Title: American Party | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: Know-Nothing Party
Know-Nothing Party
Know-Nothing Party
Nativism
From secret group to national party
Rise and fall
Know-Nothing Party
KNOW-NOTHING PARTY
further readings
American Party
AMERICAN PARTY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Know-Nothing Party
KNOW-NOTHING PARTY
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Content: Because of the rapid influx of immigrants, the nation's population doubled in size every twenty to twenty-five years for most of the nineteenth century. Cities on the East Coast were transformed as hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived. Though the newcomers would quickly rise in the ranks of American society, many began life in the United States in terrible poverty. Nativism
Americans whose families had lived in the United States for a few generations often were hostile to the new immigrants. Uneasy about their own futures, native-born workers feared that the immigrants would work in poor conditions at extremely low wages, and this would endanger the jobs and wages of long-time (American-born) workers. Adding to the hostility were misunderstandings about the new immigrants’ religious faiths—many were Catholics or, later, Jews—and their unfamiliar cultural customs. ( See Catholicism and Jewish immigration .) Nativism , the policy of favoring native-born citizens over immigrants, increased as the immigrant population grew. Irish Catholics were often the target of nativism and discrimination. Nativists called for laws to prevent immigrants and minorities from competing for their jobs or gaining political power.