The presence of the American, or Know-Nothing Party, which had come into politics in 1852 as a secret organization, with the prevailing principle of "America for Americans," and which obtained its popular name of "Know-Nothing" because of the invariable answer of its members that they "knew nothing" of the organization, confused the political situation in 1854 and 1855, and makes it difficult to correctly analyze and state the political situation. It is seen that the Republican Party was strong in the States which had been organized out of the Northwest Territory, but that the East and New England, while fully endorsing the platforms of the new party, entered reluctantly into the movement to adopt its name and organization. In the East there were four distinct parties, the Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings and Republicans, but in the West there were but two, the Democratic and Republican. There can be no question, however, that the sentiment of the Know-Nothing Party, which controlled many of the elections in the East during 1854 and 1855, was strongly Anti-Nebraska, and the success of that party in the North may safely be counted as expressing the sentiment of the new party. The close of 1855 found the Republican Party well organized in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York and Indiana. In the several other States not mentioned it was rapidly gaining strength, and the prospects for the presidential campaign of 1856 looked fairly bright, and if the remnants of the Whig Party would retire from the field, and if the Anti-Nebraska Know-Nothings would vote with the new party, the chances for victory were exceedingly good. The struggle in Kansas between the free settlers from the North and the pro-slavery citizens from Missouri was now growing in bitterness, and reports of violence and blood-shed, which came from the scene of the conflict, set the North on fire with indignation and tended materially to solidify sentiment in favor of the Republican Party. [Illustration: Schoolhouse at Ripon, Wisconsin, where the Republican Party was born.]