Here's an interesting historical tidbit, given the current situation involving the new Arizona Immigration Law. In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, ran, and won, taking a dramatic stance against the anti-immigration platform of a break-away sect of the Republican party called the "Know-Nothings", a group which espoused principals very close to what the modern day TEA party embraces, by saying that he stood in opposition to "any change in our naturalization laws, or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad."
By the way, Lincoln's opinion of the "Know-Nothings" wasn't very flattering.In an 1855 letter to his friend, John Speed, Lincoln said the following: " When the Know-Nothings get control, it [our Declaration of Independence] will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners, and catholics[sic].' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty - Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." It makes one wonder what he'd think of the Sarah Palin's and other TEA Party figures of the day.
Definitely something to think about!
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