|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||
|
THE POLITICAL PRESSURES OF INMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
Before 1840, around three quarters of those who migrated to the United States came from Britain, and form a predominantly Protestant background, including many Welsh of course. Of these, more than half went into skilled work, and a further third became farmers. Over the next twenty years, however, the figures for immigration jumped six-fold, with two out of every three migrants coming from Ireland or southern Germany, and the majority being Catholic - most of the Irish who arrived were unskilled, whilst the Germans tended to go into farming. The immigration had a great influence on the politics of the period, especially in the North, where most of the immigration occurred. With their poverty and their religion, the Irish received a rough reception, with many ethnic and anti-Catholic riots in the North-west of the country. This was especially true in the 1850s when anti-immigrant nativist ideas took hold, expressed politically by a secretive group called Know-Nothings. This is the background to much of the violence Herbert Asbury's, The Gangs of New York, recently made into a successful film directed by Martin Scorsese. Many of the most enthusiastic nativists had themselves migrated form Northern Ireland and Scotland, and the hatred of their ancestors migrated with them to another continent, thousands of miles away. It should also be pointed out that there was a strongly anti-Catholic feeling amongst radicals who were wary of the conservatism of the Church, especially with the repression after the 1848 revolutions in Europe - the Church did not help matters, as it also openly saw itself as being on a mission to convert as many people as possible. By the start of the 1850's, the nativists had gained control of parts of the Whig party, which was otherwise liberal and anti-slavery in tone and action. This meant that the Democrats, the party of conservatism and pro-slavery, benefited from the votes of the poor immigrants in the North. This contributed to the decline of the Whigs as a political force towards the end of the fifties, with a certain irony that the Know-Nothings had steered the Whigs towards an intolerant policy on immigration whilst being strongly anti-slavery, meanwhile the Democrats were able to shore up votes in the North through the immigrant vote. This situation resulted in the Whigs being torn apart, with a more radical wing, the Republicans, on one side and the Know-Nothings on the other. Ultimately, the Know-Nothings lost, but not before they too inspired many violent confrontations in the name of keeping the United States 'pure'. As the Whig party imploded, and the new, anti-slavery, Republican wing gained popularity, one in their midst proclaimed of the Know-Nothings: "Of their principles, I think little better than I do of the slavery extensionists ... Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal'. We now practically read it 'all men are equal except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." By the start of the 60ies, and on the eve of war, the speaker of these words, Abraham Lincoln, was ready to win the presidency in the name of his new political party, strongly opposed to the slavery of the Southern states. |
|
  |
|
|
||