High School United States History

Fall Module: Were Immigrants Welcome

in the United States?

Student Text Set

Denver Public Schools High School United States History • Fall Module

Were Immigrants Welcome in the United States?

Denver Public Schools High School United States History • Fall Module

Table of Contents Political Cartoons Page 1 History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals Page 9 Chapter 15, Section 4, “Responses to New European Immigrants” “Landed on Ellis Island: Page 11 New Immigration Buildings Opened Yesterday” History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals Page 13 Chapter 15, Section 5, “Immigration from Asia” “The Chinese Panic” Page 16 History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals Page 17 Chapter 15, Section 6, “Immigration from North and South” “Bonjour, America!” Page 19

“Uncle Sam’s Lodging-House”

Puck Magazine, June 7, 1882. Cartoon shows Uncle Sam responding to the Irishman, “Look here, you, everybody else is quiet and peaceable, and

you’re all the time a-kicking up a row!”

1

“Where the Blame Lies”

Judge Magazine, April 4, 1891. Cartoon shows a man holding a top hat in one hand and gesturing toward horde of arriving immigrants labeled

"German socialist," "Russian anarchist," "Polish vagabond," "Italian brigand," "English convict," "Irish pauper," etc., at Castle Clinton in New York

City. A scowling Uncle Sam leans against a building, at his feet is a sheet of paper on which is written, "Mafia in New Orleans, Anarchists in

Chicago, Socialists in New York." The man (Judge) says to Uncle Sam: "If Immigration was properly restricted you would no longer be troubled

with Anarchy, Socialism, the Mafia and such kindred evils!"

2

“Be Just – Even to John Chinaman”

Judge Magazine, June 3, 1893. A man (Judge) says to Miss Columbia, "You allowed that boy to come into your school, it would be inhuman to

throw him out now - it will be sufficient in the future to keep his brothers out." Note the ironing board and opium pipe carried by the Chinese.

An Irish American holds up a slate with the slogan "Kick the Heathen Out; He's Got No Vote."

3

“Welcome to All!”

Puck Magazine, April 28, 1880. Uncle Sam on the "U.S. Ark of Refuge" welcoming immigrants, with cloud "War" over them. The sign to the left

of Uncle Sam reads: "Free education, free land, free speech, free ballot, free lunch." The sign on the post reads, “No oppressive taxes, no

expensive kings, no compulsory military service, no knouts [whips] or dungeons.”

4

“Castle Garden – Emigrant Catchers”

Puck Magazine, June 14, 1882. Cartoon depicts those awaiting immigrants: Money Changer, Baggage Swindler, Boarding House Runner,

Temptress, Confidence [Con] Man, “Friend from the Old Country.”

5

“A Statue for Our Harbor”

Wasp Magazine, November 11, 1881. Cartoon depicts a statue, a caricature of a Chinese man, in San Francisco’s harbor. The beams of light

coming out of the unseen torch are labeled: Filth, Immorality, Diseases, and Ruin to White Labor.

6

“Looking Backward”

Puck Magazine, January 11, 1893. Caption reads: “They would close to the new-comer the bridge that carried them and their fathers over.”(From the Opper Project)

7

“The Immigrant”

Judge Magazine, September 19, 1903. Caption reads: Is he an acquisition or a detriment?

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15.4 Responses to New European Immigrants

Immigrants typically came to the United States with little money and few pos-sessions. Because of their general poverty and lack of education, most were notwelcomed into American society. Without much support, they had to work hardto get ahead. In time, some saved enough to move out of the slums and perhapseven buy a home. A few opened small businesses, such as a grocery store or a tailor’s shop. But many remained stuck in dangerous, low-wage factory jobsthat barely paid their bills. An accident on the job or an economic downturnmight leave them without work and possibly homeless and hungry.

Immigrants Receive Aid from Several Sources In the late 1800s, the gov-ernment did not provide aid or assistance to unemployed workers. They wereexpected to fend for themselves. But needy immigrants did have several placesto turn for help. The first sources of aid were usually relatives or friends, whomight provide housing and food.

If necessary, the needy might seek assistance from an immigrant aid society.These ethnic organizations started as neighborhood social groups. They metmainly in churches and synagogues, groceries, and saloons—the centers ofimmigrant community life. They might pass the hat to collect money for afamily in need. In time, local immigrant aid societies joined together to formregional and national organizations, such as the Polish National Alliance andthe Sons of Italy in America.

During the 1890s, a type of aid organization called a settlement housearose in the ethnic neighborhoods of many large cities. A settlement house wasa community center that provided a variety of services to the poor, especiallyto immigrants. It might offer daytime care for children, as well as classes,health clinics, and recreational opportunities for the entire community.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 193

While adult immigrants often found it hard to assimilate, their children made a muchsmoother transition. Education was the key to their Americanization. As they learned to speak English and studied American history and civics, they quickly adapted totheir new homeland.

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Chapter 15194

Immigrants might also turn to political bosses for help. These bosses werepowerful leaders who ran local politics in many cities. They were in a positionto provide jobs and social services to immigrants in exchange for the politicalsupport of immigrants who could vote. These supporters often voted for theboss and his slate of candidates in local elections.

The Assimilation of Immigrants Many immigrants held on to their old customsand language as they gradually adapted to American life. This was especiallytrue for older immigrants living in ethnic neighborhoods. The children ofimmigrants, however, typically found assimilation into American society mucheasier than their parents did.

Education was the main tool of assimilation. Immigrant children in publicschools studied American history and civics, and they learned to speak English.Yearning to fit in, they more eagerly adopted American customs.

Some patriotic organizations pushed for the Americanization of immigrants,fearing that increased immigration posed a threat to American values and tradi-tions. Through efforts such as the publishing of guides for new citizens, theypromoted loyalty to American values.

Some Americans Reject Immigrants Many Americans disliked the recentimmigrants, in part because of religious and cultural differences. Most of theearlier immigrants were Protestants from northern Europe. Later waves ofimmigrants came from southern and eastern Europe and were often Catholicsor Jews. Their customs seemed strange to Americans of northern Europeanancestry, who often doubted that these more recent immigrants could beAmericanized. Many people also blamed them for the labor unrest that hadspread across the country in the late 1800s. They especially feared that foreignanarchists and socialists might undermine American democracy.

Dislike and fear provoked demands to limit immigration and its impact onAmerican life. This policy of favoring the interests of native-born Americansover those of immigrants is called nativism. Nativism had a long history in theUnited States. Before the Civil War, nativists had opposed the immigration ofIrish Catholics. In the 1850s, they formed a secret political party known as theKnow-Nothings, because when asked a question about the group, memberswere told to answer, “I don’t know.”

As the main source of immigration shifted to southern and eastern Europein the late 1800s, nativism flared up again. Nativists were not only bothered by religious and cultural differences, but also saw immigrants as an economicthreat. Native workers worried that immigrants were taking their jobs and low-ering wages. Immigrants often worked for less money and sometimes servedas scabs, replacement workers during labor disputes.

In 1894, a group of nativists founded the Immigration Restriction League.This organization wanted to limit immigration by requiring that all new arrivalstake a literacy test to prove they could read and write. In 1897, Congress passedsuch a bill, but the president vetoed it. Twenty years later, however, another literacy bill became law. Meanwhile, efforts to slow immigration continued.During the 1920s, Congress began passing quota laws to restrict the flow ofEuropean immigrants into the United States.

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Opponents of immigration claimed that the“garbage” of Europe was being dumped onAmerican shores. Political parties includedanti-immigration statements in their platforms.For example, in 1892 the Democratic Partysaid the country should not become “thedumping ground for the known criminals andprofessional paupers of Europe.”

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Annie Moore Article The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/anniemoorearticle 1/2

Annie Moore Press Coverage

Landed On Ellis Island: New Immigration Buildings Opened Yesterday

A RosyCheeked Irish Girl The First Registered Room Enough for All Arrivals Only Railroad People Find Fault

NEW YORK, Jan. 2, 1892 (The New York Times) — The new buildings on Ellis Island constructed for the use of the Immigration Bureau were yesterday formally occupied by the officials of that department. The employees reported at an early hour, and each was shown to his place by the Superintendent or his chief clerk. Col. Weber was on the island at 8 o'clock, and went on a tour of inspection to see that everything was in readiness for the reception of the first boatload of immigrants.

There were three big steamships in the harbor waiting to land their passengers, and there was much anxiety among the newcomers to be the first landed at the new station. The honor was reserved for a little rosycheeked Irish girl. She was Annie Moore, fifteen years of age, lately a resident of County Cork, and yesterday one of the 148 steerage passengers landed from the Guion steamship Nevada. Her name is now distinguished by being the first registered in the book of the new landing bureau.

The steamship that brought Annie Moore arrived late Thursday night. Early yesterday morning the passengers of that vessel were placed on board the immigrant transfer boat John E. Moore. The craft was gayly decorated with bunting and ranged alongside the wharf on Ellis Island amid a clang of bells and din of shrieking whistles.

As soon as the gangplank was run ashore, Annie tripped across it and was hurried into the big building that almost covers the entire island. By a prearranged plan she was escorted to a registry desk which was temporarily occupied by Mr. Charles M. Hendley, the former private secretary of Secretary Windom. He asked as a special favor the privilege of registering the first immigrant, and Col. Weber granted the request.

When the little voyager had been registered Col. Weber presented her with a tendollar gold piece and made a short address of congratulation and welcome. It was the first United States coin she had ever seen and the largest sum of money she had ever possessed. She says she will never part with it, but will always keep it as a pleasant memento of the occasion. She was accompanied by her two younger brothers. The trio came to join their parents, who live at 32 Monroe Street, this city.

Besides those of the Nevada, the passengers of the City of Paris and of the steamship Victoria were also lauded at the new station. They numbered 700 in all, and the many conveniences of the mammoth structure for facilitating the work of landing were made manifest by the rapidity with which this number was registered and sent on to their various destinations. It was quite a populous little island about noon, when the steerage passengers from the three big steamships were being disembarked but within a very short time they had all been disposed of. Those destined for local points were placed on board the ferryboat Brinckerhoff and landed at the Barge Office. Those going to other places were taken to the varioius railroad stations by the immigrant transports.

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6/8/2015 Annie Moore Article The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/anniemoorearticle 2/2

The first ticket sold by the railroad agents in the new building was purchased by Ellen King, on her way from Waterford, Ireland, to a small town in Minnesota.

Col. John J. Toffey and Major Edward J. Anderson, who have succeeded to the contract for the supply of subsistence, signalized the day by entertaining Col. Weber, the Superintendent of Immigration; Major Hibbard, the Superintendent of Construction; Surgeon Toner and staff, and all the employes of the station at a New Year's Day spread. Capt. Charles W. Laws, their chief, had prepared the board for 300 guests, and the throng had a mery time at the tables.

Col. Toffey and Major Anderson had planned to have a pretentious opening and their friends were to have been invited, but the authorities at Washington directed that the opening be made without any ceremony.

All connected with the Immigration Bureau expressed themselves as exceedingly well pleased with the change from the cramped quarters at the Barge Office to the commodious building on its island site. The railroad people were the only ones who were heard to express any dissatisfaction. Their grievance is that the building is so large as to involve much running about on their part in getting their various passengers together. Others said that when the tremendous number of immigrants who had to be handled in this building was considered finding fault with its size was like complaining of a circle for being round.

"We can easily handle 7,000 immigrants in one day here," said Col. Weber. "We could not handle half that number at the Barge Office. At the old place the greatest delay was in the baggage department. All that is now done away with, as the baggage department has the entire first floor and the arrangement is perfect."

The building was erected by the Federal Government at a cost of $500,000. The wharves are so arranged that immigrants from two vessels can be landed at the same time. As soon as disembarked the passengers are shown up a broad stairway on the southern side of the building. Turning to the left they pass through ten aisles, where are stationed as many registry clerks. After being registered, those of the immigrants who have to be detained are placed in a wirescreened inclosure. The more fortunate ones pass on to a similar compartment where those going to the West are separated from those bound for NewEngland or local points.

There is an information bureau in the building for the benefit of those seeking friends or relatives among the immigrants. There are also telegraph and railroad ticket offices and a money changer's office.

Except the surgeon, none of the officials will reside on the island. The surgeon occupies the quarters formerly used by the gunner when Ellis Island was a naval magazine.

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Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 195

Mob violence against Chinese immigrantsbroke out in several American cities in thelate 1800s. This engraving shows an anti-Chinese riot in Denver in 1880. Anti-immigrantforces blamed the Chinese for economicproblems at the time. As a result, Chineseimmigration was banned for 10 years.

15.5 Immigration from Asia

Although immigration after the Civil War was mainly from Europe, manyimmigrants also arrived each year from Asia. They made important contribu-tions to the country. They also provoked strong reactions from nativists.

Chinese Immigrants Seek Gold Mountain You have read about the thousandsof Chinese railroad workers who laid track through the Sierra Nevada for theCentral Pacific Railroad. Thousands more joined the swarms of prospectorswho scoured the West for gold. In fact, the Chinese referred to California, thesite of the first gold rush, as Gold Mountain.

The vast majority of Chinese immigrants were men. They streamed intoCalifornia, mainly through the port of San Francisco. Most expected to workhard and return home rich. However, they usually ended up staying in theUnited States.

Besides finding employment in mining and railroad construction, Chineseimmigrants worked in agriculture. Some had first come to Hawaii as contractlaborers to work on sugar plantations. There they earned a reputation as reli-able, steady workers. Farm owners on the mainland saw the value of theirlabor and began bringing the Chinese to California. The Chinese were willingto do the “stoop labor” in the fields that many white laborers refused to do. By the early 1880s, most harvest workers in the state were Chinese.

Many businesses hired the Chinese because they were willing to work forless money. This allowed owners to reduce production costs even further bypaying white workers less. As a result, friction developed between working-class whites and Chinese immigrants.

The Exclusion Act: Shutting the Doors on the Chinese During the 1870s, adepression and drought knocked the wind out of California’s economy. Seekinga scapegoat, many Californians blamed Chinese workers for their economic woes.The Chinese made an easy target. They looked different from white Americans,and their language, religion, and other cultural traits were also very different.As a result, innocent Chinese became victims of mob violence, during whichmany were driven out of their homes and even murdered.

Anti-Chinese nativism had a strong racial component. The Chinese wereseen as an inferior people who could never be Americanized. Economist HenryGeorge reflected this racist point of view in characterizing the Chinese as“utter heathens, treacherous, sensual, cowardly, cruel.”

Nativists demanded that Chinese immigration be curtailed, or reduced.Their outcries led to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Thislaw prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, for a period of 10 years. It also prevented Chinese already in the country frombecoming citizens. For the first time, the United States had restricted immigra-tion based solely on nationality or race.

The Chinese Exclusion Act still allowed a few Chinese to enter the country,including merchants, diplomats, teachers, students, and relatives of existingcitizens. But the act did what it was supposed to do. Immigration from Chinafell from a high of nearly 40,000 people in 1882 to just 279 two years later.

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Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West Although the Chinese Exclusion Act was highly effective, some Chinese managed to evade the law by usingforged documents and false names. In response, federal officials developedtougher procedures for processing Asian immigrants. They also decided toreplace the old immigrant-processing center in San Francisco with a new, moresecure facility located on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

Completed in 1910, the Angel Island Immigration Station became knownas the “Ellis Island of the West.” It was designed to enforce the exclusion actby keeping new Chinese arrivals isolated from friends and relatives on themainland and preventing them from escaping. At Angel Island, immigrantsunderwent a thorough physical exam. Then they faced an intense legal inter-view, more involved and detailed than the Ellis Island version. Officials hopedto exclude Chinese who falsely claimed to be related to American citizens.

Interviewers asked applicants specific questions about their home village,their family, and the house they lived in. They also questioned witnesses. Theprocess could take days. Those who failed the interviews could enter an appeal,but additional evidence took time to gather. Applicants were often detained forweeks, months, or even years.

Chinese detained at Angel Island stayed locked in wooden barracks. Theseliving quarters were crowded and unsanitary. Detainees felt miserable and frus-trated to be stopped so close to their goal. From their barracks, they could seeacross the water to the mainland. Some carved poems onto the walls to expresstheir feelings. One Chinese detainee wrote,

Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day,My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?

—from Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore, 1989

Many Chinese never made it to the mainland. About 10 percent were put onships and sent back to China after failing the medical exam or legal interview.

Some Asian immigrants detained at Angel Island carved poems into the walls of the barracks there. The poemsdescribed both the misery and thedetermination of the detainees.

Chapter 15196

Starting in 1910, immigration officialsprocessed Asian immigrants at Angel Islandin San Francisco Bay. Some newcomersfaced lengthy detention. Here a Chineseimmigrant endures a legal interview.

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Other Asian Groups Immigrate to the United States The Chinese ExclusionAct created a shortage of farm laborers. Large-scale farmers looked to Japan andlater to Korea and the Philippines for workers. These other Asian immigrantshad experiences similar to those of the Chinese. Many first emigrated to workon Hawaiian sugar plantations. They came to the United States through AngelIsland to work in orchards, in vineyards, and on farms in California, Oregon,and Washington. Some worked for railroads and other industries.

A number of Japanese immigrants leased farmland and had great successgrowing fruits and vegetables. They formed ethnic neighborhoods that providedfor their economic and social needs. Koreans had less success. Only a smallnumber moved from Hawaii to the mainland in the early 1900s, and they ledmore isolated lives. Immigrants from the Philippines migrated up and downthe West Coast, taking part in fruit and vegetable harvests. In the winter, manyof these Filipinos worked in hotels and restaurants.

Despite their contributions, all Asian immigrants faced prejudice, hostility,and discrimination. In 1906, anti-Asian feelings in San Francisco caused thecity to segregate Asian children in separate schools from whites. When Japan’sgovernment protested, President Theodore Roosevelt got involved. Hoping toavoid offending East Asia’s most powerful nation, the president persuaded San Francisco’s school board to repeal the segregation order. In return, he gota pledge from Japan to discuss issues related to immigration.

In 1907 and 1908, the American and Japanese governments carried outsecret negotiations through a series of notes. These notes became known as the Gentlemen’s Agreement. In the end, Japanese officials agreed not to allowlaborers to emigrate to the United States. They did, however, insist that wives,children, and parents of Japanese in the United States be allowed to immigrate.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 197

State laws barred Japanese men frommarrying non-Asian women. In the picture-bride system, families arranged marriagebetween a son living in the United States anda daughter in Japan. The prospective brideand groom exchanged photographs andpersonal information.

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The Chinese Panic

Editorial, Harper’s Weekly, May 20, 1882

The Republicans have taken the responsibility of prohibiting the voluntary immigration of free

skilled laborers into the country, and have been the first to renounce the claim that America

welcomes every honest comer, and offers a home to the honest victim of the oppression of

kings or of cruel laws. Chinese labor has greatly developed the Pacific coast. It is in demand and

use to-day, and the fidelity, efficiency, and integrity of the Chinese laborer are not denied.

Except for the demand, he would not come. Henceforth for ten years any one who comes may

be imprisoned for a year, and then expelled from the country. Those who are already here must

be registered, and furnished with passports to authenticate themselves, and justify their

traveling in the country. Chinese travelers who are not laborers nor residents will be admitted

to the country only by passports, and the national and State governments are prohibited from

naturalizing any Chinese person. Yet no offense is charged upon these people, and they are but

a handful—at most, a hundred thousand. They are not migratory, and they come only because

of the demand for their labor. The Federal party sank under the odium of the alien and sedition

laws. But they only provided for the removal of suspicious foreign individuals who might be

plotting against the government. The Republican party has gone further in prohibiting the

coming of a few honest and intelligent and thrifty laborers. The idea of a Chinese invasion is

merely preposterous, and whenever it should threaten to approach, it could be easily averted.

Having laid down the principle of discrimination against foreign immigration, those who are

responsible for it ought not to shrink from the just consequences. The statistics of crime and

disorder in the country and the records of corruption in our politics show that all of them have

been greatly increased and stimulated by the Irish immigration. Dangers to the free-school

system have also appeared from the same source. Threatening complications with friendly

foreign states are due to the same element. Why not suspend the Irish immigration for ten

years, and imprison the honest Irishman who comes of his own free will to get higher wages

and to improve his condition? Why not require all those who are already here to obtain

certificates from the collectors of ports, and to produce passports if they wish to move about

the country? Why not enact that Irishmen who are not laborers shall be admitted to the

country only with passports, and that the words "Irish laborers" shall be construed to mean

both skilled and unskilled laborers?

Why not, but that such provisions would be repugnant to the American principle and to

common-sense? Yet such an exclusion would be very much more plausible than that of the

Chinese…

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15.6 Immigration from North and South

The East and West coasts were the main gateways for immigrants to theUnited States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But immigrants also crossedthe country’s northern and southern borders. Before 1900, people passed backand forth across these land borders largely unchecked. Even later, the lengthand isolation of the country’s borders made enforcement of immigration lawsalmost impossible. Europeans and Asians sometimes crossed by land to avoidimmigration restrictions. However, most who came this way were eitherFrench Canadians from the north or Mexicans from the south.

Crossing the Southern Border: Immigrants from Mexico In the late 1800sand early 1900s, legal restrictions on Chinese and Japanese immigrationmounted. As they did, the population of Asian farmworkers in the UnitedStates shrank. Commercial farmers in the West began to rely on a differentsource of labor: Mexico. By the late 1920s, Mexicans constituted a large por-tion of California’s agricultural workers. Many Mexicans also became migrantfarmworkers and construction workers in Texas.

Mexicans had lived in the area of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Cali-fornia since the earliest Spanish settlements. In the late 1800s, more Mexicansmoved to this area, in part to escape poverty and civil unrest in Mexico. By1890, many Mexicans were migrating into the Southwest. Around this time,railroads began extending their lines across the border, which made travelfaster and easier.

Higher wages in the United States attracted many Mexicans. Some cameto work on the railroads. Others labored in the copper mines of Arizona. Stillothers worked on the farms and in the citrus groves that blossomed through-

out the region with the expansionof irrigation. The Mexican Revo -lution, which began in 1910,pushed even more Mexicansacross the border.

Like other immigrant groups,the Mexicans often suffered at thehands of native-born Americans.They might be welcomed as cheaplabor, but they were commonlyscorned as inferior to whiteAmericans. Racist attitudes towardMexicans, especially those withdark skin, led to discrimination.They were kept in low-level jobs and commonly denied access topublic facilities, including restau-rants. Many Mexican childrenwere only allowed to attend seg -regated schools.

A demand for low-wage labor in the late 1800scontributed to a surge of immigration fromMexico. Mexican immigrants worked invarious industries, from railroads and steelmills to canneries. Hundreds of thousandslabored in the fields as migrant farmworkers.Others, like these men, worked as miners.

Chapter 15198

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Crossing the Northern Border: The French Canadians Many Canadians alsocame to the United States after the Civil War. Between 1865 and 1900, morethan 900,000 immigrants arrived from Canada. Some of these were English-speaking Protestants, but a larger number were French-speaking Catholics.They arrived mainly from the province of Quebec.

Like other immigrants, the French Canadians were seeking greater oppor-tunities than they had at home. Typically, they traveled by train across the border to the United States. But most did not go too far south. The majoritysettled in New England and around the Great Lakes. There they workedchiefly in textile mills and lumber camps.

With their language, religion, and customs, the French Canadians differedfrom the English-speaking society around them. At first, they resisted American-ization, preferring to maintain their cultural and historical ties to Quebec. Inpart because of their apparent unwillingness to assimilate, French Canadianscame under attack by nativists. In 1881, a Massachusetts official declared,

The Canadian French are the Chinese of the Eastern States. They carenothing for our institutions . . . Their purpose is merely to sojourn [staytemporarily] a few years as aliens . . . They are a horde of industrialinvaders, not a stream of stable settlers.

—Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Twelfth Annual Report, 1881

European, Asian, Mexican, and French Canadian immigrants all facedaccusations that they were unwilling to become members of American society.In time, all would prove the nativists wrong. They would establish vibrant ethnic communities, and their cultures would become vital pieces of theAmerican mosaic.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 199

Most French Canadian immigrants formedcommunities in New England and typicallyworked in textile mills and lumber camps.Others opened businesses that catered toFrench-Canadian customers. This RhodeIsland clothing store announced sales eventsin both French and English.

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3/17/2015 Bonjour, America! NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/opinion/bonjouramerica.html 1/3

http://nyti.ms/12KeGTb

The Opinion Page | OPD CONTRIUTOR

onjour, America! STPHN R. KLLY JULY 23, 2013

DURHAM, N.C. — WATCHING the freeforall in Washington overimmigration reform, it’s easy to conclude that an airtight border has alwaysbeen our national goal.

After all, the unmistakable message behind the bevy of bordersecuritymeasures in the immigration bill, which was approved last month by theSenate and now sits in the House, is that a country that can’t preventforeigners from swarming unchecked across the land border is in seriousjeopardy.

The trouble with this narrative, as I discovered when serving as theAmerican consul general in Quebec City in the late 1990s, is that it flies in theface of our own history.

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, nearly a million French Canadianspoured across our northern border to take jobs in New England textile andshoe mills. This movement, part of an even larger mass of Anglo Canadiansalso moving south, surged after the Civil War and ended with the GreatDepression, with peaks in the 1880s and 1920s.

The majority of these job seekers — French speaking, slow to assimilate,mainly Catholic — entered without visas, work permits or passports, becauseduring most of this period our land border with Canada was effectively wideopen.

The United States not only survived this unregulated onslaught, itprospered. Indeed, our history suggests that having an open border with ourcontinental neighbors isn’t such a bad thing.

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Exactly how many French Canadians made the trek is difficult tocalculate, because before 1895 no federal immigration officials monitored thenorthern land border. Neither Canada nor the United States had seen the freemovement of people across their common border as a problem seeking asolution.

Even when the United States finally built land border posts in the late1800s and early 1900s, they were aimed primarily at Eastern and SouthernEuropeans who were using Canada to sidestep immigration screenings atseaports like New York and Boston.

Canadian migrants, despite their huge numbers — by 1900 the number ofCanadianborn United States residents equaled an astounding 22 percent ofCanada’s entire population — continued to receive special treatment.

They did not have to pay the head tax imposed on other foreigners, and norecords were kept of their entry until the Naturalization Act of 1906. And itwasn’t until 1926 that they had to get a visa to move permanently to the UnitedStates.

When the United States first imposed immigration quotas in 1921,Canadians — along with Mexicans and other Latin Americans — were exempt,a status they enjoyed until the quota system was modified in 1965.

So how did the United States fare during this period of largelyunregulated border crossings? And what happened to all those FrenchCanadians, whose linguistic and religious differences made them stand outmore sharply than AngloCanadian migrants?

Most flocked to mill towns in New England, where they powered thetextile factories that boomed after the Civil War. In a pattern that reflectstoday’s Mexican migration, they followed family members to places where jobswere plentiful, but hard and undesirable.

Their labor was in such demand that mill owners sent recruiters toQuebec to hire more. Entire villages would relocate south, usually by train,swelling the populations of towns like Biddeford, Me.; Southbridge, Mass.; andWoonsocket, R.I., whose populations by 1900 were more than 60 percentFrench Canadian.

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As with Mexican migrants today, not everyone welcomed this influx. OneMassachusetts official called French Canadians “the Chinese of the easternstates” in an 1881 report that described them as “indefatigable workers” whohad no interest in assimilating and drove American wages down. They wereeven vilified at home in Quebec, where religious and political leaders sentemissaries to woo them back.

Some did return, but the majority stayed and assimilated. Besides helpingto fuel New England’s manufacturing boom, thousands served in the worldwars. Rene Gagnon, whose Quebecborn mother worked at a shoe factory inManchester, N.H., was one of the Marines photographed raising the Americanflag over Iwo Jima in 1945. The author Jack Kerouac was born of FrenchCanadian parents in Lowell, Mass.

Far from causing the collapse of the republic, these largely unregulatedborder crossers helped build the United States we know today.

What the French Canadian experience shows is that our current obsessionwith border security is inconsistent with our history, undermines oureconomic vitality and is likely to fail.

Instead of vainly trying to fortify our land borders, we should be workingwith Canada and Mexico to keep the things we should really worry about —terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, cocaine — out of North America alltogether.Stephen R. Kelly is a retired American diplomat and the associate director of theCenter for Canadian Studies at Duke University.

A version of this oped appears in print on July 24, 2013, on page A23 of the New York edition withthe headline: Bonjour, America!.

© 2015 The New York Times Company

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