The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
General
The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
American literature; Americanization; Noncitizens -- United States
The spirit of the man and his work is manifested in his favorite
motto, _Nullum jus sine officio, nullum officium sine jure_ (“No
right without its duties, no duty without its rights”). It is
not necessary to mention his numerous writings except the one of
immediate interest here,--“The Stranger in America,” published in
1834, a series of letters written to a friend in Germany. In the
selection that follows, the reader will be struck by the wisdom and
foresight in pointing out the danger of segregation and the futility
of German immigrants attempting to erect a German state within the
United States.
A GERMAN IMMIGRANT POINTS OUT THE DANGERS OF SEGREGATION
The Germans, as I said, form a most valuable addition to our
population, when mingled with the great predominant race inhabiting
the northern part of this continent. Whenever colonists settle among
a different nation, in such numbers and so closely together that
they may live on among themselves, without intermixture with the
original inhabitants, a variety of inconveniences will necessarily
arise. Living in an isolated state, the current of civilization of the
country in which they live does not reach them; and they are equally
cut off from that of their mother country: mental stagnation is the
consequence. They remain a foreign element, an ill-joined part of the
great machinery of which they still form, and needs must form, a part.
Sometimes, indeed, particular circumstances may alter the view of the
case. When the French Protestant colonists were received into Prussia,
it was perhaps judicious to allow them, for example in Berlin, to form
for a time a community for themselves, to have their own jurisdiction,
schools, and churches, because they were more perfect in many branches
of industry than the people among whom they settled; and, had they been
obliged to immerge forthwith, their skill, so desirable to those who
received them, might have been lost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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