The Golden Door : The Land Of Economic Opportunity

and U.S. controlled lands. “The turn of the century saw the beginning of a great twenty-five-year surge of immigration, in which more than 100,000 Japanese nationals arrived in the U.S., and during which many of the foundational institutions of the Japanese American community were established.” These newcomers at first found much of their employment in migratory labor, working the farms, mines, canneries, and railroads of the American West, sometimes becoming active in the labor agitation of the period.

In the eyes of the early American colonists and the founders of the Constitution, the United States was to represent the ideals of acceptance and tolerance to those of all walks of life. When the immigration rush began in the mid-1800's, America proved to be everything but that. The millions of immigrants would soon realize the meaning of hardship and rejection as newcomers, as they attempted to assimilate into American culture. For countless immigrants, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the existing American population.

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

Immigrants began moving to the United States in the 1850s in search of new freedoms and opportunities. They were soon viewed as threats by the American people because they could potentially take away job opportunities from native born Americans. Additionally, the morality and capabilities of these foreign people were unknown. As a result, new social and economic policies that favored “real Americans” were enforced. These affected a large group of foreigners, including Jews, Catholics, Italians, southern Europeans, and the Chinese. (Fry 1)

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.

Throughout the Gilded Age, the US acquired approximately between 10 and 15 million immigrants. (Roediger 10) Known as the “New Immigrants,” majority of the immigrants swarm in from southern and eastern European countries such as Italy, Poland, Greece, Russia, and Croatia, and Czechoslovakia, in desperate needs of a new opportunity. Most of the new immigrants ended up obtaining jobs that involved unskilled labor, like in mills, mines, and factories, generally because they were poor and illiterate peasants. (Roediger 10) Henceforth, causing nativists to claim that the descendants of the new immigrants might prove to be racially unfit to assimilate into American society.

The immigration act of 1924 was really the first permanent limitation on immigration. This limitation was like a quota system that only aloud two percent instead of the three percent of each foreign born group living in the United states in 1890. Like it say in Document A “Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to two per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890.” Using the 1890 census instead of newer up-to-date ones they excluded a lot of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that came by in resent years (This is shown awfully well in Document B). This acts annual quota changed from 358,000 in 1921 to 164,000

The first major migration of Mexican immigrants to the U.S was during the gold rush in 1849. This was right after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which had given the U.S the land of various states including: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and parts of several other states (Gutiérrez, 2014, para. 2). About 10,000 people immigrated to the U.S during the gold rush. However this is not counting the approximately 75,000 to 100,000 Mexicans that decided to stay in the U.S after the treaty. After this the migration flow was very slow for most of the 19th century. During the period from 1840 and 1890 the average number of immigrants were about 3,000 to 5,000 immigrants per decade. Most of these immigrants traveled to the U.S in hopes to find gold in California.

Immigration law have the ‘aliens’ pursuing fault dreams of becoming a U.S citizen. The United States began to get big waves of immigrants in the late 1800’s and in the late 1900’s. Immigrants came to the “land of opportunities” to begin a new and better life. The immigration laws began with the Page act of 1875, that was when the United States restricted immigrants from Asia. Next was the Chinese Exclusion act of 1882, the act stated the prohibition of all immigrants of Chinese laborers.

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

“Immigration to the United States has occurred in waves, one of the largest of which consisted of nearly 28 million people between 1880 and the late 1920’s. “The newcomers living in various countries throughout the world decided to leave there root of origin and immigrate to the United States for various reasons, some of which included freedom from political and religious persecution, famine, or to experience the American Dream of perceived economic opportunity. Once settled; immigrants were often stereotyped and discriminated against because they were “different”. Social Justice was nonexistent as Employers often took advantage of immigrants, men were paid less than other workers and women were paid less than men. (Library of Congress, 1990) The numbers of newcomers dropped dramatically in 1924, when Congress passed highly restrictive immigration legislation.”(Bankston, Carl L., 1999). “As time has passed the United States Immigration laws have made it increasing more desirable for individuals to seek illegal entry as opposed to the legal process. High regulation and subject to numerical limitations and eligibility requirements consisting of necessary family or employment relationship and lack of access to humanitarian protection, such as refuge or asylum status have played a significant role.”(American Immigration Council, March 2012)

Factors that caused the Japanese people to immigrate to the United States were the promises of peace and prosperity. In 1868 Japan underwent a massive urbanization causing farms to be destroyed and farmers to be out of work. Japan also isolated themselves from trade to Europe and other nations, so there wasn’t a lot of work to be found in Japan at this time. As news of the economy rising in the United States, so did the temptations of the Japanese people to immigrate to this prosperous land. They boarded ships going east to the archipelago of Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.

In the late 1800s, millions of immigrants arrived in the United States for various reasons. Some sought for religious freedom, others looked for job opportunities to support their families. They came with great hopes, hoping that they would eventually become wealthy and their future generations didn’t have to suffer like them. However, when they arrived in the country, they often faced many hardships such as language problems and poverty. They were also prejudiced by the nativists. According to them, immigrants would take their jobs away and harm the society. As a result, it led to national wide debates about whether the U.S. “golden door” should remain open or limit future immigration. In fact, various evidence pointed

Japanese History With the exclusion of the Chinese came an opportunity for the Japanese to immigrate to America in the late 19th Century. In the late 1860s, a new ruling dynasty in Japan initiated an era of industrialization. By the 1890s, people living in agricultural areas were finding ever fewer economic opportunities, while the population grew and poverty increased. This lead to many Japanese males, like the Chinese, immigrating to America to economic stability. The Japanese were also faced with the same problem as the Chinese; they were viewed as a labor threat to the white workers. Although Japanese immigration started with mostly males, their population gradually balanced out with more female immigrants. That combined with the Japanese ability to become a part of California’s economy through farming; the Japanese

The United States is often called a nation of immigrants. The first period of immigrants was from the early 17th Century to the 19th Century and the waves of immigrants have spread from the early seventeenth century and continue until this time (Diner, 2009). The question of whether immigration has been beneficial or otherwise to the United States economy has remained a contentious one for a long time. Individuals have clashed over the significance and impacts of immigration, with a majority strongly defending the notion that immigration has been responsible for increased economic growth (Gray, 2012). Today, immigration has contributed to the overall economic growth. The contribution is mainly on the workforce due to the immigrants’ experience that has helped in solving many problems. For example, Immigrants can bring a wealth of experience, different ideas, perspectives, and motivation into the workforce with 25 percent of U.S public companies were started by immigrants (Gray, 2012). They boost the output of most of the United States companies and they play a major role in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of both goods and services (Gray, 2012). Immigrants further spend their earnings within the country to boost the local economies of the states they live in. Immigrants also contribute to the development of both the international trades and commerce activities. On the other side, many people claim that immigration takes away the job opportunities that are