Immigration and the Founders

I'm blogging on the theme of immigration, specifically how it related to the founding fathers. In class we watched "Hamilton" which was about Alexander Hamilton's experience as an immigrant. The play assumes that he supported immigration without qualification. But this link shows that Hamilton was more lukewarm on the issue. In 1776, at the Constitutional Convention, there was a debate on limiting membership to Congress to native-born Americans. Hamilton opposed it – “The advantage of encouraging foreigners is obvious…” and a residency requirement was put in place as a compromise. But his views on immigration began to change. Later, he worried that “the influx of foreigners” would “change and corrupt the national spirit.” Like Hamilton, many modern day Americans have made the same change in opinion. 

Colonial Immigration

I'm back and this will be my blog on the colonial period. As you remember I picked the theme of immigration. This is the period of when Europeans started to out number Native Americans. This article describes which Europeans came to America and why they came. Like we learned in class, English immigrants came for a mixture of religious and economic reasons. They came to make a better life for themselves or to escape religious persecution. But what I didn't know is that Germans, Dutch, and Swedes had migrated to the middle colonies for similar reasons.

Syrian Refugees

I believe that immigrants is what makes this country the way it is today. It brings diversity and other cultures making it the greatest place on earth.

This article talks about Syrian refugees and the struggle they are facing in a place they believed was their home. It says they are forced by militants in very harming ways, including bullets and knives, doing what they could to protect their family from the harmful militants. Their seek to protection included walking for days, riding in the back of pickup trucks and hiding in the back of delivery vans.

This article explains the long suffering that the refugees have been facing, struggling to find a place they can call home, and most importantly struggle for a place they can be safe.

I think that immigration to America would be a great idea. It allows others to start their new lives in a new scenery that they are not that familiar with but they know that they are safe. It would be a better place for Americans and immigrants.

I agree with what the refugees are doing to get to a safer place so their family's wont be in harms way. Its not safe to live in an environment in which people are being abused physically and financially by their own government.

Link: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/syrian-refugees/salopek-text