"Americans" only need apply. Nativists organization symbols in the cemetery.

This is a Masonic symbol right?    Wrong.

 

 This is a Masonic symbol. 

The ritual and symbology of the above symbol featured was said to be heavily influenced by that of the Freemasons. This is where the misidentification comes in.   Of the twenty five original founders, four were Freemasons and four other delegates were eventually raised to the Craft. The emblem of the Order incorporated the square and compasses with an arm and hammer in the middle. 

But  what was this group and what was their purpose?                                                           

What you see featured at the top, is the symbol for the Order of the United American Mechanics. This was an American Nativist organization - "American only". It originally was called the Union of Workers. Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor and to patronize only "American" businesses.

The Order grew out of the resentment many native born American workers in Philadelphia felt toward foreigners during the depression of the mid 1840s. As many American workers were laid off poor German immigrants were allegedly taking their jobs at lower wages.

Unlike other Nativist societies that sprang up in the 1840s and 1850, the OAUM was able to survive the Civil War. By 1896 there were State Councils in twenty one states and the order had 60,000 members.

In 1853 it created the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, as an youth auxiliary. This group would eventually become more popular than the OUAM itself and became an independent adult organization in 1885.

A stone featuring both OUAM & Masonic symbols.

 Overtime, the OUAM abandoned its Nativist politics and became a standard insurance society, even dropping the word "Order" from its name to become just the "United American Mechanics". It was eventually absorbed by its former youth affiliate, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics .

In 1903 the rules used by one Doylestown, Pennsylvania  group stated that membership was open to "white male citizens, born in the United States". The objects of the order were employment assistance, supporting member's businesses, assisting ill members, and providing funeral and survivor benefits. Meeting were each Wednesday evening. Dues were 15 cents a week. There were disability benefits of $5 for first 13 weeks, $4 next 13 weeks, and $3 onwards. Funeral benefits were $100, or for a spouse $50. Donations to distressed families were limited to a maximum of $2.