| Cincinnati riots of 1855 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 View of Cincinnati, during the Nativist Riots of April 1855 | |||
| Date | April 1855 | ||
| Location | |||
| Caused by | Anti-Catholicism Nativism Instability (political and economic) | ||
| Resulted in | The election violence and failure of the nativists to form an alliance with anti-slavery activists discredited the party in the eyes of many citizens and led to the demise of the movement.[1] The riots meant the end of the Know Nothing party in Cincinnati | ||
| Parties | |||
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TheCincinnati Riots of 1855 were clashes between "nativists" andGerman-Americans. The nativists supported J. D. Taylor, the mayoral candidate for the anti-immigrant American Party, also known as theKnow-Nothing Party. During the riots, German-Americans erected barricades in the streets leading into theirOver-the-Rhine neighborhood, and fired a cannon over the heads of a mob of nativists attacking them.[2]
In the April 1855 elections, the Know Nothings nominated a slate of candidates with James Taylor, the populist anti-immigrant andanti-Catholic editor of theCincinnati Times, as candidate for mayor.Taylor's inflammatory attacks on immigrants caused rising tension in the city, with fighting breaking out on election day.The day after, a mob of nativists attacked the GermanOver-the-Rhine neighborhood, causing a riot in which several men died.The mob managed to destroy the ballots in two German wards.[1]The Germans organized into militia units, built a barricade acrossVine Street, and successfully defended their territory.[3]
After an uneasy peace had been restored, electoral officials declared that theDemocratic candidate had been elected mayor.[1]The anti-nativist press made the most of the riots.TheDemocracy called them "one of the most dastardly and villainous acts ever perpetrated in any community". TheEnquirer said it could "find no language capable of expressing our indignation. ... Words could but faintly translate the abhorence we feel that the ark of our safety, the very covenant of our freedom, should be ruthlessly seized by sacrilegious hands, and destroyed before our very eyes". TheColumbusStatesman described the nativists as "the reckless, midnight, oath-bound order" and asked "Has the Protestant religion come to so low a condition that it requires such means to give it character and support?"[4]
TheRepublicans, who had seen the Catholic issue as a way of gaining the votes of Protestant immigrants, were dismayed. EditorJoseph Medill called the Know Nothing leaders "knaves and asses".The election violence and failure of the nativists to form an alliance with anti-slavery activists discredited the party in the eyes of many citizens and led to the demise of the movement.[1]
The riots meant the end of the Know Nothing party in Cincinnati.[5]
The Cause of Henry SchnellISBN 9798370291494[1]