<P> The immigration of large numbers of Irish and German Catholics to the United States in the period between 1830 and 1860 made religious differences between Catholics and Protestants a political issue . Violence occasionally erupted at the polls . Protestants alleged that Pope Pius IX had put down the failed liberal Revolutions of 1848 and that he was an opponent of liberty, democracy and republicanism . One Boston minister described Catholicism as "the ally of tyranny, the opponent of material prosperity, the foe of thrift, the enemy of the railroad, the caucus, and the school". These fears encouraged conspiracy theories regarding papal intentions of subjugating the United States through a continuing influx of Catholics controlled by Irish bishops obedient to and personally selected by the Pope . </P> <P> In 1849, an oath - bound secret society, the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, was created by Charles B. Allen in New York City . At its inception, the Order of the Star Spangled Banner only had about 36 members . Fear of Catholic immigration led to a dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party, whose leadership in many cities included Catholics of Irish descent . Activists formed secret groups, coordinating their votes and throwing their weight behind candidates sympathetic to their cause: </P> <P> Immigration during the first five years of the 1850s reached a level five times greater than a decade earlier . Most of the new arrivals were poor Catholic peasants or laborers from Ireland and Germany who crowded into the tenements of large cities . Crime and welfare costs soared . Cincinnati's crime rate, for example, tripled between 1846 and 1853 and its murder rate increased sevenfold . Boston's expenditures for poor relief rose threefold during the same period . </P> <P> In spring 1854, the Know Nothings carried Boston, Salem and other New England cities . They swept the state of Massachusetts in the fall 1854 elections, their biggest victory . The Whig candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, editor Robert T. Conrad, was soon revealed as a Know Nothing as he promised to crack down on crime, close saloons on Sundays and to appoint only native - born Americans to office--he won by a landslide . In Washington, D.C., Know Nothing candidate John T. Towers defeated incumbent Mayor John Walker Maury, causing opposition of such proportion that the Democrats, Whigs and Freesoilers in the capital united as the "Anti-Know - Nothing Party". In New York, in a four - way race the Know Nothing candidate ran third with 26% . After the 1854 elections, they claimed to have exerted decisive influence in Maine, Indiana, Pennsylvania and California, but historians are unsure due to the secrecy as all parties were in turmoil and the anti-slavery and prohibition issues overlapped with nativism in complex and confusing ways . They helped elect Stephen Palfrey Webb as Mayor of San Francisco and J. Neely Johnson as Governor of California . Nathaniel P. Banks was elected to Congress as a Know Nothing candidate, but after a few months he aligned with Republicans . A coalition of Know Nothings, Republicans and other members of Congress opposed to the Democratic Party elected Banks to the position of Speaker of the House . </P>

Who were the know nothings and what did they want