In the 1855 Chicago mayoral election,

Know Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

candidate

Levi Boone Levi Day Boone (December 6, 1808 – January 24, 1882) served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1855–1856) for the American Party (Know-Nothings). Early life Boone was born near Lexington, Kentucky, the seventh son of Squire and Anna Gru ...

defeated Democratic incumbent

Isaac Lawrence Milliken Isaac Lawrence Milliken (August 29, 1813December 2, 1889) served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1854 to 1855. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Saco, Maine, Milliken moved to Chicago in 1837 and set up a blacksmith shop on R ...

by a 5.75% margin. The election was held on March 8.

Campaigning

The mayoral election was unusual in that no candidate had entered the race until five days before the day of the election. The campaign for the municipal elections of 1855 began very early in the year, before any candidates had emerged for the mayoral race. Religious, ethnic, and political leaders debated for weeks on many issues. The race quickly took a nativist tone.Immigrants in the Valley: Irish, Germans, and Americans in the Upper Mississippi Country, 1830-1860 Portada Mark Wyman SIU Press, Nov 9, 2016
/ref> Topics included the role of foreigners on night police duty, controversy regarding the city's school fund, bar fights. Debate also arose from the split amongst Democrats around the

Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by ...

, which would take an even more prominent role in the following year's election. One of the greatest controversies was about the state legislature's decision to allow a referendum for that June regarding possible prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Boone received support from a coalition of Know-Nothing and pro-temperance voters. As was typical of his party, Boone's platform was anti-

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, anti-alcohol, and

anti-catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

. Boone had run for mayor once before, having been an unsuccessful candidate in the 1850 mayoral election. Boone benefitted from an article published by the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' that blamed Milliken for an Irish beer riot and stoked fears by warning, "Every vote given for Milliken is a vote given for whisky, Jesuitism, for Irish rule, for crime and pauperism, and for the ruin of Chicago." The management of 24 German saloons announced that their establishments would be closed on the day of the election. This was a largely unprecedented move, and received praise from both by the press and from religious leaders. There were allegations that Irish and German voters from

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

, which was then outside the city limits, were brought in to vote illegally for Milliken.

Results

Aftermath

Boone's victory was also a victory for the burgeoning Know Nothing party, which had been established the previous year. Despite nearly half of Chicagoans being of foreign origin, Boone had won on a nativist platform.Fabulous Chicago by Emmett Dedmon Privately, Illinois politician (and future United States President)

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

was vehemently opposed to the platform upon which Boone had run; however, he did not publicly denounce it out of concern that doing so would alienate the support he needed in order to build a successful anti-slavery coalition in Illinois and to win the Illinois' United States Senate election three years later. In his term as mayor, Boone cracked down on immigrants. He barred them from working for the municipal government. He also enforced liquor policies which were perceived to target German immigrants, which led to the

Lager Beer Riot The Lager Beer Riot occurred on April 21, 1855 in Chicago, Illinois, and was the first major civil disturbance in the city. Mayor Levi Boone, a Nativist politician, renewed enforcement of an old local ordinance mandating that taverns be close ...

References

1855

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

1850s in Chicago {{Illinois elections