"A nation of immigrants" (concept)

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The idea of "a nation of immigrants" has become an important part of the American national identity. [1] The origins are unclear but the claim is not actually true of the United States national history and might have been confined to the original 13 colonies for a very short period. [2] The phrase lumps together all immigrants and forms of immigration. [3] Slavery in the United States was not immigration. [4] [5] Conflating the two only conceals history and suppresses the voice of the black community. [4] Many Americans born in the US are the descendants of immigrants of the past 400 years with the exception of Native Americans, Eskimos, and Hawaiians. [6] [7] The phrase was originally used disparagingly in the late 19th century. Research by Donna Gabaccia showed the phrase; "carried a complex load of associations for its earliest users". [8]

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

The United States was referred to as "A Nation of Immigrants" by a young John F. Kennedy in 1958. In his publication, Kennedy highly criticized the National Origins Act of 1924 that restricted immigration to only Northern European countries. [9] In the book "Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources", the author, Alice Eichholz Ph.D, CG states; "We are, with the exception of Native American residents, all descendants of immigrants, although not all immigrants came to America by choice". [10] Places such as Ellis Island are often used to represent or showcase the ideal. [11]

<i>A Nation of Immigrants</i> book by John F. Kennedy jr.

A Nation of Immigrants (ISBN 978-0-06-144754-9) is a 1958 book on American immigration by then U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

John F. Kennedy 35th President of the United States

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, commonly referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician and journalist who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his presidency dealt with managing relations with the Soviet Union. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate prior to becoming president.

Immigration Act of 1924 immigration-related US Congress Act of 1924

The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act, was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia, set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere, and provided funding and an enforcement mechanism to carry out the longstanding ban on other immigrants.

Research has shown that most immigrants rapidly assimilate into American culture, far surpassing most Western nations. [12]


References

  1. ↑ Daniel J. Tichenor (9 February 2009). Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Princeton University Press. p. 289. ISBN   1-4008-2498-2.
  2. ↑ Otis L. Graham (2006). Unguarded Gates: A History of America's Immigration Crisis. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-7425-2229-9.
  3. ↑ Susan F. Martin (8 November 2010). A Nation of Immigrants. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-139-49273-7.
  4. 1 2 Debra J. Dickerson (10 December 2008). The End of Blackness: Returning the Souls of Black Folk to Their Rightful Owners. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 146. ISBN   978-0-307-48428-4.
  5. ↑ John Philip Sanderson (1856). Republican landmarks: The views and opinions of American statesmen on foreign immigration. Being a collection of statistics of population, pauperism, crime, etc. With an inquiry into the true character of the United States government, and its policy on the subject of immigration, naturalization of aliens, etc. J. B. Lippincott & co. p. 84.
  6. ↑ Jerry E. Jennings (1979). The Northeast. Fideler Company. p. 42. ISBN   978-0-88296-057-9.
  7. ↑ Vivien Labaton; Dawn Lundy Martin (3 June 2009). The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 225. ISBN   978-0-307-48489-5.
  8. ↑ Jan M. Kotowski (2011). The Discursive Construction of National Identities Through Narratives of Immigration in German and American Social Studies Textbooks. University of California, Santa Cruz. pp. 159–181.
  9. ↑ Christian Joppke; Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences Christian Joppke (1999). Immigration and the Nation-state: The United States, Germany, and Great Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-19-829540-2.
  10. ↑ Alice Eichholz (2004). Red Book: American State, Country & Town Sources. Ancestry Publishing. p. 14. ISBN   978-1-59331-166-7.
  11. ↑ "A Nation of Immigrants". The Economist . December 23, 1999. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Effects of Immigration on the United States' Economy". Penn Wharton Budget Model. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
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