<P> Historian Allan Nevins, writing about the turmoil preceding the American Civil War, states that Millard Fillmore was never a Know - Nothing nor a nativist . Fillmore was out of the country when the presidential nomination came and had not been consulted about running . Nevins further states that: </P> <P> (Fillmore) was not a member of the party; he had never attended an American (Know - Nothing) gathering . By no spoken or written word had he indicated a subscription to American (Party) tenets . </P> <P> After the Supreme Court's controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling in 1857, most of the anti-slavery members of the American Party joined the Republican Party . The pro-slavery wing of the American Party remained strong on the local and state levels in a few southern states, but by the 1860 election, they were no longer a serious national political movement . Most of their remaining members supported the Constitutional Union Party in 1860 . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> <Table> United States House of Representatives <Tr> <Th> Election year </Th> <Th> #of overall seats won </Th> <Th> + /--</Th> <Th> Presidency </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1844 </Th> <Td> 6 / 227 </Td> <Td> 6 </Td> <Td> James K. Polk </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1846 </Th> <Td> 1 / 230 </Td> <Td> 5 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1848 </Th> <Td> 1 / 233 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Zachary Taylor </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1850 </Th> <Td> 0 / 233 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Millard Fillmore </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1852 </Th> <Td> 0 / 234 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Franklin Pierce </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1854 </Th> <Td> 52 / 234 </Td> <Td> 52 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1856 </Th> <Td> 14 / 237 </Td> <Td> 38 </Td> <Td> James Buchanan </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1858 </Th> <Td> 6 / 238 </Td> <Td> 8 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1860 </Th> <Td> 0 / 239 </Td> <Td> 6 </Td> <Td> Abraham Lincoln </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> <Td> <Table> United States Senate <Tr> <Th> Election year </Th> <Th> #of overall seats won </Th> <Th> + /--</Th> <Th> Presidency </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1844 </Th> <Td> 0 / 58 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> James K. Polk </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1846 </Th> <Td> 0 / 60 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1848 </Th> <Td> 0 / 62 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Zachary Taylor </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1850 </Th> <Td> 0 / 62 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Millard Fillmore </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1852 </Th> <Td> 0 / 62 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Franklin Pierce </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1854 </Th> <Td> 1 / 62 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1856 </Th> <Td> 5 / 66 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> James Buchanan </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1858 </Th> <Td> 2 / 66 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 1860 </Th> <Td> 0 / 68 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Abraham Lincoln </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

What was the platform of the know-nothing party