Mr. Speaker. no single nationality group has given itself more to the American ideal than the Polish Americans. The earliest recorded history of America shows that hardworking Polish immigrants were asked to come to the Jamestown colony by Capt. John Smith. who was familiar with the excellent reputation of the Polish workingmen. These early Polish settlers. who came to Virginia in 1619. diligently plied their trade as indentured workers for the Virgina Co. of London until they tired of their secondclass citizenship. much like todays minority groups. and demanded that they be treated as "freemen." Impressed with their skills and desirous that the colony prosper. the English agreed to enfranchise the Poles and allow them to participate in the running of the Jamestown colony.
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immigrants