The face of America is changing

"Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." (Inscription on the Statue of Liberty.)

As Bob Dylan wrote and sang, "the times they are a-changin." In 1960, the Caucasian population in the United States was 85 percent, the African-American population 11 percent and the Hispanic population less than 4 percent. By 2005, the Caucasian population had decreased to 67 percent, the African American population had increased slightly to 13 percent and the Hispanic population had risen dramatically to 14 percent. The Asian population had also spiked, from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 5 percent in 2005. By 2050, Caucasians will be a minority group, comprising 47 percent of the total population. The Hispanic population will continue to increase significantly to 29 percent, the African American population will hold steady at 13 percent and the Asian population will almost double to 9 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

So the inscription on the Statue of Liberty is coming true. Some say this is the end of America as we know it, others say we're finally living up to the promise inscribed on the Statue of Liberty and we will be a better country for it. The Republicans tend to think the former, the Democrats the latter.

A little history is needed here. As late as 1850, the two party system was, to all outward appearances, still healthy. Both the Democrats and Whigs were able to attract support in every section of the country and neither party was able to win more than 53 percent of the popular vote. Then, in the space of just five years, the two-party system disintegrated in response to two issues: foreign immigration and the reemergence of the issues of slavery expansion. The first issue stays with us today.

A massive wave of immigration from Ireland and Germany after 1845 led to an outburst of anti-foreign and anti-Catholic sentiment. Between 1846 and 1855, three million foreigners arrived in America. Nativists -- ardent opponents of immigration -- capitalized on deep-seated Protestant antagonism toward Catholics and working-class fear of economic competition from cheaper immigration labor. (sound familiar?) Nativists charged that Catholics were responsible for a sharp increase in poverty, crime, and drunkenness, and were subservient to a foreign leader, the Pope.

In 1849, native-born Protestant workingmen formed a secret fraternal organization, "The Order of the Star-Spangled Banner," which became the nucleus of a new political party known as the Know-Nothing or American party. The party received its name from the fact that when members were asked about the party's workings, they were supposed to reply, "I know nothing."

The Know Nothings attracted support not only from nativists, but from large numbers of northern free soilers and southern Whigs. By 1855, the party had captured control of all New England except Vermont and Maine and was the dominant opposition party to the Democrats in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The party platform included a 21-year residency period before immigrants could become citizens and vote, limitations on office-holding to native-born Americans only and restrictions on the sale of liquor. (excerpted from Digital history) At least five of these states still support much of this platform through their elected officials 160 years later

One Northerner who spoke out against the Know Nothings was Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party today is widely known as the party of Lincoln, yet the number of Republicans registered to vote has fallen to 20 percent, one of the lowest levels ever.

Here's what Lincoln said in a letter to Joshua F. Speed. (excerpted from Digital history)

"I am not a Know-Nothing. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of Negroes be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring "all men are created equal" except Negroes. When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty --to Russia, for example, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."