(PENNSYLVANIA) Potts Howard N Scrapbook of a vehement nativi

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(PENNSYLVANIA.) Potts, Howard N. Scrapbook of a vehement nativist. [135] scrapbook pages consisting of newspaper clippings (some annotated by Potts) and more than 50 manuscript items. Folio, original 1/2 sheep, worn, rebacked with cloth, front board detached; only minor wear to contents, a handful of articles clipped or torn out. Philadelphia, 1839-1905 and undated

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Howard Newcomb Potts (1819-1906) was a Philadelphia attorney. The first half of this scrapbook consists of poems and political pieces written for newspapers including the American Advocate in the 1840s. The poems are generally signed H.N.P. The essays are unsigned, but many of them have manuscript corrections, suggesting that they were being prepared for republication in book form. Potts was a vocal nativist and advocate for the Native American Party, the predecessor to the Know-Nothing Party, popular in Philadelphia during this period. A deep hatred of Irish immigrants was a central theme. For example, the article "A Stake of Life and Liberty" states that "Mendacity . . . may be designated as a national trait . . . of the Irish people." Philadelphia's riots of 1844, in which mobs of nativists attacked Catholic churches at Kensington and Southwark, are frequently referenced. An essay titled "Persecution" defends the Native American Party: "Let your enemies persecute you; let them call you church burners, murderers . . . let them incite foreigners to commit violence upon you, to shed your blood, as they once did at Kensington . . . it urges on the cause."
Potts apparently mellowed somewhat over the years; most of his later articles are on duck-hunting. His old nativist interests apparently never completely disappeared, though. Laid in is a handbill promoting an 1891 anti-Catholic lecture, headed "Freemen! Christians! Awake! Our Liberties are in Danger! Shall the Pope of Rome Dictate to American Citizens?"
From 1911 to 1991, the Franklin Institute awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal annually in his honor. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Seymour Cray, and Igor Sikorsky were among the distinguished recipients.