Today we mark the birth, in 1800, of Millard Fillmore. Upon the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850, Fillmore became our 13th president. Denied his party's nomination for the 1852 presidential election, Fillmore went on to lose the presidential election of 1856 as the candidate of the Know-Nothing Party. Today we remember the sometimes forgettable Millard Fillmore with a look at Know-Nothingism, political and otherwise.

The name of the secretive Know-Nothing organization had its origin in the practice of some of its members answering, "I don't know" when asked about the group; the Know-Nothings were deeply suspicious of newcomers, immigrants, and Roman Catholics.

The capitalized Know-Nothings flourished briefly during the mid-19th century, but the uncapitalized version of the name found a purpose in the 20th century. During the middle of the last century, a know-nothing was "an adherent or exponent of a political philosophy characterized by anti-intellectualism, exaggerated patriotism, and by a fear of foreign or subversive influences."

In addition to the two political senses of know-nothing, we found one philosophical and one general application of the phrase. In religious terms, a know-nothing is an agnostic, a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality is unknown and probably unknowable. In its broadest sense, know-nothing names an ignoramus, someone utterly ignorant.

Scorsese's recent "Gangs Of New York" took a look at the effects of Know-nothingism on 1860's New York, long after Fillmore left the White House. tjoeb};>