Collection: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859.

In October 1856 Alexander Latty was elected on the Whig ticket as Common Pleas Judge of the second subdivision of the third district, comprising at that time of Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood Counties (Ohio). He was re-elected to that office in 1861, 1866 and 1871, later becoming a Republican candidate, and holding the office for twenty years before retiring from the bench in February 1877 (from the Bowling Green State University archives, Alexander Sankey Latty Family Papers - MS 1076). By 1856, the Know Nothing party was in decline. Northern workers felt more threatened by the slave power than by the Pope and Catholic immigrants, while fewer Southerners were willing to support a party that ignored the expansion of slavery. Nevertheless, the Know Nothings left an indelible mark on American politics. The movement eroded loyalty to the national political parties, fatally weakened the Whig party, and undermined the political system's capacity to contain the divisive issue of slavery. In this letter, Salmon P. Chase, a leading Ohio politician, argues that opponents of slavery must ensure that their cause is not neutralized or deflected by the Know Nothing movement.

Electronic reproduction. Marlborough, Wiltshire : AM, 2014. Digitized from a copy held by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

American history module 1