Josh The Lighthouse Guy
Major
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2012
- Location
- Jupiter, FL
In 1860, one of the factions in the Republican coalition was the former Know Nothings / American Party. The Republicans had to tread carefully because they also had a strong following with German-American 48ers who were mostly strongly anti-slavery. Some Republicans, like Lincoln, recognized being anti-slavery and anti-immigrant was obvious hypocrisy and criticized it as such.
The Know Nothings peaked in 1856 when they ran Millard Fillmore, former Whig president after Taylor's death, as their candidate. The party fractured before the election on the slavery issue, with most Northern Know Nothings voting Republican. Southern Know Nothings were mostly former Whigs.
But back in the early 1840s, even before the Great Potato Famine and the 1848 revolutions caused an influx of immigrants, many of the Catholic, there was an American Republican party in New York City and Philadelphia. They won some local seats before the burning of some Catholic churches in Philadelphia tarnished their public image.
en.wikipedia.org
Henry Clay blamed the immigrant vote (among other reasons) for his narrow defeat in 1844, especially in New York. He wasn't exactly wrong: Tammany Hall, a Democrat political machine, actively and vigorously recruited immigrants, especially Irish Catholics.
I have known of the Know Nothings for a long time, but I didn't realize the nativity political movement went back over a decade earlier nor that it always aligned with the Whigs. Fillmore's candidacy certainly makes more sense now.
What I'm left wondering is why the nativity aligned with Whigs, seemingly from the beginning. Elitism? Also, the cause & effect with the Democrats: did Tammany Hall recruit immigrants in response ofto Whig nativism or was Whig nativism a backlash against Tammany Hall recruiting immigrants first?
The Know Nothings peaked in 1856 when they ran Millard Fillmore, former Whig president after Taylor's death, as their candidate. The party fractured before the election on the slavery issue, with most Northern Know Nothings voting Republican. Southern Know Nothings were mostly former Whigs.
But back in the early 1840s, even before the Great Potato Famine and the 1848 revolutions caused an influx of immigrants, many of the Catholic, there was an American Republican party in New York City and Philadelphia. They won some local seats before the burning of some Catholic churches in Philadelphia tarnished their public image.
Philadelphia nativist riots - Wikipedia
Henry Clay blamed the immigrant vote (among other reasons) for his narrow defeat in 1844, especially in New York. He wasn't exactly wrong: Tammany Hall, a Democrat political machine, actively and vigorously recruited immigrants, especially Irish Catholics.
I have known of the Know Nothings for a long time, but I didn't realize the nativity political movement went back over a decade earlier nor that it always aligned with the Whigs. Fillmore's candidacy certainly makes more sense now.
What I'm left wondering is why the nativity aligned with Whigs, seemingly from the beginning. Elitism? Also, the cause & effect with the Democrats: did Tammany Hall recruit immigrants in response ofto Whig nativism or was Whig nativism a backlash against Tammany Hall recruiting immigrants first?
Bringing the