An in-depth look at the motivating factors behind immigration to America from 1607 to 1914, including what attracted people to America, who was trying to attract them, and why. Between 1820 and 1920, more than 33 million Europeans immigrated to the United States seeking the "American Dream." They came in response to an image of America as a land of opportunity and upward mobility sold to them by state governments, railroads, religious and philanthropic groups, and other boosters. But as historian Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson shows in Selling America: Immigration Promotion and the Settlement of the American Continent, 1607-1914, the desire to make and keep America a "white man's country" meant that only Northern Europeans would be recruited as settlers and future citizens while Africans, Asians, and other non-whites would be either grudgingly tolerated as slaves or guest workers, or excluded entirely. The work reframes immigration policy as an extension of American labor policy and connects the removal of American Indians from their lands to the settlement of European immigrants across the North American continent. The author contends that Western and Midwestern states with large American Indian, Asian and/or Mexican populations developed aggressive policies to promote immigration from Europe to help displace those peoples, while Southern states sought to reduce their dependency upon black labor by doing the same. Chapters highlight the promotional policies and migration demographics for each region of the United States. Features a synthesis of 35 state promotional policies regarding immigration Challenges the commonly held view that the 19th century was a period of "laissez faire" immigration policy Examines the question of why immigrants migrate to certain areas Highlights the corporate, for-profit nature of English colonization in the 17th century Includes private corporate, religious, and philanthropic promotional activities Analyzes why policymakers favored certain immigrant groups over others

"Makes a formidable contribution to U.S. immigration history by addressing historical and contemporary debates about national identity and the place of immigrants within American society."--Brian Gratton, Arizona State University "Deepens and clarifies our understanding of this understudied but very important social movement by comparing and contrasting those Americanization efforts aimed at protecting immigrants with those more coercive educational programs which we have previously thought to encompass the entire movement."--John F. McClymer, Assumption College In the first decades of the twentieth century, a number of states had bureaus whose responsibility was to help immigrants assimilate into American society. Often described negatively as efforts to force foreigners into appropriate molds, Christina Ziegler-McPherson demonstrates that these programs--including adult education, environmental improvement, labor market regulations, and conflict resolutions--were typically implemented by groups sympathetic to immigrants and their cultures. Americanization in the States offers a comparative history of social welfare policies developed in four distinct regions with diverse immigrant populations: New York, California, Massachusetts, and Illinois. By focusing on state actions versus national agencies and organizations, and by examining rural and western approaches in addition to urban and eastern ones, Ziegler-McPherson broadens the historical literature associated with Americanization. She also reveals how these programs, and the theories of citizenship and national identity used to justify their underlying policies, were really attempts by middle-class progressives to get new citizens to adopt Anglo-American, middle-class values and lifestyles. Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson is a public historian who lives in New Jersey.