Immigration & Xenophobia

Immigration has been a significant political issue in America since colonial times. At different times throughout American history there have been tremendous waves of immigrants that came to the United States in order to become prosperous, escape persecution, or simply better their lives and the lives of their children. Even before America was a sovereign entity, there has been debate concerning who should be included as an American citizen and who should be excluded as foreigners, aliens, or simply undesirable. These debates have included, among other things: the roles of women and minorities (chiefly African-Americans) in American politics and the "Americanism" of Irish, German, Chinese, and other immigrants that arrived to the United States in very large groups. These issues deal with the idea of what it really means to be an American, and over time the outcomes of these debates and they way Americans deal with their immigrants, have helped shape current notions of what being an American is.

It is widely believed that America's political tradition comes from a tradition of liberalism; however, some contend that other political traditions played key roles in developing American identity. While prominent political theorists, such as Toqueville and Hartz, would argue that America follows a liberal tradition, others, such as Rogers M. Smith, assert that American identity stems from a tradition of multiple political theories. In his book, Civic Ideals, Smith asserts that "American political actors have always promoted civic ideologies that blend liberal, democratic republican, and inegalitarian ascriptive elements in various combinations designed to be politically popular" (Smith, 1997, p.6). These inegalitarian ascriptive elements are the focus of this paper.