Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-310) and index.
Summary
Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party." Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.
Van Wyck served as a Civil War Union Brigadier General, US Congressman, US Senator. He was the Sullivan County, New York, District Attorney 1850 to 1856 and was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, serving 1859 to 1863.After his term, he entered the Union Army as Colonel of the 56th Regiment, New York Volunteers and commanded it during the Civil War.He was brevetted Brigadier General for services during the war and elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving 1867 to 1869. He moved to Nebraska in 1874 and was elected as a Republican to the US Senate and served from 1881 to 1887.
Summary
This speech was made a year before the Civil War criticizing slavery and the Democrat party.
