We know that American history has had a few dark episodes; slavery, of course, comes to mind and many people are aware, at least vaguely, of the Japanese internment during World War II. Quite a few know of the “Trail of Tears” when the Indians of the Southwestern United States were forcibly driven like cattle to Oklahoma, and few, except lawyers, have an inkling of the Dred Scott decision by the U. S. Supreme Court that “negroes” were not entitled to constitutional protections.
During the 1850s, the Know-Nothing party was the hate-spewing, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-anything but White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) political party. They won governorship of Massachusetts as well as other political offices, tried to make citizenship available only after 20 years of residency, and preached hatred of anyone different than themselves. They even had former U.S. President Millard Fillmore (Whig party, 1850-1853) as their Know-Nothing nominee for the presidency in 1856, a race that he lost to James Buchanan.
History does repeat itself: all we need to know about the candidacy of Donald Trump can be learned by the hateful legacy of the Know-Nothing party. It was a blight on America, as is Trump; and for the same reasons. Fortunately the Know-Nothings vanished within a few years, and it is imperative that Trump, along with his anti-American values, is introduced to the same fate.
