What 's Next? America

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

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

America, a land that prides itself on being “the great melting pot”, and “the land of opportunity”, oftentimes exemplifies everything but that. Over the years, a vast majority of immigrants have migrated to America and assimilated themselves to American culture. In Moustafa Bayoumi’s novel, “Rasha”, he describes the turmoil some families face when trying to immigrate into America. In the novel, Rasha was arrested, thrown in jail and detained for three months just because she was a Muslim. While immigration is portrayed as a way to a “better life”, the truth is that families just like Rasha’s still encounter discrimination that challenges American ideals such as freedom of religion and equality.

“Who would pretend that a history of a migration has immunized the United States against bigotry?” In Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, Scott Russel Sanders uses this rhetorical question to convince his readers to think more logistically about migration. He pries open the eyes of Americans and shows them the damage that moving can cause, as opposed to Salaman Rushdie’s thoughts that it was only positive.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court Case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) which nationally legalized same sex marriage, the religious right has felt that protections on religious liberty in this country have gone under attack. As the LGBTQ+ movement gains more traction in mainstream media, local municipalities, and even state governments, many religiously conservative states legislatures have begun to fight back by passing laws that protect a person’s right to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community because of religious objections. While a person’s right to abstain from participating in a business transaction concerning a same sex marriage has been widely debated (and continues to be widely debate) for some time now, the new anti-transgender

Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants,

To say that immigrants in America have experienced discrimination would be an understatement. Ever since the country formed, they have been seen as inferior, such as African-Americans that were unwillingly brought to the 13 colonies in the 17th century with the intention to be used as slaves. However, post-1965, immigrants, mainly from Central and South America, came here by choice. Many came with their families, fleeing from their native land’s poverty; these immigrants were in search of new opportunities, and more importantly, a new life. They faced abuse and Cesar Chavez fought to help bring equality to minorities.

In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and

There are millions of different countries in this world. Some are privileged, others are not. Some flee war-ridden countries in hopes of finding a better place to live and a fresh start. These people that move from one country to another are immigrants. America is full of immigrants, in fact our country was built on immigrants. But, a majority of these people are ostracized and shunned for their beliefs, race, and plenty of other things. The excerpts from the stories A Quilt of A Country and The Immigration Contribution, which both compare and contrast each other, discuss how America’s background was formed and the different people that helped construct America. We are all different, and that is what makes us great.

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

Mississippi has created a new law that gives business owners and organizations the right to restrict service to gay people. On April 5th, the Governor of Mississippi signed the Bill 1523, passing a law that prohibits the government form taking action if a person, business or organization refuse service to a person in the LGBT community (Phillips). Mississippi’s new law takes away basic human rights making it unconstitutional, how a person chooses to live their life shouldn’t affect how they are treated, and discrimination against a group of people has torn our nation apart before.

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.”

This research describes the legal ins and outs of American immigration policy, citizenship, ‘border control’, and the relationship between foreign policy and constitutional law, regarding refugees. Since the birth of the United States in 1776, citizens, from countries all around the world have considered making the trek to America, in hopes of pursuing a different, more prosperous life. Yet, many of history’s hopeful travellers have learned- legally entering America is potentially the most strenuous part of finding their place, in the country. From the late 18th Century until now, there has been gradual increase not only in the quantity of immigrants from around the world, but also the amount of countries these immigrants are

The world was created with the intent that every person might inhabit it and live freely and for the most part most of the people do just that; live freely with little to no restrictions. Yet, there is a small percentage that is oppressed, not openly, not publicly but in the shadows. In this country everyone comes from a line of immigrants. Every settler, every missionary, every pilgrim came to the New World as an immigrant, one who comes to live permanently in a foreign country due to oppression, religious freedom, or to pursue a better life. Yet a pressing issue that has taken a high level of importance in the political and social spectrums is the issue of immigration, how to prevent future immigrants from entering America

The question is some how hard to answer but I will do my best in answering to the best of my knowledge. Considering the fact that both values are important in making sure that everybody is happy, I think they should follow the law that requires all businesses to serve everyone regardless of their race, color, national origin, or creed. We are supposed to do what the law says and not what we think. But where it becomes complicated is where that same law gives everyone the freedom to say what they want and also the freedom of religion. In my opinion, I think the business owner were wrong, selling to the lesbian couples doesn’t mean that they’re engaging in the act or anything relating to that. If they law had said that nobody should sale to them it would have been a deferent matter entirely, but since that is not the case nobody should deny them of their right to patronize anybody. If anybody is not comfortable with they law that has been put in place they have the right to take it to the court and not take laws into their own hands by denying people of their right. A right can be given and can also be taken at the same time, therefore, it’s the duty of the government to always decide. The fact that the government have that right make laws doesn’t mean that they can do what they want at the expense of people happiness.