I’m writing a paper on the english only initiative in california, and I need some info on how immigrants voted in the early 1900s. And what was the party makeup at that time… was it just Democrats and Republicans? I can’t remember at what point in history the two swapped names ;p Maybe that was in the 1700s. Did immigrants generally lean toward Democrats? If they did, it would strengthen my point in the paper <.<
Thanks!
They voted for who they were told to vote for.
The Democrats and Republicans were the two major parties at that time. That time period is at the start of the third party system which started around 1897. The first two “parties” so to speak were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. When the Constituition was accepted, it became the Fedaralists and the Democratic Republicans. The second party system came around in I think about 1829 and the Federalists disappeared and the WHigs came about. Then the Democratic-Republicans split and the Republicans surpassed the Whigs as the alternate third party. The Republicans dominated from 1896 to about 1932. I’d have to do mroe research on immigrants. However, if this isn’t enough, just say so and I’ll get you the rest of the information. I’m taking a whole class on political parties and jsut finished a test on them (hence the reason I didn’t see this earlier).
Thanks. ^^ The party that I was actually looking for were called the “Know Nothings”… they were an anti-immigrant group, and when they split up, most of them joined with the Republican party.
Anyway, 15/20 pages done, so wish me luck <.<;