The Lot of the Immigrant Past Present and Future

Jason Sharkey

Ms. Satter

English #5

May 15 06

The lot of the immigrant past present and future

America has since its founding as a nation, been a nation composed of immigrants and decedents of immigrants. Throughout our history it has been a blessing for us. Our country had the diversity of culture that so many other countries lacked, and it was this diversity that allowed us to develop so quickly because the fertile mix of cultural values and outlooks provided good soil for the seeds of new ideas that could not have been born anywhere else. Still America has a pattern of mistreatment to the flow of new ideas represented by those immigrants. In fact using current law and popular opinion it is visible that the status of an immigrant has changed little over the decades.

Immigrants have always held a low position in society. Of course when the colonies were first established the social order was more forgiving. But even some research into the first European settlers to the east coast will reveal that most had low positions in society. Many were paying off debts or starting colonies in hopes of turning a profit and returning home. This helped to establish from the beginning the feeling that anyone who came to America was not so much someone seeking opportunity but rather someone that was undesirable in their own country. This bias would remain a source of hardship for immigrants even today.

Because they were seen as undesirables and because they were not as acclimated to the lifestyle,