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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
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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
Multiculturalism • Multicultural Identity ? • Cultural Pluralism • "Salad Bowl" • "Cultural Mosaic" – Canada
Melting Pot today • assimilation vs multuculturalism
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 • 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
Towards the end of the 20th century – new directions • Latin America • Asia • Africa
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.
