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    Melting Pot

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    Sarah Dance
    American society has often been described as a melting pot, where people from around the world assimilate into American culture. The United States has a long history of immigration dating back to the early 1600s. Throughout its history, the U.S. government has attempted to regulate immigration through nationality quotas and restrictions, though debates continue over immigration policy and national identity. Scholars disagree on whether large groups of immigrants, such as Latinos, threaten or enrich American identity and culture.

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    Melting Pot

    Uploaded by

    Sarah Dance
    119 views2 pages
    American society has often been described as a melting pot, where people from around the world assimilate into American culture. The United States has a long history of immigration dating back to the early 1600s. Throughout its history, the U.S. government has attempted to regulate immigration through nationality quotas and restrictions, though debates continue over immigration policy and national identity. Scholars disagree on whether large groups of immigrants, such as Latinos, threaten or enrich American identity and culture.

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    American society has often been described as a melting pot, where people from around the world assimilate into American culture. The United States has a long history of immigration dating back to the early 1600s. Throughout its history, the U.S. government has attempted to regulate immigration through nationality quotas and restrictions, though debates continue over immigration policy and national identity. Scholars disagree on whether large groups of immigrants, such as Latinos, threaten or enrich American identity and culture.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    119 views2 pages

    Melting Pot

    Uploaded by

    Sarah Dance
    American society has often been described as a melting pot, where people from around the world assimilate into American culture. The United States has a long history of immigration dating back to the early 1600s. Throughout its history, the U.S. government has attempted to regulate immigration through nationality quotas and restrictions, though debates continue over immigration policy and national identity. Scholars disagree on whether large groups of immigrants, such as Latinos, threaten or enrich American identity and culture.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    THE USA MELTING POT American society has often been described as a melting ot b!

    t in recent years" it has also attracted other definitions s!ch as #tomato so! # and #tossed salad#$ For centuries, the US has attracted people in search of a share of "the American dream" from all corners of the world. In fact, US history is one of immigration. In 162 , a!out 1 religious freedom. "nglish colonists, so#called "$ayflower %ilgrims" left for America see&ing

    'hey landed near %lymouth, $assachusetts, mar&ing an early successful "uropean migration to (orth America, which had !een inha!ited !y Amerindian people for more than 16, years. 'he immigration flow to the US first accelerated after the French )e*olution, and during the 1+th century, population pressure, fragmentation of land in rural "urope and famines dro*e millions of "uropeans to the (ew ,orld. 'hroughout the 1+th and 2 th -enturies, American ports teemed with .erman, -hinese, Irish, Italian, and %olish immigrants. Until 1//2, the US go*ernment practised an open door immigration policy, !ut at the end of the century, it !egan trying to control immigration !y e0cluding prostitutes, criminals, alcoholics, and -hinese, among others, from coming to the country. %ortress America& 1uring the 2 th -entury, the US go*ernment &ept fine#tuning its immigration policies. Under the national origins 2uota system, esta!lished in 1+21, admission to the US largely depended upon an immigrant3s country of !irth. Se*enty percent of all immigrant slots were allotted to citi4ens of 5ust three countries6 U7, Ireland and .ermany. 8ut these went mostly unused, while there were long waiting lists for the small num!er of *isas a*aila!le to those !orn in eastern and southern "urope. In 1+69, the nationality 2uotas were a!olished, which is seen to ha*e inaugurated a new era of mass immigration, particularly from $e0ico and :atin America. In an effort to cur! illegal immigration, in 1++6 -ongress passed legislation which mar&ed a turn towards tougher policies for !oth legal and illegal immigrants. It increased the categories of criminal acti*ity for which immigrants, including green card holders, could !e deported, and imposed mandatory detention. As a result, more than one million indi*iduals ha*e !een deported since 1++6. ,hile critics of illegal immigration are pushing for e*en tougher laws, mass demonstrations across

    the US ha*e shown that such a strategy will not !e accepted !y a large section of the population. 'he immigrants3 campaign groups argue that a country !uilt !y immigrants will fail to function without them. Melting ot Americans ta&e pride in their "melting pot" society ;a term coined !y an immigrant, Israel <angwill= that encourages newcomers to assimilate into the American culture. 8ut the melting pot imagery has !een contested !y the idea of multiculturalism, the "salad !owl theory", or as it is &nown in -anada, the "cultural mosaic", where!y the immigrants retain their own national characteristics while integrating into a new society. Some go further. >ar*ard political scientist Samuel >untington says that large#scale :atino immigration poses a threat to American identity. According to %rofessor >untington the reality of American history is !est descri!ed as tomato soup6 the !lending of new ingredients adds spice without compromising the essential character of tomato. "-ontri!utions from immigrant cultures modified and enriched Anglo#%rotestant culture of founding settlers. "'he essentials of that founding culture remained the !edroc& of the US identity, howe*er, at least until the last decades of the 2 th -entury," $r >untington writes in his contro*ersial 2 ? !oo& ,ho Are ,e. 'he -hallenges to America3s (ational Identity. >e sees the gra*est threat to American identity in $e0ican immigration which, according to him, is splitting America in two. "As their num!ers increase, $e0ican Americans feel increasingly comforta!le with their own culture and often contemptuous of American culture", he says. Sense of history 8ut are the $e0ican#dominant areas of the US really consolidating themsel*es into a culturally and linguistically distinct and economically self#reliant !loc within the US, as %rofessor >untington states@ 1ouglas )i*elin from the (ational Immigration Forum contests $r >untington3s *iew of :atinos as different from other immigrant groups. "I was astounded that someone so smart could write such a !oo&," he says. ">e is totally missing what is going on in the US. 'he same thing could ha*e !een written in 1+2? a!out Irish or other immigrants, and it would ha*e !een e2ually wrong." "8agels and pi44as and spaghetti were new things at one time... immigrants come and change America and are changed !y America."

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