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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?