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The American ("Know-Nothing") Party, also called the Nativist Party or "Native American Party", was an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic nativist party that was active from the 29th to the 36th Congresses, most prominently during the 34th Congress when 51 Representatives were elected by the party after the Whig Party collapsed and American Party members became the dominant opponents of the Democratic Party in most southern states. Divisions within the party on the subject of slavery and the emergence of the Republican Party, the American Party's fortunes declined. Former American Party members in the North typically became Republicans, while former American Party members in the South identified with Opposition Party labels in the run-up to the Civil War. The American Party remains the most electorally successful minor party in US history.