Full Citation
Title: AMERICAN ECONOMIC ANXIETY AND THE KNOW-NOTHING PARTY
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2021
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: We study the contribution of economic conditions to the success of the first avowedly nativist political party in the United States. The Know-Nothing Party gained control of a number of state governments in the 1854-1856 elections running on a staunchly anti-Catholic and anti-Irish platform. Our analysis focuses on the case of Massachusetts, which had experienced a wave of Irish Famine immigration and was at the forefront of industrialization in the United States. Voters in towns with more exposure to Irish labor market crowdout and deskilling in manufacturing were more likely to vote for Know-Nothing candidates in state elections. These economic shocks have both explanatory and outcome significance. These two forces played a decisive role in the 1855, and accounted for 19-30% of Know-Nothing votes in the 1854-56 elections. We find evidence of reduced wealth accumulation for native workers most exposed to labor market crowd-out and deskilling, though this was tempered by occupational upgrading. The Know-Nothings lost power in 1857 to the abolitionist Republicans as the crisis over slavery came to a head, culminating in the Civil War.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Alsan, Marcella; Eriksson, Katherine; Niemesh, Gregory
Publisher:
Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other, Poverty and Welfare
Countries: