Speaker. in. Philadelphia. back in 1776. the Declaration of Independence. drafted by Thomas Jefferson. was first made public. The colonistswho resisted King George and the burdensome- legislation that was coming from the other side of the. water. declared through the patron saint of Democracy and the other patriots: of those days that the: King had "endeavored to prevent the population ofthese States. for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners. refusing to pass others to encourage their- migration hither. and raisingthe conditions of new appropriations of land." Thatis the real basis of all immigration to the United States from the period of our independence down to the present time. We desired immigrants from foreign countries.. We desired the brain and the brawn of the men who could populate this great land of ours. We had to send abroad in the days of George Washington for farmers to till our soil. We were short on industries and were obliged to gather up from other countries men who could work in the mills of those days. We were dependent upon this kind of immigration. and as we have grown in industries and in wealth we have been more and more dependent upon it. It has come to us because we have grown faster. almost. than It could serve us. The President of the United States. in the message vetoing this bill on Thursday last. indicated that to pass abill thus restricting immigration to the. United States would be to reverse the policy of all the generations of Americans that had gone before. That is to say. it would reverse the policy of the Declaration of Independence.
Keywords matched
immigrants immigration naturalization