WILL TRUMP'S CORONATION LEAD TO A RESURGENCE OF THE "KNOW NOTHING" PARTY?

With the long-awaited political conventions now imminent, Americans will soon be confronted with the opportunity to choose between several starkly different candidates hoping to become our 45th President. While polling suggests that unfavorable opinions continue to dominate our opinions about  both major candidates - potentially a "wash" - our decision will ultimately come down to policy prescriptions and personalities contrasting a populist, nativist or nationalist candidate with one generally perceived to represent the status quo. Within populism, as understood in rapidly spreading similar movements across Europe, including the driving force behind the British decision to leave the EU, pervasive anti-immigrant tendencies, discontent with globalization, and a resurgent nationalism are leading the charge.

Our country has gone through a similar period in history before, none more prominent than during the early to mid-nineteenth century. As immigration from Europe increased during the early 1800's, citizens who were born in the U.S., began to feel resentment at the new arrivals, which occasionally developed into violent encounters. In July of 1844 riots broke out in Philadelphia, when anti-immigrant, nativists, mobs battled Irish immigrants. Two Catholic Churches and a Catholic school were burned, and at least 20 people were killed.

With anti-immigrant sentiment running high, small political parties espousing nationalist doctrines shot up - among them the "American Republican Partry" (not to be confused with the current GOP) and the "Nativist Party." At the same time secret societies, such as the "Order of the United Americans," and the "Order of the Star-Spangled Banner", were formed. Members were sworn to keep immigrants out of America, or at least to keep them out of mainstream society once they arrived. Leaders would not publicly reveal themselves, and members, when asked about the organization, were instructed to say: "I know nothing." The name "KNow-Nothing" stuck, even though the party's original name was the "American Party," formed in 1849. It's basic platform contained a strong stand against against immigration and immigrants. It promised to "purify" American politics by limiting or ending the influence  of Irish Catholic and other immigrants. "Know-Nothing" candidates had to be born in the U.S., and there was a concerted effort to agitate for laws stipulating that only immigrants who had lived in the country for 25 years could become citizens.

Many Americans were appalled by the "Know-Nothings." Abraham Lincoln expressed his own disgust with the party in a letter written in 1855. He noted that if the "Know-Nothings" every rose to power, the Declaration of Independence would have to be amended to say that all men are created equal "except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." He went on to say that he would rather emigrate to Russia where despotism is out in the open, then live in such an America.

Even though many were appalled, ethnocentric tendencies were not new to us. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin warned that Pennsylvania was becoming a "colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to germamize us instead of our anglifying them, and will never adopt our language or customs any more than they can acquire our complexion." Jefferson was equally worried about immigrants from "foreign monarchies  who will infuse into American legislation their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass." (Peter Schrag, The Unwanted Immigratrion and Nativism in America. September, 2010.)

Donald Trump, the soon to be crowned nominee of the Republican Party, unscripted during the primary contest, mirrored many of the positions once held by the "Know-Nothing" party. Although he, imposed by the reality of the general election, recently transitioned into using a more sanitized vocabulary, he can't conceal the opinion of Mexicans, immigrants and Muslims he expressed to galvanize support for his "America First" xenophobic movement. Unfiltered, resurgent nationalism, expressed stridently from a national platform can be dangerous and trigger a return of the 1930's in Europe. Mr. Trump has a following at his beck and call, part of which could  be triggered into action without much effort. Concerned people are already envisioning a walled off southern border, eleven million undocumented migrants in deportation camps, and Muslim Americans required to carry documentation similar to what the Jewish pollution in Nazi Germany was forced to do.

We have laws in place that may prevent these extremes from becoming reality. However, the populist, Brexit, decision in Great Britain a few weeks ago, was followed by hundreds of assaults on immigrants - some of whom had lived in the UK for a decade or more - germinated by people who now apparently felt justified to do this. People were beaten, businesses burned, and entire neighborhoods threatened. After American Muslims became the target of Donald Trump's nationalist message, mosques were burned, people have been beaten, "patriot" groups organized hate demonstrations in which dozens of heavily armed white men stand outside of Islamic community centers with anti-Muslim paraphernalia, and people who have lived here their entire lives have been "encouraged" to go back to where they came from. During 2015, 174 incidents, including 12 murders, were reported . Of these, 53 occurred in December alone. Immigrant children are coming home crying after being told by classmates that they will be deported once Trump becomes President. The "Know-Nothings" were dangerous. The 21st century followers of a similar stripe need to be controlled before things get even further out of hand..  Ignorance is a curse. Imbecilic attacks on people totally removed from those implicated in attacks on our country are not only counter-productive, they are criminal. Imbeciles without compunction have generated support for horrendous atrocities throughout history. Donald Trump ignited these responses to his incendiary message to get through the primaries. Once the genie was out of the bottle, however, it has proven difficult to contain it. Just sanitizing his choice of vocabulary won't be enough. He needs to demonstrate leadership, and control the results before we slide into the abyss.

1776 - THE YEAR THAT PRECIPITATED THE DECLINE OF COLONIALISM ACROSS THE GLOBE

On July 4, 1776, 240 years ago, at a meeting of the second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, 56 "revolutionaries" signed on to a document declaring their independence from their colonial over-lord Great Britain. The signatories, which included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin among others, announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. Instead they formed a new nation - the United States of America. By declaring themselves an independent nation, the American colonists were able to forge an official alliance with the government of France and obtain French assistance in the war against Great Britain. While this declaration appears archaic in today's world, it was truly unique and revolutionary for the time, as it preceded the French Revolution by 13 years. (We tend to celebrate this event as the beginning of the American Revolution. However, our revolution actually started on April 19, 1775 when the first shots of the revolutionary war were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.)

At the time when we declared our independence, colonialism and colonial empires were the norm. Defined as the establishment of a colony by a political power from another territory, and the subsequent maintenance, expansion and exploitation of that colony, countries established their sphere of influence, considered important to their political and economic prominence in the world. Although very early colonialism started with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, modern colonialism started around the 16th century when countries like Spain and Portugal ventured across the oceans to find new land and new riches. At first the countries followed the dictates of mercantilism, an economic theory and practice that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. Expeditions were sent out over great distances with the express objective of finding riches - often identified as gold and silver - elsewhere and claiming exclusive access for the political powers - not always states - financing the endeavor. Eventually this activity morphed into two overlapping forms of colonialism: "settle colonialism" - involving large-scale immigration - often motivated by religious, political or economic reasons, and "exploration colonialism" - involving fewer colonialists and focusing on access to resources for export. The French, Dutch and British created colonial empires during the 17th century, while Germany, France and Belgium became involved in the "scramble for Africa" in the late 19th century.

It would be easy to condemn these colonial movements, especially since they produced a set of unequal relationships between a colonial power and a colony, and often between the colonists and the indigenous population. However, for better or for worse, without the exploration generated during the "age of discovery" in the late 15th and 16th century, the world might look quite different today. The British empire expanded most extensively. Before World War Two British politicians could still maintain that "the sun never set on the British Empire," since its colonial empire touched all corners of the globe. The French, not to be outdone by Britain, worked diligently to compete for dominance, and by 1900 amassed the second largest colonial empire in the world. It became their moral mission to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity and French culture. In 1884, the leading French exponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry, declared: "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a duty to civilize the inferior races."

And so it went. Although the United States initiated a very early independence movement, decolonization did not progress significantly until after the Second World War. Many indigenous populations began to realize that the colonial powers were not invincible. Besides, many colonial powers were severely weakened as a result of the war effort. India gained independence in 1947, and Indonesia, which had been ruled by the Dutch, claimed their freedom in 1949. In 1960, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, in a speech known as the "winds of change" admitted that decolonization was an established fact. In 1962 the United Nations set up a Special Committee on Decolonization to speed up the process.

If not for the scope of the colonial experience, most countries today might celebrate alternate national days, like "liberation day" in The Netherlands or "Bastille Day" in France. However, most, like us, celebrate independence from an occupying colonial power. While we were unique and revolutionary when we declared our independence 240 years ago, we have not been the only ones. Today 59 countries celebrate their independence from the British Empire. Interestingly, the U.K. Is one of very few countries which does not feature such a celebration. However, after the "Brexit" vote on June 23rd, Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independent Party, proclaimed that Great Britain may now finally have its own independence celebration. Time will tell what that ultimately may mean.

Have a fabulous, safe and memorable Independence Day.