History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 23

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Indiana > History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916 > Part 23

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of independent thought, cramped perhaps by religious and other teachings not in accordance with the requirements of true Democracy. Heterogeneous elements, un- fair aspirations and furious passions may apparently threaten, but the "genius of true Democracy will arise and restore calm. It is ideal to say that inexperienced people must first be educated to self-gov- ernment. To this sophistry the fathers of this Republic oppose the noble doctrine that liberty is the best school for liberty, ." In this vein he continued, resting his case not on the emotional side of his heartfelt plea, but moving step by step through the rational and judicial aspects of a great cause on which rests the per- petuity of our institutions.

The wonderful appeal did not fail in its mission. He carried conviction and faith into the minds and hearts of his listeners, and proved that lofty ideals have their place in the plain business of popular legis- lation and statecraft. He likewise struck a blow at intolerance that has made it easier since to speak a kind word for the humble and the neglected. That a larger life, politically speaking, has grown from these practical precepts is evident on all sides. As the spirit of Know-Nothingism may never for long raise its head from the shadows to which it has been relegated, it still behooves us all to share the vigils of the true patriot who seeks above all to cultivate the spirit of tolerance and fair play in the land in which it can above all others be preserved inviolate for all time.

In Indiana Know-Nothingism took deep root for a time. To the credit of the Democratic leaders generally be it said, few of them faltered when this intolerant crusade was at fever heat. David Turpie gives this interesting account of what hap- pened during that trying period :

"Although not a candidate in 1854, yet I was an active participant in the canvass then made, as in all the campaigns from 1848 onward. The opposition was at this

time called the People's party, but the nominations, the active organization and movements of the party, were all con- trolled by clandestine association within its lines, known as the Order of Native Americans, commonly called Know-Noth- ings. Our canvass was made upon the principles of the Democratic platform as then announced. Our majorities in 1852 had been large and general; there was ap- parently no violent opposition to the course of our administration at Washing- ton, and on the face of things success seemed probable. The public campaign of our opponents was a mere pretense; it dealt to some extent with current issues, but disclosed nothing of their real designs and policy. We felt, as the canvass pro- ceeded, that there was something ajar in popular opinion, a subdued though quite an active commotion, but we were unable to divine its causes or to locate its effects. It became known from various sources that there were numerous defections from our ranks, and it was surmised that these made additions to the lodges of native Americans, which sprang into existence on every side, yet the personnel of these converts was known only to the brother- hood of the order, which, in its first obligation, bound the new member to con- ceal and deny his membership. It was not until after the election that we learned with certainty the aims and objects of this wide-spread combination.

"The result of the election in October, 1854, afforded us a good deal of informa- tion, and much more chagrin. A tidal wave of great force and rapidity had swept over our former constituencies. It had submerged the highest and dryest places in the political reserves; it had scorned calculation, laughed at prediction and tossed aside apportionments like chaff before the whirlwind. We were beaten on the State ticket, in the Legislature, in al- most two-thirds of the counties, and if there had been anything else to lose we should have lost it.

"When, however, the Legislature met, which had been elected by these methods, when it had enacted the Maine law and other statutes quite as obnoxious to the people of the State, a reaction set in and the ebb became as swift and strong as the flood had been in their favor. Both Whigs and Democrats abandoned their connec- tion with the order, revealed and de-

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nounced its hidden dogmas and designs, which now were made public and no- torious.

"This movement had commenced in hos- tility to the Roman Catholic church, but soon comprised all foreign-born and nat- uralized citizens in its proscription. Catholics were to be subject to a special test oath of allegiance, and foreign-born citizens must reside twenty-one years in the United States before their admittance to the franchise; offices of trust and profit were to be held only by native-born Amer- icans; all other citizens were to be ex- cluded by law as ineligible. Americans must rule America. The passions and prejudices of mankind were inflamed to the highest degree by the most incredible rumors, circulated in the occult councils of the lodges. This led to many acts of brutal violence, and the scenes of bloody Monday, a frightful day of massacre and burnings, were heralded as a victory at the polls of true-born Americans against the rule of foreigners and aliens.

"The Democratic party immediately assailed and denounced this policy of ex- clusion, appealing to that liberal and generous spirit of the people which, from the beginning, had been so often shown in the legislation of our State. This appeal was not made in vain. Our success in In- diana in 1856 was even more complete than it had been in 1852; it resulted in the final overthrow of those influences of bigotry and persecution which had, by their stealthy approach, acquired for a brief period an apparent ascendancy.

"The prominent figure in the great cam- paign against Know-Nothingism was Lieutenant-Governor Ashbel P. Willard. He was a wonderfully gifted orator. Before a popular audience his good humor was invariable. Neither ques- tion, interruption nor contradiction caused him the least annoyance; calmly he awaited the proper moment, swiftly de- livered his answer or retort-the assailant vanished. With this constancy of self- control he was not otherwise lacking in emotion or sensibility; indeed, to use the phrase of the good people of that day, he was known to be uncommonly tender- hearted. The opposition made the objec- tion to his selection as Governor that he would empty every cell in the penitentiary ; that he could not resist importunity nor repel the prayer of sympathy. Sometimes

he noticed this objection in telling his hearers that although he might not be so strict in the exercise of the pardoning power as some of his predecessors, yet he would take good care during his adminis- tration to see that no Know-Nothing received the benefit of the executive clem- ency. The crowd laughed and cheered, and the objection was forgotten.

"In dealing with the dogmas of the so- called Native American Order, he sketched briefly, at the close, the lives and char- acters of Carroll and of Arnold, ending with a single sentence of contrast: 'Bene- dict Arnold was a Protestant, a native- born American and a traitor. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was an Irishman, a Catholic and a patriot.' This passage, much noted at the time, may be even now not unworthy of remembrance."

The most violent anti-Catholic dem- onstrations that occurred during this proscriptive movement were those at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Louisville. What were in those days known as "Plug Uglies" had identified themselves with the Know-Nothing or- ganization in some of these cities. They were a lot of coarse, brutal, ill-bred des- peradoes who had absolutely no regard for personal rights or religious freedom. On the slightest pretext they would make violent assaults upon peaceable individuals whose only offense was that of having been . born on the other side of the ocean or of worshiping in a church hated by these ruffians. It was unsafe even for Prot- estants to hold church or Sunday-school picnics if the membership thereof chanced to be mainly of foreign-born men and women. To such extremes were these acts of ruffianism carried that fair-minded Americans of commanding influence in their respective localities felt impelled to raise their voices in unmistakable tones against this flagrant violation of real Americanism. From North and South, from East and West, were sent forth vigorous protests against this proscript- ive, oath-bound, intolerant order.

Perhaps the most lucid, logical and ex-

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haustive treatment that was made of the Know-Nothing, or native American, propaganda is found in a letter written by Governor Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, in September, 1854, of which the following is an epitome, or rather an abridgment, for his own words are almost exclusively used :

"I do not think that the present state of affairs in this country is such as to justify the formation, by the people, of any secret political society.

"The laws of the United States-Fed- eral and State laws-declare and defend the liberties of our people. A people free in every sense-free in the sense of Magna Charta and beyond Magna Charta; free by the surpassing franchise of American charters, which makes them sovereign and their wills the source of constitutions and laws.

"In this country at this time does any man think anything? Would he think aloud? Would he speak anything? His mind is free; his person is safe; his prop- erty is secure; his house is his castle; the spirit of the laws is his body-guard and his houseguard; the fate of one is the fate of all, measured by the same common rule of right; his voice is heard and felt in the general suffrage of freemen. Would he propagate truth? Truth is free to combat error. Error herself may stalk abroad and do her mischief, and may make night itself grow darker, provided truth is left free to follow, however slowly, with her torches to light up the wreck! Why, then, should any portion of the people desire to retire in secret and by secret means to propagate a political thought, or word, or deed by stealth? If it be good, why not make the good known? Why not think it, speak it, write it, act it out openly and aloud? Or is it evil which loveth the dark- ness rather than the light?

"Here is proposed a great primary, national organization, in its inception- what? Nobody knows. To do what? Nobody knows. How organized? Nobody knows. Governed by whom? Nobody knows. How bound? By what rites? By what test oaths? By what limitations and restraints? Nobody, nobody knows! All we know is that persons of foreign birth and of the Catholic faith are proscribed; and so are all others who don't proscribe these at the polls. This is certainly against the spirit of Magna Charta.

"Our condition of freedom at home shows no necessity for such a secret or- ganization with its antagonism to the very basis of American rights. The proportion of native born to foreigners in the country is as eight to one, and a large part of the latter are already naturalized citizens. The proportion of Protestants to Catholics is twenty-one to one. What is the neces- sity for this master majority to resort to secret organization against the minority ? To retire in secret with such a majority, does it not confess to something which dares not subject itself to the scrutiny of knowledge? Cannot the Know-Nothings trust to the leading Protestant churches to defend themselves and the souls of all the saints and sinners, too, against the influ- ence of Catholics? Can't they trust the patriotism and fraternity of natives to guard the land against immigrants? As to their religion, I ask them, Why not rely on God? And do the Know-Nothings imagine that pride and love of country are so dead that secret organizations are neces- sary to beget a new-born patriotism to protect us from foreign influence ?

"Now, in defense of our people, I say for them that no people on earth are more possessed with nationality as a strong passion than the people of the United States of North America. Nowhere have any people such certainty of the reward of vigilance; nowhere have they such free- dom of self-government; nowhere is there such trained hatred of kings, lords and aristocrats; nowhere is there more self- independence or more independence of the Old World and its traditions-in a word, nowhere is there a country whose people have, by birthright, a tithe of what our people have to make them love that land which is their country and that spot which is their home. No! As long as the mem- ory of George Washington lives, as long as there is a 22nd of February or a Fourth of July, as long as the everlasting moun- tains of this continent stand and our Father of Waters flows, there will be fathers to hand down the stories to make our hearts glad and mothers to sing 'Hail Columbia' to their babes-and that song is not yet stale. There is no need of a secret society to revive a sinking patriotism in the hearts of our people.

"And who would have them be selfish in their freedom? Freedom! Liberty! Self- ish and exclusive! Never! Is there any

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necessity from abroad for such a secret political organization ? Against whom and against what is it leveled? Against for- eigners by birth. When we were as weak as three millions we relied largely on foreign- ers by birth to defend us and aid us in securing independence. Now that we are twenty-two millions strong, how is it we are become so weak in our fears as to ap- prehend we are to be deprived of our liberties by foreigners? Verily this seemeth as if the Know-Nothings were re- versing the order of things, or that there is a different feeling from that of fear aris- ing from a sense of weakness. It comes from a proud consciousness of over-ween- ing strength, which would say to the friends of freedom abroad, 'We had need of you when we were weak, but now we are so independent of you that we are not compelled to allow you to enjoy our re- publican privileges.' But this secret organization is leveled not only against foreigners by birth, but against the Pope of Rome. There was a time when the very name 'Papa' frightened us as the children of a nursery. But how now with the papacy shorn of its temporal sovereignty ? The idea of the Pope's domination at this day is as preposterous as that of the return of the Gunpowder Plot. Protestants and natives are here both free and strong. Do they wish in turn to persecute and exclude the down-trodden of the earth? God for- bid.

"As a Nation we are but seventy-eight years of age. And the ancestors of this people, about two centuries ago, were for- eigners, every one of them coming to the shores of this country to take it away from the aborigines and to take possession of it by authority, directly or indirectly, of the Papal power. His Holiness, the Pope, was the great grantor of all the new countries of North America. Foreigners, in the name of the Pope and Mother Church, took possession of North America, to have and to hold the same to their heirs against the heathen forever! And now already their descendants are for excluding foreigners and the Pope's followers from an equal en- joyment of this same possession. Much of the early settlement was due to the force and constraint of religious inhabitants. Puritans, Huguenots, Cavaliers, Catholics, Quakers, all came to the Western wilds, each in turn persecuted and persecuting for opinion's sake.

"The American Revolution made a new era to dawn-the era of liberty of con- science. Is it now proposed that we shall go back to the deeds of the dark ages of despotism? I trust that a design of that intent shall remain a secret buried for- ever.

"Our laws sprang from the necessity of the condition of our early settlers. The neglect of the mother country left the settlers self-dependent and self-reliant until they were thoroughly taught the les- son of self-government. They knew pri- vation, fatigue, endurance, self-denial, fortitude-and were madmen at arms- cautious, courageous, generous, just and trusting God. They had an unexplored continent to subdue and they needed popu- lation, more fellow-settlers, more foreign- ers to immigrate and aid them in the task of founders of empire. They grew and thrived until they were rich enough to be taxed, and wise enough to perceive that taxation without representation is tyran- ny. The attempt of Great Britain to impose such taxation and their resolve never to submit to it brought on the alter- native of war, and they all, foreigners and natives, Catholics and Protestants, took the dire alternative, united as a band of brothers, and declared their dependence on God alone. And they entered to the world a complaint of grievances-a Declaration of Independence. One of their first com- plaints was that King George was striving to prevent the population of the country by obstructing the naturalization of for- eigners. Another was that they had made a vain appeal for justice to their British brethren, because of which they were driven to hold them as the rest of man- kind-'enemies in war, in peace friends.' Then finally to uphold their liberties they mutually pledged 'their lives, their for- tunes and their sacred honor.' And who are they that, relying on the same God, made this solemn pledge? There was Hancock the Puritan, Penn the Quaker, Rutledge the Huguenot, Carroll the Cath- olic, Lee the Cavalier, Jefferson the Free- thinker. There were representatives of all the signers, and the signers were repre- sentative of all the people of all the colo- nies. Did not this pledge bind them, bind us, their heirs, forever to faith and hope in God and to charity for each other-to tolerance in religion and to mutuality in political freedom?

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"But this organization is not only opposed to the spirit of our institutions, but seeks to annul the letter of our laws and constitutions. For the Virginian, the Declaration of Rights adopted June 12, 1776, is the fundamental law. This in- strument declares that 'no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the com- munity, but in consideration of public services, which, not being descendible, neither ought public offices to be heredi- tary.' Yet these Know-Nothings seek to confine all offices to native Protestants. The Declaration of Rights further asserts that 'all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward each other.' But this secret society puts a penalty upon the Catholic, to say nothing of its lack of Christian charity.

"Know-Nothingism also seeks the amendment of the naturalization laws of the Nation and therein contravenes Amer- ican spirit and practice. One of the best fruits of the American Revolution was to establish for the first time in the world the human right of expatriation. Prior to our separate existence as a Nation of the earth the despotism of the Old World had made a law unto themselves whereby they could hold forever in chains those of man- kind who were so unfortunate as to be born their subjects. In respect to birth- right and the right of expatriation, and the duty of allegiance and protection, and the law of treason -- crowned heads held to the ancient dogma, 'Once a citizen, always a citizen.' If a man was so miserable as to be born the slave of a tyrant, he must remain his slave forever. He could never renounce his ill-fated birthright, never forswear the allegiance that bound him to its chains, and could never expatriate him- self to a better country. If America beckoned to him to fly to her for freedom and give to her the cunning and the strength of his right arm to help work out her destiny, he must obtain permission and passport or be regarded as a fugitive from justice. But the foreigners came, and early in the Revolutionary war some of the best blood of the colonies were hung by the king's forces, under the maximum of 'Once a citizen, always a citizen.' Only Washington's threat of retaliation on

British prisoners stopped the barbarous, arbitrary practice. At last our struggle ended and George III was compelled to re- nounce his claim for our allegiance. Still Europe was loth to give up its dogma, but the Fathers boldly defied her and placed in the constitution the authority of Congress 'to establish a uniform rule for naturaliza- tion.' The rule was established, and this great land made one vast asylum for the oppressed of every other land, and under its provisions the best blood of Europe has come to our shores, received protection and repaid our fostering care by helping to upbuild our Nation. These immigrants have become in every respect American citizens, endowed with all our freedom. They have been free to fight for the flag and they have fought for it with a bearing and sense of patriotic duty which prove them worthy fellow-citizens. The war of 1812 was partly due to our assertion of the right of expatriation by the foreigner and his naturalization by this Government. Does this secret organization, which opposes naturalization, wish to uphold the claim of England against that of the United States? Yet that is the logical re- sult of its position in regard to foreigners.

"Again, Know-Nothingism strikes at the very equality of citizenship by denying to the Catholic or the foreign-born the right to be eligible to office. If these are granted citizenship and yet proscribed from office, they must be rated as an in- ferior class-an excluded class. The law, it is true, does not exclude them. Would the Know-Nothings, if they had the power, formally enact such exclusion ? At present for them, by secret combination, to make this class unequal, to impose a burden or restriction on their privileges which the law does not, is to set themselves up above the law and to supersede by private and secret authority, intangible and irresponsi- ble, the rule of public, political right.

"There is no middle ground in respect to naturalization. If we let foreigners be naturalized and don't extend to them equality of privileges, we set up classes and distinctions of persons wholly opposed to republicanism. The Federal Constitu- tion especially provides that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. The Know-Nothing vio- lates the Constitution every time he re- fuses to vote for a candidate because he is

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a Catholic. Protestantism, in the days of the Reformation, protested against se- crecy; it protested against shutting out the light of truth; it protested against proscription, bigotry and intolerance. It loosened all tongues and fought the owls and bats of night with the light of merid- ian day. The argument of the Know- Nothings is the argument of silence. The order ignores all knowledge. And its pro- scription can't arrest itself within the limit of excluding Catholics and natural- ized citizens. It must proscribe natives and Protestants both, who will not consent to unite in proscribing Catholics and nat- uralized citizens. Nor is this all; it must necessarily extend itself to the business of life as well as to political preferments. Witness the dismissal of schoolmistresses from the schools of Philadelphia, and car- penters from a building in Cincinnati.

"But Know-Nothingism is also opposed to the faith, hope and charity of the gospel. Protestants did not oppose proscription because it was a policy of Catholics, but they opposed Catholics because they em- ployed proscription. Proscription, not Catholics, was the odium to them. Here, now, is Know-Nothingism combating pro- scription with proscription, exclusiveness with exclusiveness. Toleration by Ameri- can example had begun its march through- out the earth. It trusted in the power of truth, had faith in Christian love and charity and in the certainty that God would decide the contest. Here, now, is an order proposing to destroy the effect of our moral example.

"Again, it is against the peace and purity of the Protestant churches, and in aid of priestcraft within their folds to secretly organize orders for religions combined with political ends. The world outside of the churches will be set at war with the sects who unite in this crusade against tolerance and freedom of con- science and of speech. Freemen will not submit to have the Protestant any more than the Catholic churches attempt to influence political elections. Protestant priestcraft is cousin-german to Catholic, and the worst union that could be devised is that of church and State. The State will prostitute and corrupt any church which is connected with it, and any State church will enslave any State.

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History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916, Part 23

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Stoll, John B., 1843-1926
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : Indiana Democratic Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1104