite such excesses, the K. N. for some time had widespread support, and was able to present candidates for representatives, for senators, 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 mortal blow was dealt to the K. N. with the defeat of Fillmore and with the election of his opponent G. Buchanan. It disappeared entirely 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 with the same purpose as the K. N. the anti-Catholic campaign was resumed, but with such vulgar calumnies, such as, 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 among Protestants themselves. After the election of McKinley (1897), which it had opposed, it began gradually to disappear, only to be reborn a few years later together with the K. N. in the second Ku-Klux-Klan (v.).

Camillo Crivelli