Obama calls the shot

[BT]

Is Buchanon still a republican , thought he had joined the reform party.

How is the Arizona and Alabama legislation anti-immigrant?

[Xavier_Onassis]

How is the Arizona and Alabama legislation anti-immigrant?

==============================================
By demanding proof of residency and arresting those without it, they discriminate against immigrants more than anyone else.
 Buchanon may have abandoned the GOP for a spell, but he is more a Republican than a Democrat. The Reform Party has withered away into obscurity, thanks to Jesse Ventura, Pat Buchanon and that guy who eventually got their nomination.

In any event, Buchanon and the AZ and AL legislatures are at the extreme of the political continuum.

[BT]

Wouldn't it be more correct to say that they are anti-illegal immigration?

[Plane]

The know nothings didn't want to be Republicans , I don't see the connection there at all, the Republicans were the radicals in power at the time why were the Know nothings opposed to the power in place and then join it?

============================
The Know nothings came before the Republicans. Some of them surely became supporters of Lincoln and Fremont. However, they were extremely anti-immigrant, just as Pat Buchanon is extremely anti-immigrant and the Republican state legislatures of Alabama and Arizona are extremely anti-immigrant. They were also anti-Catholic and ant-Irish as well. These days, no one is anti-Irish and few are anti-Catholic in political terms.

Surely for what reason?
I try not to mistake coincidence for causation.
While the Republicans were the sole power during the War, did they do anything anti-immagrant ?
   Other than recruiting soldiers right off the boats I mean, I already know of that.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Recruiting soldiers off the boats was a pragmatic decision. Note that I said that some Know-Nothings became Republicans.I did not say that all Republicans were former Know-Nothings. Pat Buchanon is as close to a Know-Nothing as we have around these days in the guise of some prominent figure, at least.

[Plane]

Note that I said that some Know-Nothings became Republicans.I did not say that all Republicans were former Know-Nothings.

I don't even know about one.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Here are two: Schuyler Colfax and Henry Wilson, both VP under U.S. Grant.
 So now you know of two.

Here is more about the Know Nothing Party, originally known as the American Republican Party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

[Plane]

  That does include several things I did not know.

Simultaneously, the new Republican party emerged as a dominant power in many northern states. Very few prominent politicians joined the American Party, and very few party leaders had subsequent careers in politics. The major exceptions were Schuyler Colfax in Indiana and Henry Wilson in Massachusetts, who became Republicans and both were elected Vice President.

 So I was a little bit wrong.

After the Supreme Court's controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling in 1857, most of the anti-slavery members of the American Party joined the Republican Party. The pro-slavery wing of the American Party remained strong on the local and state levels in a few southern states, but by the 1860 election, they were no longer a serious national political movement. Most of their remaining members supported the Constitutional Union Party in 1860.[11]

Substantially not so wrong.

After all, what is the commonality between being anti Catholic and anti Slavery?

[Xavier_Onassis]

After all, what is the commonality between being anti Catholic and anti Slavery?

The Catholic Church was against the slave trade as early as 1839, but the Pope did not condemn slavery specifically until 1889. There were slaves mentioned in the Bible, which has a number of rules about how slaves should be treated.

The point is that SOME Know Nothings became Republicans. That is all I claimed, and as you have sen, that is accurate.

[Plane]

   All right , you are correct.


    But I don't see a continuing tradition from Wigs to Know Nothings to Republicans.
Many Wigs became Democrats and so did many Know Nothings.

     Looks more like a scramble than a passing of the torch.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Whigs were the declared opposition party to the Democrats after Jackson. The Whigs tended to run somewhat more apolitical old generals, and the Democrats ran more seasoned politicians.

 The Civil War further scrambled the parties, as did several wars and the Civil Rights movement.

There is still a newspaper in Quincy, IL, called the Quincy Herald-Whig.

[Plane]

 That the Whigs fell apart does not mean that the Republicans assumed the Whig Platform.

   Former Whigs who joined notwistanding  did no Whigs join the Democrats?
That connection seems just the same , indirect.

[Amianthus]

Recruiting soldiers off the boats was a pragmatic decision. Note that I said that some Know-Nothings became Republicans.I did not say that all Republicans were former Know-Nothings. Pat Buchanon is as close to a Know-Nothing as we have around these days in the guise of some prominent figure, at least.

"The results of the 1854 elections were so favorable to the Know Nothings that they formed officially as a political party called the American Party, and attracted many members of the now nearly-defunct Whig party, as well as a significant number of Democrats and prohibitionists. Membership in the American Party increased dramatically, from 50,000 to an estimated one million plus in a matter of months during that year."
http://is.gd/xx1NC3

Incidently, the Republican party was already around in 1854. They formed in the same year.

[Plane]

Hmmmm....


   I neglected to figure out a timeline didn't I.