1850年代前半の5年間、移民の数はその10年前の5倍のレベルに達した。新しく到着する者の大半はアイルランドやドイツからの貧しいカトリック教徒小作農あるいは労働者であり、大都市の安アパートに密集した。犯罪と福祉のための費用が急上昇した。例えばシンシナティ市の犯罪率は1846年から1853年の間に3倍となり、殺人の件数は7倍になった。ボストン市の貧者救済費用は同じ期間に3倍となった。 — ジェイムズ・M・マクファーソン、Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 131
1854年にノウ・ナッシングが成功した主要因は第二政党制の崩壊であり、それは主にホイッグ党の消滅によってもたらされたものだった。ホイッグ党は内部の不一致と慢性的な派閥抗争によって時間と共に弱ってきており、カンザス・ネブラスカ法(1854年)によってほとんど死に体になっていた。反奴隷制度や禁酒および外国人排斥によって大きくなった反党感情が党体制の分裂にも影響した。第二政党制の崩壊によって、ノウ・ナッシングにはそれ以前の外国人排斥組織よりも大きな転向者を容れる余地ができ、昔の外国人排斥集団が失敗した場所での成功を遂げることができた。 — Tyler G. Anbinder、Nativism and Slavery, p. 95
^William E. Gienapp, Origins of the Republican Party 1852–1856 (1987) pp. 538–42.
^David Harry Bennett, The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (1988) p. 15.
^William E. Gienapp, "Salmon P. Chase, Nativism, and the Formation of the Republican Party in Ohio" 22, 24, Ohio History, 93
^Charles E. Deusner, "The Know Nothing Riots in Louisville," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 61 (1963), 122-47
^Anthony Gene Carey, "Too Southern to Be Americans: Proslavery Politics and the Failure of the Know- Nothing Party in Georgia, 1854-1856," Civil War History (1995) 41:22-40
^ James H. Broussard, "Some Determinants of Know-Nothing Electoral Strength in the South, 1856," Louisiana History, Jan 1966, 7#1, pp 5-20
^Jeff Frederick, "Unintended Consequences: The Rise and Fall of the Know-Nothing Party in Alabama," Alabama Review, Jan 2002, 55#1 pp 3-33
Anbinder, Tyler. "Nativism and prejudice against immigrants," in A companion to American immigration, ed. by Reed Ueda (2006) pp. 177–201 online excerpt
Baum, Dale. "Know-Nothingism and the Republican Majority in Massachusetts: The Political Realignment of the 1850s." Journal of American History 64 (1977–78): 959–86. in JSTOR
Baum, Dale. The Civil War Party System: The Case of Massachusetts, 1848–1876(1984) online
Bennett, David Harry. The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (1988)
Billington, Ray A. The Protestant Crusade, 1800–1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism (1938), standard scholarly survey
Bladek, John David. "'Virginia Is Middle Ground': the Know Nothing Party and the Virginia Gubernatorial Election of 1855." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1998 106(1): 35–70. ISSN 0042-6636
Cheathem, Mark R. "'I Shall Persevere in the Cause of Truth': Andrew Jackson Donelson and the Election of 1856". Tennessee Historical Quarterly 2003 62(3): 218–237. ISSN 0040-3261 Donelson was Andrew Jackson's nephew and K-N nominee for Vice President
Dash, Mark. "New Light on the Dark Lantern: the Initiation Rites and Ceremonies of a Know-Nothing Lodge in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2003 127(1): 89–100. ISSN 0031-4587
Gienapp, William E. "Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North before the Civil War," Journal of American History, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Dec., 1985), pp. 529–559 in JSTOR
Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856 (1978), detailed statistical study, state-by-state
Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party(1999) online
Holt, Michael F. Political Parties and American Political Development: From the Age of Jackson to the Age of Lincoln (1992)
Holt, Michael F. "The Antimasonic and Know Nothing Parties", in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., ed., History of United States Political Parties (1973), I, 575–620.
Hurt, Payton. "The Rise and Fall of the 'Know Nothings' in California," California Historical Society Quarterly 9 (March and June 1930).
Levine, Bruce. "Conservatism, Nativism, and Slavery: Thomas R. Whitney and the Origins of the Know-nothing Party" Journal of American History 2001 88(2): 455–488. in JSTOR
McGreevey, John T. Catholicism and American Freedom: A History (W. Norton, 2003)
Maizlish, Stephen E. "The Meaning of Nativism and the Crisis of the Union: The Know-Nothing Movement in the Antebellum North." in William Gienapp, ed. Essays on American Antebellum Politics, 1840–1860 (1982) pp. 166–98 online edition
Melton, Tracy Matthew. Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854–1860 (2005)
Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing, 1852–1857 (1947), overal political survey of era
Overdyke, W. Darrell. The Know-Nothing Party in the South(1950) online
Voss-Hubbard, Mark. Beyond Party: Cultures of Antipartisanship in Northern Politics before the Civil War (2002).
Parmet, Robert D. "Connecticut's Know-Nothings: A Profile," Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, 1966, Vol. 31 Issue 3, pp 84-90
Scisco, Louis Dow. Political Nativism in New York State, (1901) full text online, pp 84-202
Wilentz, Sean, The Rise of American Democracy. (2005). ISBN 0-393-05820-4.
一次史料
Frederick Rinehart Anspach. The Sons of the Sires: A History of the Rise, Progress, and Destiny of the American Party (1855) by K-N activist online edition at Google Books
Samuel Clagett Busey. Immigration: Its Evils and Consequences (1856) online edition
Anna Ella Carroll. The Great American Battle: Or, The Contest Between Christianity and Political Romanism (1856) online edition
Fillmore, Millard. Millard Fillmore Papers Ed. by Frank H. Severance (1907) online edition
The Wide-awake Gift: A Know-nothing Token for 1855 (1855) online edition