GERMAN-AMERICAN RADICALS, ANTEBELLUM POLITICS, AND THE CIVIL WAR

Immigration from German-speaking countries to the United States rose dramatically after the mid-1840s, especially after the failed revolution of 1848-49. By the outbreak of the Civil War close to one million Germans had settled especially in Midwestern territories and states. The group contributed increasingly to the numbers of eligible voters, since Midwestern states, hoping to attract new settlers, liberalized their naturalization laws which allowed immigrants to vote even after receiving their “first papers,” i.e. after applying for naturalization as early as twelve months after their arrival in the new country. The votes of both groups were increasingly sought by the political parties. While the immigrant vote overwhelmingly favored the Democratic Party, because it offered protection and patronage in the face of nativist sentiments, the new Republican Party also made inroads into the German vote. The article points to the reasons for involvement of German radicals in antebellum politics and immigrants’ activity in the Republican Party despite apparent ideological and generational differences. The issue that helped unite liberals, radicals, and workers in this decade, was slavery and the fight for the abolition of this institution: whether in the media, or the political, and later, the military battleground.