Close your eyes, put yourself in the place of an immigrant coming to America in the 1890s from poverty or war. Arriving in America and before you can even smell the air of your new life you are shoved into an island (such as Angel Island) to be vetted and integrated. You spend years trying to convince the government officials that you are who you say you are. When you are finally released, are you are homeless and jobless. The only jobs that the government will help you get are low income labor jobs that you never imagined doing before. Many people believe America is the land of opportunity, however America is not because it does not give economic and political opportunity for all.
First of all, America is not the land of opportunity for all
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Many Nativists came from immigrants who had thrived on the opportunity that America had given them. These nativists are hypocritically restricting immigration with the consequences of new immigrants being incapable of thriving on the economic opportunity America once provided. According to Document 3, from the United States Library of Congress, a political cartoon, showed rich men with the shadows of their ancestors (who were immigrants) holding up their hands and stopping a new immigrant from arriving into the country. The context from Document 3 also said that immigrants faced the, "rejection from Nativist whose families were once immigrants themselves." Since this rich Nativists are stopping the new immigrants from coming into America it shows the lack of economic opportunity because people in America are stopping new people from being able to come and thrive. One of the reasons for immigrants coming to the country was for economic reasons, they wanted jobs or they need a better wages to provide for their family. The Nativists stopping new immigrants coming into the country shows that America is not the land of opportunity for all because the Nativists did not want new immigrants to come and become rich just like them. Furthermore, the Chinese weren't allowed to come to America after the Chinese "stole" the jobs from the hard-working …show more content…
This common misconception can be made easily. Many people believe that because America supplies some people with opportunities such as education or increasing the size of their pay by a little to own a bigger house makes America officially the land opportunity for all. For some people, they could come to America and be provided with an excellent education and larger wage in order to supply their family with the necessities for survival. According to Document 6 “From immigrations, stories of yesterday, today meets young today's young immigrants”, "The education is better… Our house in the barrio was only one room in America our house is huge we can spread out in different rooms." This shows that when immigrating to America this person's life improved by finally receiving decent education and a spacious living environment. Although this person's life did improve those are not the only things that go into America being the land of opportunity for all. Most immigrants don't get a job and if they are paid minor wages and are forced to take jobs that no American wants. There's also no economic opportunity because the government only gave immigrants, low income labor jobs. This is proven by a political cartoon in Document 7, the context states that, "’Big Biz’ represents a larger US corporations and ‘ICE’ represents the immigration
Simply put, America is the land of opportunity. In the past, immigrants have left most of their family, memories, and familiarities with their homeland in search of a better life in America, where jobs were easy to find and the economy was booming. These immigrants formed almost the entire American population, a demographic anomaly in which people from nationalities separated by land and sea; these people come from countries separated by expansive distances can live within the same neighborhood. Both Anna Quindlen with her essay “A Quilt of a Country” and John F. Kennedy with his essay “The Immigrant Contribution” have documented the story of these immigrants and
After the Civil War, people started migrating West and more immigrants started coming. The country went through several major changes between 1865 and 1880 that resulted in significant changes in labor and industrialization. The majority of the country owed war debts and there were money issues that caused people to lose money, but the country was quickly industrializing and urbanizing to improve agricultural life. While the North was thriving from new inventions and methods, the South was trying to recover from the affects of the end of slavery.
All around the world the United States of America is viewed as a place of freedom and equal opportunity for all people who settle in the country. Immigrants, especially from second or third world countries, view America as a chance for them to start over and a live the lavish lifestyles they are accustomed to hearing. However, this belief that everyone in the United States lives how they want to and has equal opportunity is false. Immigrants from countries all over the world face many different issues as they settle in the United States. Although these problems may vary, the message is the same; the American dream is a lot more difficult to achieve than previously thought. Although every immigrant is different in the problems
People come to america, expecting somewhere they can better their lives, but in current circumstances, America is not a land of opportunity for immigrants, and women. There is the fact that It is difficult to have a good life in America for immigrants, Women in America don't have as much opportunity as women in other countries, and Immigrants don't have as much opportunity with job and economics as they should.
Coming from a life of poverty and despair would be enough cause for anyone to search for a better life; a life in which there is a belief that all of your biggest dreams can come true. This is the belief that many immigrants have about the United States. They naively believe for it to be the “land of opportunity”. Originally the United States was founded and settled by immigrants. Many immigrants, such as Mexicans, Eastern Europeans, Jews, and others from countries around the world came to America to escape war, poverty, famine, and/or religious prosecution. Some also chose to immigrate to take advantage of the opportunities and promises that America held. One such major group of people is Mexicans. Being a border line country neighbor to
The country is the first and most the biggest obstacle on the journey of accomplishing for anyone and that’s an American Dream. Some may not appreciate how difficult it actually is to make a name as an immigrant to the United States. While many Americans know how difficult it is to find a good job in the American economy today and most do not realize and understand how hard it is to get in to this country on your own. If and when some immigrants get into our country, they are automatically forced to start at the bottom of the “totem pole” as Howard W. Foster said, “in the employment world, with many other out of work employees or employees who are new to the American workforce. Many immigrants that do not have an education or connections here in America, start off working minimum wage jobs, if they are fortunate, even some people who have been in America for their entire lives are forced to settle for minimum wage jobs.” According to Ted Widmer from “ What the Man behind the American Dream really meant” he explains there are not many employment opportunities out for immigrates and they are being turned down because of their race and where they came from but it is not the last step in trying to achieve their dreams. In many cases the money is not enough to live off of and some people are forced to get a second or third job that only pays minimum wage causing not enough time for education and without any education they can not move up in their life and they will stay at the same level for there rest of their life’s, it will continue it is an ending cycle in this generations and will be continued in the future. The American dream is about being satisfying with your life and completing your life but it is also about earning enough to have a respectable life, having the ability to move up within the work surroundings as well as
During the 1860s, industrialization was booming and as a result, new jobs were created, which persuaded millions of Chinese people to immigrate to the United States. For immigrants, the U.S. represented the American Dream; an ideal that anyone can achieve success through hard work and determination. But what did the American Dream for immigrants mean for the future of everyday Americans? How would the influx of Chinese immigrants affect their opportunity, their American Dream? As a result of concerns such as these, the belief in Nativism became strongly held by the American people, which was commonly showcased through family values, private organizations, and federal laws. However, Nativism wasn’t universal. Advocates for Chinese
Immigration has been a burning issue lately, particularly after Donald Trump’s immigration ban in the United States of America. It has been a topic that families discuss every morning with breakfast. Despite many concerns related to immigration, it has several positive benefits that mostly outweighs the negativity. People bizarrely argue when it comes to immigration, but these arguments are primarily based on facts and ideas that are outdated or inconsistent and blindfold the positive aspect related to immigration. Many immigrants in the United States are good workers who don't depend upon any public welfare and mostly help in the overall development of the economy. As a country made by immigrants, we must not forget the fact that immigrants have helped to build cities and create a path of development form Google to iPhones (Gray & Furman, 2012). These facts are secluded, and some related arguments with different content have been repeated for years and continue. Immigrants have a lot to give the United States rather than to take, especially when it comes to economic terms.
Immigrants into the the states were given the same promise of the American Dream as the citizens already there. This dream was meant to release them from a previous suppression and give them the opportunity to better their life. They had the right to work towards this better life with fairness and without discrimination. Once a group had taken full advantage of the dream and substantially improved their own quality of life, they were able to destroy this opportunity for others. The dream that was once “held to be available to every American” became difficult to achieve. The problem was that individuals were looking out for only themselves and forgetting to take into account the welfare of their nation and fellow citizens.
“We are nation of immigrants. Some came here willingly, some unwillingly. Nonetheless, we are immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants, one, and all. Even the natives came from somewhere else, originally. All of the people who come to this country come for freedom, or for some product of that extraordinary, illusory condition. That is what we offer here—freedom and opportunity in a land of relative plenty.” (Middletown Journal 2005)
Immigrants come to America chasing hopes and dreams of someday having a life of wealth. The United States has this imagine that everything will be better and all your problems will be solved. However, in the last century we’ve had a raise of Illegal Immigrants in the country.
When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they
Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are “all created equal” with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. “Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.”
Countries around the world have always had a keen eye on the economy and events that occur in the United States of America. Many inhabitants of under developed countries seek sovereignty in the foreign land of America. Authors such as Cox and Alm’s established arguments that envelopes readers in the very agreeable idea that the present U.S. economy reflects the classic phrase “Land of Opportunity” (Cox and Alm’s 62). Alternatively, in the past the US suffered from severe prejudices of racial discrimination, which civil rights activist such as Martin Luther King focused on eradicating. Since the mid nineteenth century America has lived up to the phrase “Land of Opportunity”, because time has done away with segregation, and general discrimination among the people. The stature of the economy in the terms of equal opportunity has very much changed over the decades, and the issues
For decades immigrants to America were sure of two things. They came for the opportunity to build a better life for their families and they would not seek nor would they accept a handout. The drive and attitude of immigrants who came to America during the nineteen twenties through the nineteen sixties built strong work ethics that created our now famous American melting pot. But for the past thirty years a runaway welfare state has poisoned our good intentions. Well meaning but misguided entitlement programs gave billions of dollars in free handouts to a deluge of new immigrants as the floodgates opened and annual immigration levels more than tripled. The effects of this mass migration