All immigrants were welcomed by Americans

Question

Is this statement true or false?

Answer 1

I assume this statement is part of a 'True or False' question? If so, then the answer is a definite NO!

Today the description of the United States as a 'Melting Pot' of different ethnic groups is taken for granted whether it's an altogether accurate metaphor is another question). But the commonly accepted image of the newly independent nation during the time of the Early Republic was one of homogeneity, a society White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. It was possible to imagine the United States in this way because, although there certainly were non-Anglo-Saxons and non-Protestants within the early United States, their numbers were relatively small and the dominant ethnic / religious group was indeed White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

This is why the first major wave of immigrants to come to the United States generated such fear and hatred; they were not Anglo-Saxon Protestants. During the 1840s hundreds of thousands of Irish and German immigrants arrived on the shores of the U.S. Virtually all of the Irish and a large percentage of the Germans were Catholics. It should be noted that, in the wake of the French Revolution (1789), the Catholic Church had become extremely reactionary and anti-democratic, so the fear of U.S. citizens of this massive influx of non-Protestants was not entirely unfounded - though, it should be noted that they need not have been afraid after all (I'll explain below).

Aside from simple bigotry, Protestant citizens of the U.S. in the 1840s believed that the influx of so many Catholics threatened the country's democratic system of government because of their blind obedience to the Pope, who was hostile to both democracy and the different Protestant denominations. U.S. citizens believed that Catholics had been brainwashed by their Priests, could not, therefore, think for themselves, and that their loyalties were to the Pope, rather than the President. This fear and hatred led, not only to discrimination, but deadly riots and the formation of an anti-immigrant political party, the 'Know Nothings' (so named because, when asked about their party, members would reply that they knew nothing).

Reality, however, was far different than the fears of Protestant citizens. Not only could Catholics think for themselves, both the Irish and German immigrants were dedicated supporters of democracy. Influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution and naturally opposed to monarchy due to having been ruled (or misruled) by the British Crown, the Irish immigrants who came to the U.S. to escape the Great Famine became enthusiastic participants in the democratic system. This was equally true of the German immigrants, the majority of whom left their homelands after participating in failed pro-democracy rebellions in 1848.

Although the Irish and German newcomers of the 1840s blazed a trail for subsequent immigrants from Europe to follow, they too were subject to bigotry and discrimination. This included Italians, Poles, and Eastern European Jews who made up the majority of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. But their treatment pales in comparison with the hostility that greeted non-European immigrants, such as the Chinese and Japanese who came to the West Coast.

Once again, immigrants coming to the United States, sad to say, have often been met by varying degrees of hostility.