Immigration Reform
...known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. Yet this so called idea of being “free” came with a price. Through warfare, death, and numerous other sacrifices, America has devoted so much to be what it is today and none of this would amount to anything if it were not for the millions of people who immigrated to this land of opportunity. Immigration has molded America into the nation that it has become and will continue to frame this melting pot society whether we “citizens” like it or not.
Early American Ancestors believed to have migrated from Siberia by crossing into Alaska from a land bridge now called the Bering Strait. These Native Americans or Indians settled throughout North America and inhabited the lands themselves until around the 1500’s. That is when the Europeans began to settle here. The chief “colonizers” at this time were the Spanish, French, English, and the Dutch. From there, the first permanent establishment of English Colonies in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, brought the first major wave of immigration to the US.
In 1624, England seized New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York. This area already had establishments of nationality groups from Sweden, Portugal, Germany, and Poland. Certainly, this was not the first time that land had been seized by another group as this land belonged to the Native Americans who were forced to move west by the English settlers.
Not long after that, the English colonies began encouraging northern Europeans to settle in America. Many of the immigrants wanted to come to America for freedom of religion and political persecution. They also sought the opportunities to farm and use the natural resources available in the “New World.” Over fifty percent of the early European immigrants paid their way to “freedom” and opportunity as indentured servants; who...
View Full Essay
