Migration in the United States
As the concept of the "United States" began to form in the original 13 colonies, the declaration of independence, the bill of rights and various other documents written by the founding fathers established founding ideas of what it meant to be a member of the United States of America. This however came at the expense of the already existing nations and communities whose land was stolen by the original 13 colonies and would continue to be stolen by explicit policy decisions such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the notion of "Manifest Destiny," the idea that it was the divine mission of the United States to expand its territory across the North American continent and with it civilization, democracy and freedom to the "savages." This would inform the expansionist policy within the United States to allow it to become the conjunction of states it is today, such as the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) that was orchestrated by the United States in order to obtain what is present-day California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Throughout much of its immigration policy, the United States has been exclusionary, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to present-day policy such as the "Muslim Ban," an executive order by former President Trump in 2017. Regardless, the United States had maintained its narrative of being the land of opportunity, even having a concept such as the "American Dream." Nowadays, this isn't exactly true.
In these pages, we will observe specific instances of migration policy within the United States and how certain themes regarding immigrants have changed or been maintained.