History of the United States I / Unit 14 USH1 1997 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Republicans and the Know-Nothings
The idea
Buchanan won the election of eighteen fifty-six and Frémont took more than thirty-three percent of the popular vote, which was remarkable for a party two years old. No southern delegate voted for Frémont. The Whigs ceased to exist. Know-Nothings then shifted to the Republicans, and the anchor says this happened partly due to the new party's anti-immigrant stance, while Democrats courted Catholic immigrants instead. The American Party had opposed further immigration, especially by Irish Catholics, held to have divided papal loyalty, and by Chinese labourers.
In practice
The antislavery party absorbing the anti-immigrant party, while the party of slaveholders recruited the Catholic immigrants those Know-Nothings had opposed.
Where people slip
Record this honestly. The early Republican Party absorbed the Know-Nothings partly on anti-immigrant grounds, which means the antislavery party was not therefore a pro-immigrant party. Themes four and twelve intersect here uncomfortably. A student who assumes that a party right about one question is right about the others will misread the eighteen fifties from beginning to end.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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