When reading chapter 4 I found the
fact that Germans entered into indentured servitude in order to pay for their
crossing into America to be very interesting. Indentured servitude is a system
that I have a hard time wrapping my head around but also wonder if it is not a
system that in way still exists today. The idea of selling myself into a form
of contractual slavery is absolutely repugnant to me. I am curious if my
aversion to the system is a byproduct of growing up in contemporary times were
such institutions are universally dismissed or if there is something inherently
distasteful about the practice. Did the German people of the nineteenth century
who were forced to enter into this condition find the practice as distaste as I
do? I cannot imagine that anyone would be to enter into a form of slavery, even
though indentured servitude was not indefinite. I was also struck by the dichotomy
between indentured servitude and slavery. Would the institution of slavery be
viewed as so horrific if slaves were granted their freedom after a certain
period of time? Could future race relations have been improved if African slaves
were granted the opportunity to pursue their freedom after they had worked for
their slave owner for a set period of time. To me the difference raises some
questions about what made the American institution of slavery so terrible. Is
denying a person the freedom to pursue the direction of their life, even if it
is only for a relatively short period, wrong or is mandating that even one born
to a certain group will be relegated to a secondary status in society and live
their life in bondage. I also wonder if today’s society with jobs that pay so
little could be considered a form of indentured servitude? It seems that so
many people are forced to work as cheap laborers, barely subsisting on their
income in a system that is similar to a form of slavery.
I also found the section on Jews in
Chapter 4 to be interesting as well. I was surprised to discover that
Anti-sematic laws were being passed as early as 1740. I have always known that
Jews were a persecuted group but to discover that they were discriminated against
so early on in American History is amazing. Not letting Jewish people become
naturalized citizens contradicts what is supposed to be the spirit of America
and the myth that all immigrants are welcome on our shores. It makes it worse
that many of the Jewish immigrants were descendants from Jews who had been
expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492.
Chapter 5 begins by posing the question of what is an
American. The beginning of the Chapter highlights two distinct definitions of
Americaness by two European visitors. The first definition states that an
American is a “new man” and helps espouse the theory that America is a cultural
melting pot. This is a heavily romanticized notion of what it means to be
American. In all truthfulness Americans are rarely if ever accepting of people
from other cultures and people from other cultures retain many of the beliefs
they learned in their native country. The second definition of Americanism showcases
a more realistic sentiment of what it means to be American. The second
definition states that immigrants do not arrive in this country as “blank
slates” but instead retain much of their original culture and identity. I feel
as though this better explains the immigrant experience in this country. It is presumptuous
to assume that immigrants automatically reject their native culture and fully
adopt a new American identity, it is far more realistic to assume that
immigrants create a hybrid cultural, fusing their native beliefs with their newly
learned American customs. Personally, I feel that the question of what it means
to be American is an important one in understanding our culture and defining
our history. To this end, I do not think it is important to ascertain which of
these two views is correct but instead figuring out which notion of Americanism
does one prescribe to. Are we a country of “new peoples”, something distinct
and separate from whatever country of origin we immigrated from or are we an
amalgamation of the cultures emanating from our country of origin and America.
The chapter
also mentions America’s continued amibivalence about immigration which I think
is becoming more and more relevant in today’s society. Hispanic immigration
into the United States is becoming more of an issue every day and no easy
solutions are to be found. It is interesting to know that the “mixed” feelings
that so many people feel towards Hispanic immigrants now is nothing more than
an outgrowth of sentiment that has existed in our country since its inception.
Given the relative harmony people in the United States are able to live in, why
is there such a continued fear of immigrants coming into the country? History
has shown us that eventually everything will normalize and society will
continue to function. It is strange to think that every successive wave of
immigrants views the next group of immigrants as threats to their financial and
social security.
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