Originally posted by niv
I couldn't get into that link but what I remember from US history class many years ago was that it was a 19th century populist political movement.
I'm not sure why a political party would control the society involved with running an historical monument, however.
The show I watched gave this as the reason:
In order to raise funds for the continued and expensive construction, the society offered stones from various states, countries and organizations to
be set in the monument, for a fee. Many groups sent stones, including one by the pope. The Know Nothings, being anti-catholic and anti-immigrant, were
infuriated by this (apparently they didnt like any of the foreign stones), stole the pope stone and destroyed it. I guess afterwards they took control
of the society in order to protect its interests.
When this happened, the original society refused to give up power and they both operated while trying to maintain control of the construction of the
monument. Just before the civil war, the Know Nothings dissolved over internal disagreements over slavery, and the original society returned to
control the monument's construction once again.