Putnam’s Monthly

Putnam’s Monthly was a magazine founded and published by George Putnam from 1853 to 1857. It included articles on politics and the arts by some of America’s most famous writers, including Horace Greeley, James Fenimore Cooper, and Henry David Thoreau.

Putnam’s Monthly was published during the heyday of the Know-Nothing Party, a political organization whose mission was to severely restrict immigration to the United States. The conservative Know-Nothing Party’s motto was “America for Americans.” The liberal Putnam’s Monthly responded to the Know-Nothings with an editorial in 1855, excerpted below, titled “Who Are Americans"” The editors argue that the American institutions of voting and jury trials, among others, are what make people Americans. When foreigners are allowed and encouraged to participate...