Thought for the day: Donald Trump's popularity represents the return of the Know Nothing Party.— Drang (@DWDrang) March 3, 2016
If you're unfamiliar with the term, read up on it here: Know Nothing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Native American Party, renamed in 1855 as the American Party, and commonly known as the Know Nothing movement, was an American political party that operated on a national basis during the mid-1850s.And as Abraham Lincoln is my witness, I wrote that before I read this: Will this year be an 1860 moment? No such luck | Power Line
The movement arose in response to an influx of migrants, and promised to "purify" American politics by limiting or ending the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants, thus reflecting nativist and anti-Catholic sentiment. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, whom they saw as hostile to republican values, and as being controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, the movement strove to curb immigration and naturalization, but met with little success.