In a sense, they changed it a bit.
Posted on 04/04/2006 5:34:55 PM PDT by neverdem
Today's rancorous debate over immigration has a parallel in the nativist reaction to the mass Irish immigration in the mid-19th century.
Spurred by the potato famine that began in 1845, 3.5 million mostly destitute Irish migrated to America by 1880 - about 7 percent of the population of 50 million. By contrast, today's 11 million unauthorized immigrants, of all nationalities, constitute just 4 percent of our population.
Contemporary immigration foes, like former Gov. Dick Lamm and Rep. Tom Tancredo, claim America can't absorb so many foreign-born without fatal damage to our economy and culture.
Yet, history shows we did just that. Today, there are 43 million Americans of Irish ancestry, a key element of the vibrant alloy that is America.
Today's nativists argue we can't compare today's illegal immigrants to the Irish, because the Irish came here legally. That's technically true, but the 19th century wave was just as uncontrolled, because America had virtually no bars to immigration in those days.
Kenneth Ackerman's book, "Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York," details how the desperate Irish were welcomed at the docks by the political machine that provided the only social safety net in that era.
Tweed minions would help the newcomers find housing and work and, if there was an election in the offing, they would swiftly be naturalized as citizens in mass ceremonies by Tweed's judges, so they could vote for their benefactors.
Cartoonist Thomas Nast, who hated Irish and Catholics with equal fervor, pandered to the nativist bigotry by depicting Irishmen as drunken, subhuman brutes. The accompanying Nast cartoon depicts the role immigrants played in supporting Tweed by showing an Irish thug and a Catholic priest carving up the Democratic Party goose that laid the golden eggs.
But though the Irish were despised, they were still admitted through America's golden door. That's because Americans needed them to do our dirty work.
The first generations of Irish worked largely at unskilled and semiskilled occupations, but their children found themselves working at increasingly skilled trades. By 1900, when Irish Americans made up about 8 percent of the male labor force, they were almost a third of the plumbers, steamfitters and boilermakers. Their places at the bottom of the ladder were taken by newly arrived laborers from southern and eastern Europe.
Today, those dirty, low-paying, jobs are being taken by Latinos. But if history is any guide, the daughter of that Latina who scrubs your floor today may be the doctor who delivers my granddaughter's baby a generation hence.
To some, that is a frightening prospect. But I think Clio, the muse of history, would join with Lady Liberty herself to say:
Bienvenidos, Americanos nuevos.
Bob Ewegen is The Denver Post's deputy editorial page editor.
Most of the new immigrants were drafted into the WBTS. That is why there were the draft riots in New York.
It seems like now you are quibbling over words. Ok, so wetback refers to someone who swims across the Rio Grande to enter the US. Not all illegal immigrants cross that way- so you don't mind the ones who hide in a car, since they aren't wetbacks?
The point I was getting at is that it undermines the legitimate discussion on FR to use derogatory epithets when there are plenty of fair, accurate options. Using words like 'wetbacks' on FR is handing the leftists who call FR bigoted their talking points on a silver platter.
swap racist with derogatory and you get the idea. Btw, what are the three?
Many hispanics are also white. Not sure what your point is.
Weren't/aren't the Irish called 'Black' in Europe?
I'm not sure that's true. I think catering to the expectations set by the politically correct, especially in a case like this, is giving in where it isn't necessary.
If it were truly racist, I might agree with you, but it definitely isn't. Activists on the left have made it that way, but I say we shouldn't let them dictate the language of our debate.
Something we are all leaving out, is that Mexicans fought on both sides as well, mostly for the "invaders"
" The difference between the Irish and the illegal immigrants, though. The Irish came through Ellis Island and weren't sneaking over the border to get in. There's that whole legal thing again. "
www.ellisisland.org is a great resource .
We found the ship's manifest for my paternal grandmother and it gave us goosebumps to see her name listed and imagine her journey.
Immigrants coming through Ellis Island had to undergo a legal and medical examination.
Not likely under a mesquite bush by the Rio Grande.
"The two main reasons why an immigrant would be excluded were if a doctor diagnosed that the immigrant had a contagious disease that would endanger the public health
or if a legal inspector thought the immigrant was likely to become a public charge
or an illegal contract laborer."
Hmmmm....
I'm tired of the dying media equating the plight of my grandparents to those of today's Mexican " guest " workers.
My grandparents wanted to start a new life in America, they wanted to become Americans and they came legally.
What a concept.
Nothing racist about that.
Matthew 5:46-48
"46": For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
"47": And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
"48": Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Believe me when I say I have no right to criticize...and submit this only as a brother.
I don't get the racism argument. Is French a race now too like Mexican is?
In a sense, they changed it a bit.
I'm not against Latinos. I just want this country to have the same control over it's borders that other countries have. That's apparently too much for some people.
Well, they did try to burn NYC down during the war between the states. Haven't seen the hispanic immigrants try that yet.
That's true.
That would be awesome to find those records. I haven't found my great grandparent's records. Just my great great uncle at Castle Gardens. He was the one who sponsored my great grandparents and the rest of his family so they could get in here.
This is true.
Irish were Latinos of their day
But the latinos have better food.
The Mexican culture is a culture of banditos.. and victims..
The Mexicans are NOT Irish.. or even Canadians that have some of the same culture..
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