<P> David T. Gleeson notes that many Irish Catholics in the South feared the arrival of the Know - Nothing movement portended a serious threat . He argues: </P> <Dl> <Dd> The southern Irish, who had seen the dangers of Protestant bigotry in Ireland, had the distinct feeling that the Know - Nothings were an American manifestation of that phenomenon . Every migrant, no matter how settled or prosperous, also worried that this virulent strain of nativism threatened his or her hard - earned gains in the South and integration into its society . Immigrants' fears were unjustified, however, because the national debate over slavery and its expansion, not nativism or anti-Catholicism, was the major reason for Know - Nothing success in the South . The southerners who supported the Know - Nothings did so, for the most part, because they thought the Democrats who favored the expansion of slavery might break up the Union . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> The southern Irish, who had seen the dangers of Protestant bigotry in Ireland, had the distinct feeling that the Know - Nothings were an American manifestation of that phenomenon . Every migrant, no matter how settled or prosperous, also worried that this virulent strain of nativism threatened his or her hard - earned gains in the South and integration into its society . Immigrants' fears were unjustified, however, because the national debate over slavery and its expansion, not nativism or anti-Catholicism, was the major reason for Know - Nothing success in the South . The southerners who supported the Know - Nothings did so, for the most part, because they thought the Democrats who favored the expansion of slavery might break up the Union . </Dd> <P> In 1855, the American Party challenged the Democrats' dominance . In Alabama, the Know Nothings were a mix of former Whigs, malcontented Democrats and other political misfits; they favored state aid to build more railroads . In the fierce campaign, the Democrats argued that Know Nothings could not protect slavery from Northern abolitionists . The Know Nothing American Party disintegrated soon after losing in 1855 . </P>

The know-nothing party was strong in all of the following places except