Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-310) and index.
Summary
Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party." Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.
These volumes are in the "library work room". They are not on the open shelves. However, there is an index on the open shelves. Its call number is 905.748 CHS Index. Patrons should consult the index first. If there is a volume that they want to see, the library attendant should pull the volume from the shelves in the "library work room".
Exploring Local Business History -- Learning the Internal History of a Business -- Developing the History of a Business in its Environment -- Local Business History:Internal Sources -- Local Business History: External Sources -- Presenting Local Business History.
compiled by Mary Dunn ; prepared for publication by Martin Reamy ; with a foreword by Jonathan R. Stayer of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
This index corresponds to the second edition of the Colonial Records. The LancasterHistory.org library has volumes 4-16 from the second edition. Volumes 1-3 are from the first edition, so the pagination is different from Dunn's references. Patrons can find the first three volumes online at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010447960.
