A Nation Of Immigrants: What Makes An American?

An American can be defined by a variety of things. A natural born citizen is just as American as an immigrant searching for a new life, just like in “America and I” by Aniza Yezierska. An American can be a rich businessman or it could be a dedicated soldier like in “Veteran’s Day: Never Forget Their Duty” by John McCain. An individual’s definition of being an American is shaped by their life experiences. A person’s view on being an American is different because of experiences, such as being a veteran, being an immigrant, or living in poverty, all of which affect one’s perspective.

Michael Walzer’s essay on “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” raises many points about the American citizen. Specifically, he discusses “American” as an adjective (Walzer). “American” is often associated with American citizens; while this is true, the term can also be applied to Canadians and Mexicans (Walzer). American is such an ambiguous adjective that it is applicable to all countries and individuals that are part of the North American continent. Like Mr. Walzer states, American is not a truly defined term and America is not a country (Walzer). Walzer goes on to introduce a Horace Kallen’s opinion on American’s as anonymous and their “unique” pluralism (Walzer). There are exceptions to all things; the positive to being an American is the fact that Americans can be whatever they choose to be. I feel to be an American one must believe in the American ideals, they must believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. American 's in general may be anonymous, however, upon further reflection they have left the definition of “American” open for each American to define the adjective for themselves.

From an economic aspect, immigration is somewhat beneficial since it increases the US work force and it’s economy. According to Camarota Steven on his testimony’’ Immigration and the US economy’’, immigration overall increases the economy of the US due to the fact that more workers and more people mean bigger GDP. He also pointed out that the impact of immigration of the seize of the economy is not a measure of the benefits of natives. That means that regardless of the benefits of natives, Immigration is a tool to increase the economy of the US. On the other hand, it can be detrimental to the US economy. In fact most of the immigrants work “under the table” which make the fiscal

I believe that what it means to be an American is to struggle,not be accepted for you are,and to feel and be treated as someone less then other people. To be an American is to struggle with being undocumented and not being able to have a an actual document stating you went to school and have and education. “The federal dream act, which would have provided a path for undocumented children and would penalize states that failed to provide in-state tuition for undocumented students, failed to make it through congress in 2011. (I’m American too’:Undocumented students wait for Obama)” This is a key factor as to why being an American isn’t always

What, exactly, makes an American an American? This question has been asked and answered since before this country was officially founded. Men and women of a multitude of races and culture have written and spoke of it. Both ends of the spectrum have been addressed extensively. From admiring ambition to condemning corruption, nothing has been left out. In America there are three things that, to me, truly define us. A nationwide greed, awe inspiring in its magnitude, which gives the Capitalistic system we run on life. A deeply ingrained sense of patriotism, hewn into us by our revolutionary forefathers, that has earned us many powerful enemies and allies. The underlying distrust of our own government, which allowed us to create our democracy,

Immigration can be defined as passing foreigners to a country and making it their permanent residence. Reasons ranging from politics, economy, natural disasters, wish to change ones surroundings and poverty are in the list of the major causes of immigration in both history and today. In untied states, immigration comes with complexities in its demographic nature. A lot of cultural and population growth changes have been witnessed as a result of immigration. In the following paper, I will focus on how immigration helps United States as compared to the mostly held view that it hurts America.

What is an American? This question cannot be answered by one word. There are so many different characteristics, qualities, and features that can be used to describe an American. Besides features, someone is only a real American if they take advantage of all of the many privileges that are given to them. Any person that is not grateful for the privileges that are given to them to me are not real Americans but this is only my opinion. Real Americans use their privileges to benefit themselves and everyone around them. In today's society there are certain things that are expected from American citizens, for instance being a responsible citizen.

She works a 8-10 shift, comes home to a family of 5, and always teaches us good lessons. She has raised us and Will continue to do So "You held to get good grades, don't get Played by boys, and always help others even it they did wrong. And never keep hate in your heart." words I've grown up with. those are the words of my mother. Coming home tired every day was her, but I never seemed to care. My mom, 45, is a thin yet Strong-willed woman. whenever she returns home from a long clay of work, she always asks for Massages And I ALWAYS complain. "Ugh, Why do I have to do this?" Or "What do I get in return?" Were my answers. Looking back at it I regret it when I was the one to complain and not my mom. I'm the one who sits at home all day and does

What does it mean to be an American? By: Grayson Fields 5/22/2018 What does being an American mean to you? A famous historian, Philip Gleason, once said “To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular national, learning languages, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an American.”

In Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita, and “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros share a common bond of questioning, what makes a person "American"? I believe an american is defined by his love for his country and his contribution to keeping america the "melting pot". America was founded by immigrants seeking refuge from hardship and political and religious persecution. America is a land of immigrants and freedom seeker. I myself am Japanese and French But Because I was born in the United States Im considered a US citizen.

What does it mean to be an “American”? To each individual person it means something very different. For the writer Bharati Mukherjee, who wrote the essay, “American Dreamer”, to be a true American someone has to want to be an American, not just prove that they merited citizenship. Her essay “American Dreamer” goes in depth into this idea and her opinion that as an American one should believe in bringing together the cultures in America. “We must think of American culture and nationhood as a constantly reforming, transmogrifying “we” (Mukherjee 438). For the author James Baldwin, who wrote the essay “Stranger in the Village”, an American is a person who is integrated with other cultures, and

As said earlier, immigration forms the present face of the world. America is nothing more than unison of immigrants coming from different parts of the world. Even, the Aryans, who are the predecessors of north Indians, are believed to have migrated from Middle Asia to India. Immigration acts in both directions of development, the positive as well as negative. On one hand, it opens the way for talented and professional work force from the other lands. But it also enhances the rate of competition and struggle for

America is a country of immigrants. Therefore, our American ride and achievements merely not be possible without the compeers of immigrants who have come to our coasts from every corner of the earth. And so, it is helpful to take a moment to mirror on the important benefits by the cohorts of immigrants who have helped us build our economy, and made America the economic machine of the world. Therefore, if not some of these Immigrants being here in U.S, the economy will be shaking and the nation won’t be where it is now. Examples, of the Immigrants contributions to the American Soil are, the Immigrants help to create jobs opportunities, the Immigrants help to increase the

Through history, mass immigration has continually had negative effects on societies. This was very apparent in Rome at the time that they had much of the world’s power and thrived. People from all different places wanted to get into Rome because of the great circumstances in the empire. Rome opened its border to numerous barbarian groups to come in and settle, letting groups of ten-thousand, twenty-thousand, and even thirty-thousand in at a time. Soon, Rome lost control of their borders and the influx became overwhelming and the great Roman empire fell (2). In the current day, the United States is doing something similar that caused the downfall of Rome. The type of policy used by the U.S. government (welcoming and helping immigrants) is acting as a magnet to continue the process of mass immigration into the country (25). The U.S. is currently taking in about 11 million immigrants

Immigration is a debatable argument since many people have divergent perspectives as if it is more salutary than inimical to the country especially in its economical aspects. Immigrants apport many propitious factors to the community through job opportunities, technological advances, and amelioration of efficacy as well as many others. The development of the country commenced a long time ago, it prospered with strenuous exertion and dedication and there is anecdotal testimonials, data and history validate this claims; however, the trepidation implemented into others has caused chaos in the perspective they are conceived and they abortion several similar evidence like anecdotal testimonies and history.