In the period between 1830-1860, the United States experienced a massive influx of Irish Catholic immigrants, many fleeing devastating famine and the harsh penal laws of their homeland. This rankled many middle-class Protestant natives, who believed that these newcomers posed a threat to American “values.” Many of these nativists believed that Catholics were “controlled” by the Vatican, and circulated conspiracy theories alleging that the Pope planned to gain control over the government by sending a heavy influx of Catholic immigrants to the United States. Out of these religious tensions sprang the “Know-Nothings”, also known as The American Party, a political movement that strove to curb immigration and naturalization, especially from Catholic countries. They called themselves the “Know-Nothings” as a reference to its origins as a semi-secret society. When a fellow member asked you about the group’s activities, you were supposed to reply, “I know nothing,” to demonstrate that you were not an interloper.

Despite limited political success, the Know-Nothings made their anti-Catholic sentiments felt in other unorthodox ways. In 1854, members the group became incensed when it was announced that a block of marble, donated by Pope Pius IX from the Temple of Concord in Rome, was going to be used in the construction of the Washington Monument. Soon thereafter, a band of Know-Nothings actually stole the “Pope’s Stone” and allegedly threw it in the Potomac River. They also confiscated all official records from the existing Monument Society, and subsequently started their own competing construction committee. Congress, wary of involving itself with the polarizing group, rescinded all of its funding ($200,000) for the project. Thus, construction of the monument came to a screeching halt while the Know-Nothings attempted to raise enough funding to build it to their own “American” specifications.

Four years later, the Know-Nothings returned control of the monument to the original construction society, due to a lack of public support and funding. However, it would take another twenty-one years before Congress finally earmarked funds for the construction of the long-delayed monument. In 1983, a replacement “Pope Stone” was installed on the Washington Monument to great fanfare, more than a hundred years after the Know-Nothing’s infamous crime.

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