Immigration and American

Identity

Immigration in Numbers

• More legal immigrants than any other

country in the world

• 2008 – all time high number of

naturalizations – over 1mln

• 2006 – total number of immigrants – 37,5

mln

• At the last census in 35 of the country's 50

largest cities, non-Hispanic whites were or

are predicted to be in the minority

• In California, non-Hispanic whites slipped

from 80% of the state's population in 1970

to 43% in 2006.

Metaphors and myths of an

American Identity

• Melting Pot
• American Dream
• Multiculturalism

American Exceptionalism

• Alexis de Tocqueville
• J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters

from an American Farmer (1782)

• – Manifest Destiny

– John L. O’Sullivan
– A mission to spread republican democracy

• Frederick Jackson Turner "The

Significance of the Frontier in American
History" (1893) – "composite nationality"

What is the American?

• J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

• "…whence came all these people? They are a mixture

of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and

Swedes... What, then, is the American, this new man?

He is neither a European nor the descendant of a

European; hence that strange mixture of blood, which

you will find in no other country. . . . He is an

American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient

prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the

new mode of life he has embraced, the new

government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. . . .

The Americans were once scattered all over Europe;

here they are incorporated into one of the finest

systems of population which has ever appeared." − J.

Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an

American Farmer.

The Melting Pot

• Israel Zwangwill, The Melting Pot,

1908

• "the Crucible„
• "Amalgamation"
• Assimilation
• Americanization
• E Pluribus unum

Mottos of the United States

• In God We Trust – 1956

– Ceremonial deism

• The Great Seal of the United States

– E Pluribus Unum

– Annuit cœptis

– Novus ordo seclorum

Ford English School

Multiculturalism

• Multicultural Identity ?
• Cultural Pluralism
• "Salad Bowl"
• "Cultural Mosaic" – Canada

Melting Pot today

• assimilation vs multuculturalism

First immigrants: paleo-

indians?

European colonization

• Myth of the English domination

• Irish, Scottish
• German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Finnish

• African Slaves

Early Republic Immigration

• Main directions

– Europe (mostly British)
– Africa

Early Republic Immigration

Naturalization Act of 1790 – residence

period: 2 years

Naturalization Act of 1795 – residence

period: 5 years

Naturalization Act of 1798 -residence period

14 years

Who can obtain citizenship: "free white

person[s]." "Of good moral character",

"attached to the principles of the

Constitution of the United States"

19th century immigration

• The Fourteenth Amendment (1868):

"All persons born or naturalized in
the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States and of the State
wherein they reside"

19th century immigration

• Anti-Immigrant sentiments
• Know-Nothing Party
• Irish, Italian, Polish Americans
• Jewish Americans
• Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island

• Over 12mln immigrants inspected

between 1892 and 1954, with over

1mln a year at its peak in 1907

• Average of 2% were denied admission

and returned for reasons such as

chronic contagious disease, criminal

background, or insanity

• About 3000 died in Ellis Island hospital

during treatment and quarantine

Asian Immigration

• Chinese – c. 230,000 until 1880
• Yellow Peril
• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
• Japanese immigration
• "postcard wives"
• Gentlemen's Aggreement 1907

20th century immigration

• Immigration Act of 1917 – "undesirables" banned

from entering the country, including but not limited

to, “idiots,” “feeble-minded persons,” "criminals"

“epileptics,” “insane persons,” alcoholics,

“professional beggars,” all persons “mentally or

physically defective,” polygamists, and anarchists.

Furthermore, it barred all immigrants over the age of

sixteen who were illiterate. The most controversial

part of the law was the section that designated an

“Asiatic Barred Zone,” a region that included much of

eastern Asia and the Pacific Islands from which

people could not immigrate. Previously, only the

Chinese had been excluded from admission to the

country.

20th century immigration

• Emergency Quota Act of 1921
• Immigraton Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act)
• National Origins Quota introduced - Each country

had a quota proportional to its population in the U.S.

as of the 1920 census.

• Heavy limitations on immigration from undesirable

directions (Eastern hemishpere – as low as 50.000 a

year in 1930's)

• Possibly the most important turning point in the

history of immigration related US law – limitations on

immigration from Europe

• Valid until 1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act of

1965

Immigration Act of 1924 -

Results

Towards the end of the 20th

century – new directions

• Latin America
• Asia
• Africa

New Directions

Top Ten Foreign Countries - Foreign Born Population
Among U.S. Immigrants

Country

#/year

2000

2004

2010

2010, %

Canada

24,200

678,000

774,800

920,000

2.3%

China

50,900

1,391,000

1,594,600

1,900,000

4.7%

Cuba

14,800

952,000

1,011,200

1,100,000

2.7%

Dominican

Republic

24,900

692,000

791,600

941,000

2.3%

El Salvador

33,500

765,000

899,000

1,100,000

2.7%

India

59,300

1,007,000

1,244,200

1,610,000

4.0%

Korea

17,900

701,000

772,600

880,000

2.2%

Mexico

175,900

7,841,000

8,544,600

9,600,000

23.7%

Philippines

47,800

1,222,000

1,413,200

1,700,000

4.2%

Vietnam

33,700

863,000

997,800

1,200,000

3.0%

Total Pop. Top 10

498,900

16,112,000

18,747,600

21,741,000

53.7%

Total Foreign Born

940,000

31,100,000

34,860,000

40,500,000

100%

Debates

• Human capital flight (Brain-Drain)
• Illegal immigration
• Chain immigration
• Protection of American Labor
• Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty

Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration

Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

(IIRIRA) – list criminal activities that make

immigrants deportable – over 1.000.000

deported since 1990.

Multucultural society after

9.11?