While reading the intro, pages 1-29, I noticed a big theme that stuck out to me that seems to still be a contemporary issue we still face today. It was very interesting to me to read about all of the immigration problems that erupted in America after the civil war, because we definitely still deal with immigration issues in our society today.
Back in post civil war times, American citizens were just getting used to the idea of immigrants coming into America and taking over territory and jobs. Our country had just received the Statue of Liberty from France, which was supposed to be our symbol of welcome and hope. But many citizens struggled with this, as many do today. The Chinese were excluded from our country may decades ago, which caused a huge uprising among their culture.
The text states that “Immigration and rapid industrialization also generated growing conflicts between labor and corporations, or trusts, controlled by a few wealthy men” (18). We still face this problem today with a wave of immigrants coming into our country from Mexico, crossing over the border to receive a chance at a new life, eager to work at very cheap wages, just like post civil war times when the Chinese were coming to America to perform cheap labor.
I think as long as we are as accepting of a country as we are, and aren’t very proactive to prevent immigration that is negative, we will always have our current threats of terrorism scares and bad intentions from foreigners. This didn’t seem to be as severe of a risk back in earlier times. I believe those times were full of immigrants coming to America with truly sincere intentions to settle new land and have a good life, as opposed to the negative intentions of many immigrants today, who strive to destroy America and the way we operate.
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