<P> The name "Know Nothing" originated in the semi-secret organization of the party . When a member was asked about his activities, he was supposed to reply "I know nothing". Outsiders called them "Know Nothings" and the name stuck . In 1855, the Know Nothings first entered politics under the American Party label . </P> <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>

What was the know nothing movement and how did it relate to the concept of nativism