Immigration and American
Identity
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?