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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.
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