Works Cited

“melting pot.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Henry Cabot Lodge “For Immigration Restrictions,” Annals of American History.

“Immigration Must Be Restricted to Protect America Against Terrorists.” Opposing Viewpoints: National Security. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

“immigration.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

“The Promised Land, 1860-1900 (Overview).” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010

“Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders. (NEWS)(Editorial).” USA Today (Jan 29, 2010): 07A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

“America Must Cooperate with Other Nations in Regulating Immigration.” Opposing Viewpoints: Illegal Immigration. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Response to Chris's Blog

The next presentation I looked at was Chris K's about Hip Hop and violence. I liked how he focused on something that many people could connect with. I like a lot of hip hop/rap and it's definitely true that a lot of the time they talk about violence and drugs. I liked how Chris included different examples of rap and how artists can send both good and bad messages through what they rap about. I think that maybe for some people the music they listen to and the messages that are sent through that music can influence their actions. But, I also don't think that every single person who listens to rap does drugs and is violent towards others. It was intersting learning that hip hop orignially reduced violence among gang members and then ended up increasing it. I don't think that changing the language of rap and hip hop songs would have positive results and change the negative influence rap may have on people. Just because a song advocates violence it doesn't necessarily mean that whoever listens to it will be violent towards others as a result. If the language and style of rap music was changed like this, I think that less people would listen to it because it would not be the same music. If music only sent postive messages to the listeners, than our culture would lose a lot of popular music because artists wouldn't want to change what they say. Chris also talked about how video games can result in violent behavior as well. I think that actually these video games might have more of an impact on people than music because in order to succeed in these games you have to be violent. I think that Chris did a really good job showing information and different perspectives about his topic and its influence on Americans today and in the past.

Response to Carl's Blog

Carl's slide show was really interesting and showed a lot of information about hispanics in America that I didn't really know before. Because it showed up sometimes when I researched for my topic, I already knew a little about illegal immigration. But, from the information in Carl's blog I learned more about how hispanics are stuck in the lowest class and how hard it is for them to make it higher in society because they are poor and uneducated. This information taught me a little more about my topic of immigration, because hispanic immigration/illegal immigration is a large topic right now. Carl's final presentation was very well done and showed the important parts of hispanics in America. I liked how every page was a different color and how he included pictures and videos that helped to present the information in another way.

Response to Allie's Blog

I chose to look at Allie’s blog first because she also researched immigration. I was surprised to see that she looked at a similar aspect of the topic as I did. We both focused on how immigrants were treated in America. In Allie’s final presentation, she showed how the government influenced how Americans thought of immigrants and how immigrants were treated here. She wrote how they influenced the citizens of the United States to want immigrants to be like them. I didn’t really think about or look closer into how the government influenced the people and how they viewed the immigrants coming into their country. She also wrote about how it is determined who is qualified to immigrate here and how this has changed over the years. This information showed me more depth to our topic that I didn’t choose to focus on before. It is interesting to see how many different interpretations of the same topic there are and even different interpetations of subtopics. Allie and I also read many of the same articles and I liked seeing how we used the same information in different ways. Allie did a good job of presenting the information in the way she wanted people to perceive it. It was organized and had good graphics.

Current Events Analytical

Immigration today is in some ways just as controversial as it has always been. It plays a part in many issues like September 11th, 2001, the earthquake in Haiti, and things that happen in everyday situations. The American system of immigration has changed a lot over the years, but it hasn’t really improved too much. There are still people who are for immigration and people against it, and both have their own opinions of what should be done and what needs to change.
Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Samuel Francis wrote a column about protecting America against future terrorist attacks by restricting and regulating immigration. He wrote about how one of the dimensions of the problem was that there are places within our society that possible terrorists could live and operate virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world. “This dimension concerns what I have termed the ‘alternative societies’ that mass immigration has created and which allow alien terrorists to live and operate without being noticed.” According to Francis, because of mass immigration and them creating their own little societies more separate from ours, terrorists could be living somewhere in America out of the rest of the nation’s radar. He believes that because of mass immigration, we have let our own enemy to live within our country. Also, that the leadership class needs these possible terrorists for their own benefits such as cheap labor and a new underclass regardless of what the American public wants. Francis shows more modern immigration and how the fear some have of it can now be linked to other fears, like that of terrorist attacks.
Instead of looking at only the negative aspects of immigration, Saskia Sassen wrote about how America should be working with the rest of the world to negotiate immigration policies instead of increasing the police action and policies within our country. When faced with the threat of mass immigration of poor from around the world, most of the country agrees that the best course of action is to maximize borders and the policies within them. But, Sassen writes about how this is not the best way to regulate immigration. She shows how not only immigration has changed over the years, the world has changed a lot too. When this was written at the beginning of the 2000s, civil and human rights were being fought for more and more often in both the United States and Europe. “When the object of stronger police action is a broad spectrum of people- immigrant women, men and children- sooner or later it will get caught in the expanding web of civil and human rights it will violate those rights and interfere with the functioning of civil society.” Here, Sassen is explaining how those who are oppressed won’t stay oppressed forever, and will eventually fight back and this will affect everyone living in American society. Too much police action concerning immigration and illegal immigration will also affect the people of the United States and interfere with the desire of rule of law that is so important to our society and past. Over the years, countries across the globe are developing cross-border integration for a variety of reasons such as “for goods and services, for capital, for information, and for communications.” Because this is becoming such an important part of our society, it wouldn’t be in our best interest to increase border control and police action about immigration. The best way to regulate immigration, in Sassen’s opinion, is for countries to work together to create these policies. Even Sassen agrees that immigration is not an issue that will or can be solved quickly. But, if people begin to see and to understand the key aspects of the regulation of immigration we will be more able to create more effective and progressive immigration policies.
Obviously, immigration still isn’t perfect in America. The need for a new system of immigration here is not only shown through the eyes of Americans. Because of the long waiting lists and all the people that want to immigrate to America, it can take years for a person to get approved to come here. Not only this, but immigrants are also separated from their family members who could be approved much later. Twenty six years ago, Peter Aldeza arrived in Illinois after being approved to emigrate from the Philippines. After arriving, he filed paperwork so his brother and sister could join him. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that his sister was able to come to America, and his brother still hasn’t gotten approved. The story of Aldeza and his sister proves the changes to be made to immigration today. It also shows how hard and frustrating it is to immigrate legally. “They say some prospective immigrants, frustrated by the delays, find a way into the country illegally.” Illegal immigration is an issue that is discussed frequently today and this story proves how our system of immigration may be increasing this problem. A bill was introduced in Congress last year that will keep families together and decreasing the delays of legal immigration.
Recently, the earthquake in Haiti led to controversy about letting Haitians bypass immigration rules and come to America. In the article, “Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders”, the author describes how doing this would actually be a disservice to them and to the rebuilding of their country. This issue is especially controversial because of all the other people in the world that maybe haven’t survived a natural disaster but are still in terrible living conditions. If the U.S. lets Haitians come into the country by the thousands, it would not be fair to all the other people who would equally benefit from immigrating here. This proves how the issue of immigration affects a lot of people and connects to many issues today. With this particular situation, America has to in some ways be a good parent. They have to learn when to baby other countries, when to take them in and when to send them away. “America will do the most good by doing what it’s capable of doing more efficiently. Finding ways ot make Haiti more livable, more quickly, will encourage citizens to stay. Helping to finance reconstruction will create thousands of jobs for Haitians, in Haiti. That might not feel as good as saying ‘ya’ll come,’ but in the long run, it will be far more beneficial.”

Families Spearated By Miles, Laws; Immigration Rules for Close Relatives to be Re-Examined

This article showed the problems with U.S. immigration today. It is really hard for people to get into the United States, and it can take years for a person to be approved for immigration. The article describes a man, Peter Aldeza, who immigrated here from the Phillippines twenty six years ago. His sister was supposed to follow him here, but it wasn't until 2008 that she was approved to immigrate here. "Their story embodies the experience of thousands of families waiting on a legal immigration process bogged down by delays, a frustration that lies at the heart of renewed efforts to reform the U.S. immigration system." Of course, this system can't possibly be perfect or even make everybody happy. It's hard to take into consideration all the factors of immigration and still maintain our culture and infrastructure that many conservative's are worried about. A new bill is being introduced that will try to maintain family unity and allow people to immigrate with their immediate family members to avoid situations such as Aldeza's. I think that this shows a complicated issue involving immigration. There are people who are for and against more immigrants coming here. Because of this, we have regulations and laws about immigration requiring each immigrant to be approved to come here before they actually do. I can't imagine moving to a foreign country alone, and I don't know if I would go through with it if I had to. It shows a lot of willpower and determination for a better life that immigrants are willing to come here and leave their family and friends behind, waiting possibly years until they could join you. Immigrants should definitely be aloud to bring immediate family with them easier. But, this could also maybe lead to problems with people pretending to be related and a lot of immigrants coming here at once. It's crazy that after all these years, immigration is still a very controversial issue and is still discussed and faught about. I'm not really sure that this problem will ever be solved in a way that will make everyone happy and work good for everybody but I hope someday this issue will be closer to being solved.

Background Analytical

To escape prejudice, dictatorships, famine, and more, immigrants came to America from across the globe. America was the land of opportunity; a place where any hard working man could find a job and plenty of land was available. But, America wasn’t exactly as they imagined. They faced racism, discrimination, hatred, and terrible working and living conditions. Americans soon began to fear the mass amounts of foreigners coming to live in their country. “By the mid-19th century, as more second-, third-, and fourth-generation Americans began to feel a strong sense of an increasingly American heritage and national identity, they began to regard immigrants as foreign elements who competed with native-born Americans for jobs and corrupted American traditions.” (“Immigration”) They were scared of losing their culture when it mixed with different cultures. We felt we lived the American Dream and when immigrants came we worried about having to compete for it. Some Americans, like Henry Cabot Lodge, believe that immigrants will lower the standard of American life, just don’t fit into the American race, and jeopardize American’s jobs. So, his advice is to restrict immigration. “The gates which admit men to the United States and to citizenship in the great republic should no longer be left unguarded.” He is saying here that to restrict immigration, we need to be regulating how many people are allowed to immigrate into the country and what needs to be done for them to become citizens.
“Despite prejudice and problems, immigrants still found in the United States a promised land of opportunity,” (“The Promised Land…”) After anti-immigration laws were passed and destroyed such as the Homestead Act of 1862 which promised land to those who would work for it, the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) which forbade Chinese laborers from entering the United States, and civil rights acts were passed, immigration in America changed. It has gotten more diverse and more accepting of other cultures; a melting pot. But, “many scholars argue that the melting pot metaphor is inaccurate; it would be better to refer to the American experiment as a salad bowl, or a mixing of cultures over the years.” (“The Melting Pot”) America as described here is a salad of many different cultures and people that is mixed more and more thoroughly after every generation and year passes, combining all these different people into one nation.

Literary Analytical

I read the short story called “The Swimmers” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This story shows immigration through the eyes of a man named Henry. Henry faced immigration two times; as an American to France and as a Frenchman to America. Because of this, he illustrates the topic from two perspectives. The story showed the setting changing from France to America and through that, the plot changed drastically in mood and feeling. Suddenly, his seemingly perfect French family fell apart. His wife that was his main reason for living in France, Choupette, left him for another man and they were fighting for custody over their sons. This story showed immigration completely changing because of how different American and French cultures are. It is kind of suggesting that it is somewhat of a mistake to immigrate to America. And if not a mistake, it was like the really cold feeling you get coming out of a swimming pool. This idea was echoed throughout the story. Henry decides he wants to come back to America after being taught to swim by an American girl whom he saved. He continued swimming in America and at the end of the story he had to swim to save his life and to get custody of his sons from Choupette. This theme of swimming connects with what Fitzgerald seemed to be trying to portray about immigration: that moving from one culture to another one is shockingly difficult and usually requires a lot of sacrifices. This story added deeper meaning and understanding to the topic of modern immigration. It showed how different cultures are and how American culture is unlike any other culture in the world and vice versa. Fitzgerald writes this through Henry, “In England, property begot a strong place sense, but Americans, restless and with shallow roots, needed fins and wings.” (521) This quote really shows the differences between cultures and how each culture develops its own values and ways of living that may be completely opposite from that of another place. It also shows’ how hard immigrating to America is and how Americans maybe don’t make it any easier.

"The Swimmers" By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Although I didn’t originally think that this story would directly relate to immigration, it ended up really illustrating what can happen to a family that chooses to immigrate. It also illustrated more modern immigration, which helped because I could mostly only picture it in the 18 and 1900s. In this story, a man named Henry moved to Paris from Virginia to start a family with Choupette, a French girl. After a few years, they were at the beach and a bunch of people from America were there. One girl started drowning and Henry saved her even though he didn’t know how to swim. She taught Henry and his sons how to swim and got him thinking about moving his family to America to provide a better life for them. But, once they got to America, about three years later their family was torn apart and Choupette left Henry for another man and he was desperately trying to get custody of his children. I had never really thought about people immigrating here from France before reading this story. I also thought the comments Fitzgerald wrote about America were really interesting because Henry was an immigrant in France and then in America because so much time had passed since he was there last, which proves how quickly a person can adapt to another culture and way of living. “In England, property begot a strong place sense, but Americans, restless and with shallow roots, needed fins and wings.” (521) Here, he is saying that in Europe, people lived by tradition, ancestry, inheritance and property. But, in America, people are all trying to leave their past in the past and leave behind inheritance and traditions; all they need is money and the ability to let go of yesterday. After a lot happened, he ends the story with a last thought: “France was a land, England was a people, but America, having about it still that quality of the idea, was harder to utter- it was the graves at Shiloh and the tired, drawn, nervous faces of its great men, and the country boys dying in the Argonne for a phrase that was empty before their bodies withered. It was a willingness of the heart.” (527) To me, this quote is saying that Americans aren’t really tied down to anything tangible. Each person, no matter how different, lives for the ideas this country was built off of and the willingness to believe that they will get you through to the next day.

America Must Cooperate with Other Nations in Regulating Immigration

This article, by Saskia Sassen, describes how immigration can’t be regulated solely by increased police enforcement and government policies and how these responses are not the only ways to deal with most of the country wanting immigrants out. “When the object of stronger police action is a broad spectrum of people – immigrant women, men, and children- sooner or later it will get caught in the expanding web of civil and human rights, it will violate those rights and interfere with the functioning of civil society.” In this quote, she brings this problem to a place that mostly everyone can connect with. Basically, eventually this problem will not just affect immigrants and those living near them. It could end up touching everyone and will disrupt the balance of all American society. “Sooner or later, this type of police action will touch us, the documented.” Immigrant migration to America is almost unavoidable. As a country, we need the relationships we have developed with other countries for goods, services, technology, and more. Instead of trying to get people out of our country, we should welcome them in, especially those coming from countries that we are often communicating with. Must more could get achieved for both countries if they worked together. Not only this, but because of how seriously violations of human and civil rights are taken recently, it wouldn’t be beneficial for anyone. “Whatever the control achieved, the trade-offs are too costly both for the immigrants themselves but also especially for the receiving societies in terms of violations of civil and human rights and the threats to the fabric of civil society.” From this, it doesn’t really seem worth it to me all that is being done to prevent immigration. Also, how far is America going to go? Through the efforts made to regulate and maintain immigration, we are setting ourselves up for chaos. From everything that can be learned from history, the fact that those who are oppressed won’t allow themselves to stay oppressed forever is something that seems to keep repeating. Another point that Sassen makes is that the periods of mass immigration don’t last forever and are patterned. Just like in America, every country changes and goes through good and bad periods of time, and bad times are not the only reasons that people migrate or immigrate to other countries. She ends saying that people eventually will need to “adopt a more international understanding of subjects such as immigration that used to be regarded in purely domestic terms.”

"America Must Cooperate with Other Nations in Regulating Immigration." Opposing Viewpoints: Illegal Immigration. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Immigration Must Be Restricted to Protect America Against Terrorists

Written only a month after September 11th, 2001, this article showed connections between the fears of terrorism that emerged after September 11th and immigration. The first connection this article proved was that between fear and hatred. The author, Samuel Francis, writes about what he believes to be the two dimensions of the problem. The second one is that there are places in America where “alien terrorists” can live and operate in without really being noticed by everyone else. He also exemplifies the stereotypes that are made about Arabs in this country. The facts that they maybe can’t speak English well and sometimes choose to live in the same areas doesn’t really sound too different than any other minority that has immigrated to America at some point. From a quote from an article written about Patterson, New Jersey, it is evident that the rest of the country at this time also assumes that Arabs exhibiting this kind of behavior are terrorists. “The area was ‘one of several East Coast staging areas for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,’ and the ‘hijackers’ stay here also shows how, in an area that speaks many languages and keeps absorbing immigrants, a few young men with no apparent means of support and no furniture can settle in for months without drawing attention.’” It doesn’t really make any sense to me how we are so concerned about them blending into our society and culture but when they choose to live together and for their own kind of subcultures, we assume they’re doing something wrong. Francis also talks about lessons that can be learned from other nations concerning this issue. The first lesson is that the enemy is here, not in Afghanistan. He describes how mass immigration and open-borders policies have led to potentially thousands of men that could be going unnoticed in our country but are working with terrorist groups preparing them against their enemies. But, what he wrote at the end of this paragraph really stood out to me and showed more connections of these ideas. “Short of expelling entire populations in a massive act of ethnic cleansing, there is virtually nothing the United States and the West can do about the new enemy within.” This line stood out to me because it reminded me a lot of what happened in Germany during the Holocaust. I had never really connected this at all to immigration, but it shows a possible consequence or result of the issue of immigration in America. Will we get so obsessed with maintaining our American culture and preventing immigrants from taking it over that we will attempt to remove all those who aren’t seen as Americans?

"Immigration Must Be Restricted to Protect America Against Terrorists." Opposing Viewpoints: National Security. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Help Haitians, But Don't Throw Open U.S. Borders

Although the people in Haiti need all the help they can get, the author of this article believes that there are ways America can help without just inviting all the Haitians to immigrate here. Of course, in some cases, coming to America and restarting their lives seems like it would be the best option. But, I agree with this article when it describes how all Haitians coming here will not, in the long term, help to rebuild their country. "For starters, inviting thousands to feel Haiti is no way to help Haiti rebuild. To the contrary, Haiti's survival depends on encouraging its best and brightest to remain and work on its revival." Also, it wouldn't really be fair to let anyone affected from the earthquake in Haiti immigrate to America. There are people from countries all over the world living in all kinds of conditions waiting to come here. Despite the suffering going on in Haiti right now, it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the world. Instead of carting Haitians here to America, I think that it would definitiely be more beneficial to them for the future to help improve how things are for people in thier own country. Even though it might seem hash and not helpful enough right now, in the end it will help them more by developing the skills they need to reconstruct their country if anything like this ever happens again.

"Help Haitinas but don't throw open U.S. borders.(NEWS)(Editorial)." USA Today (Jan 29, 2010): 07A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Where I Am Now..

So far, I am pretty sure that I want to focus on the American reaction to immigration and what was doen about it here. So far, I've only really found information about people being against it and not wanting immigrants to come into our country. I want to find more information about people who wanted immigration and why they feel this way. It's interesting to learn about how scared immigrants made Americans. I understand a little bit more about why immigrants weren't wanted here, and why restrictions were made on them, which makes me want to understand from more perspectives why they were for or against immigration and what they thought would/could happen in the future because of them.

Immigration

Immigration began as something America welcomed. Early America needed immigrants to jumpstart the economy and populate the country. But, not long after the creation of this country, Americans began the recurring anti-immigration sentiment. "This periodic hostility toward immigration has been sparked by a variety of motives, from simple anti-alian prejudice to fears of job competition and concerns about real or imagined threats to traditional American culture." After a few generations of immigrants thrived in America, they began to fear what would happen if too many people came in from other countries; that the solidifying American culture and freedoms they have would disappear. Because of these fears, those who immigrated from other countries would not be considered American until they had lived here for generations. This article also describes a little about illegal immigration, which is an issue discussed here a lot lately. The largest amount of illegal immigrants come in from Mexico, which most people know. Because illegal and legal immigrants are mostly living in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, or Texas, a "disprportionate share of the economic costs and social strains associated with high illegal immigrant populations" is put on a small number of states and localities. Although many economic problems can be associated with illegal immigration, this article also shows how they have benefited the economy. Slavery is illegal, and for good reason, but a large percent of farm workers in California are illegal immigrants. "Without them, many crops in California and similar states would either go unharvested or be forced up so dramatically in price, due to the increased costs of native-born labor, as to put a heavy burden on the nation's food consumers." Despite all the criticism of illegal immigration, I don't really understand why people don't look at the big picture and realize that these men and women are doing many jobs that a lot of us would rather not be doing such as mowing lawns, doing construction, and apparently, farming. "Regardless of the benefits and drawbacks of both legal and illegal immigration, the issue promises to retain its position as one of the most controversial in American society for some time to come." For all the years immigration has been discussed and changed, it is not suprising that it is and probably always will be a problem. To the world, America shows itself as a country of freedom, happiness, and opportunity. Why wouldn't people from countries where the people have little food, choice, and opportunity want to live here?

"immigration." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

For Immigration Restrictions

In his speech about a bill he introduced to restrict immigration, Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge further explained why immigration should be restricted and how. Lodge wanted all immigrants to be required to pass a literacy test in order to enter America. When i first read this, I was not really surprised. I knew before that eventually literacy tests were given to immigrants, but I never really heard an explanation before. Later on in his speech, Lodge explains how illiterate and unskilled immigrants are a threat to workers in America. I never really thought immigration in this way, and before only really looked at how bad their conditions were and how low of wages they worked. But, because they weren't able to get the same education and training as they could have received in America, they put themselves in the situation they found themselves in. It's not really their fault, but it's still not difficult to see the negative impact this could have on the economy and workforce already established in America. Because they lack skills and training, these immigrants are willing to work in bad conditions, for more hours, and for less money. Because of this, those Americans who worked hard and are qualified for a similar job may not get hired because they would be asking for more money and less hours because those are the working conditions they are used to here. "But there is an appalling danger to the American wage earner from the flood of low, unskilled, ignorant, foreign labor which has poured into the country for some years past, and which not only takes lower wages but accepts a standard of life and living so low that the American workingman can not compete with it." What Lodge said here validates the fears Americans have because of immigration. If Americans start needing to start working more and for less money in order to get a job, the standard of living in America would shoot down. Before reading this article, I had questioned what was meant by the American race, and how these foreigners could tarnish it. Lodge explained this and gave a definition for what amkes a race. "What makes a race are their mental and, aboce all, their moral characteristcs, the slow growth and accumulation of centuries of toil and conflict." This definition of a race shows a snowball affect. A race starts off with a little snowball and grows with similar people who share similar morals and values and keeps growing with hard work and overcoming conflicts and difficulties. According to Lodge, the qualities and characteristics of a race, no matter how high they get, can be weakened if a lower race mixes with a higher one. He says that the lower race will absorb the higher one if they are both about the same size. "In other words, there is a limit to the capacity of any race for assimilating and elevating an inferior race, and when you begin to pour in unlimited numbers people of alien or lower races of less social efficiency and less moral force, you are running the most frightful risk that any people can run. The lowering of a great race means not only its own decline but that of human civilization...." He warns here that all the years that were put into the growth and creation of a great race or culture could be wiped away with the negative influence and exposure to those of lesser races. Although some of these ideas make sense to me, it is still hard for me to believe that the complete separation of cultures and races is a good idea. If the only people who lived in this country were Americans, not only would our population drop, but we would also lose the influence of other cultures that teach us new and different things and expose us to more than ourselves. Learning and interacting with people from other places helps our country to grow and learn from others' mistakes and be sure that we don't make them ourselves. But, in the end I think Lodge understands this as well. "In careless strength, with generous hand, we have kept our gates wide open to all the world. If we do not close them, we should at least place sentinels beside them to challenge those who would pass through. The gates which admit men to the United States and to citizenship in the great republic should no longer be left unguarded."

Henry Cabot Lodge " For Immigration Restrictions," Annals of American History.

[Accessed February 1, 2010].

Melting Pot

This article describes the metaphor of American and a melting pot. Not just one culture or group of people, it is mixture or combination of many different cultures and people from all over the world. "The term 'melting pot' refers to the idea that the different peoples of the world who immigrated it America would mix together and become one nation." But, of course, America and the people who lived here during waves of immigration weren't too into the melting pot. The problem here is culture. Those who lived in America for generations and feel they can call themselves Americans want only to maintain whatever they feel is American culture. But, those from other countries want to keep their heritage and culture from the countries they traveled from, but still merge into this society and be able to also call themselves American. A main problem with immigration was the clashing of cultures, and people not being able to see past cultural differences and live together as one nation. Because of the oppression and discrimination immigrants received here in America, they began to form their own little communities each with its own cultural identity. The United States of America was supposed to be united and welcoming to those who wanted to be American. But, as history has shown us, those who differ from what is considered 'American' are not welcomed into this country and offered all the opportunities they were told they would have. Instead, they were refused work and housing, forced to work in terrible conditions and live in way too crowded housing. I'm not really sure that most American's could describe one distinct American culture like you could find in most other countries. Instead, despite efforts and fighting it, America is composed of all different cultures and religions and people. It is the result of all the history and all the different people that have come here from places all over the world combining into this melting pot where all the people are somehow combined and united, even if they don't see or believe it. "The system has not been perfect, and not all have succeeded, nor has the culture become one, but the goals of political liberty and financial success do bind Americans together."

"melting pot." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .