Reviews for Old gentlemen's convention

The average rating for Old gentlemen's convention based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-09-24 00:00:00 John Adams "Many Know Nothings, especially those in states where strong anti-slavery sentiment dominated the Order (such as Ohio, Indiana, and Maine), believed that the Order represented 'simply a stepping stone' for disenchanted Whigs and Democrats awaiting the organization of the Republican party. As one observer noted, Know Nothing secrecy 'was widely contrived to answer the purpose of getting men out of the old parties [and] into a new one without subjecting them to the ordeal of an open beak with their former friends. It is a sort of covered way, or tunnel, through which men can burrow from one camp to another, without the risk of being shot on the way or hanged as traitors.' ... The failure of prohibition laws, and especially the enactment of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, exacerbated an already existing anti-party sentiment, convincing Northerners to leave their old parties en mass. This brought the Know Nothing movement the broad-based support that previous nativist groups had failed to attract." (50-1) "With conservative Whigs now firmly in control of the American party campaign documents ignored issues that eighteen months earlier had formed the core of the Order's agenda. These included the twenty-one year delay before naturalization, bands on the importation of paupers and convicts, the disbanding of immigrant militia units, continued use of the Bible in public schools, a prohibition on the use of public tax dollars for parochial education, and the implementation of church property laws that would prevent Catholic leaders from controlling large amounts of real estate. Absent as well was the promise of political reform, for the American no longer presented their organization as an alternative to the professional politicians and corrupt parties that dominated American politics. Anti-slavery and temperance, key factors in the Know Nothings' 1854 triumphs, had also been jettisoned. In sum, the American party of 1856 was but a pale shadow of the original Know Nothing movement." (226)

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-21 00:00:00 Darby Butler Good overview of the Know Nothing Party