African-Americans and Immigration in American Life
Joseph Wickliffe
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Ethnic Relations in American Life
We must not assume that there was a uniform ethnic attitude among people. The widespread prejudice against Irish, discrimination against Germans and other kinds of ethnic resentments found their way into the language: The phrase "Dutch treat" meaning no treat at all, for example, describes the alleged stinginess of the Dutch 3(George Fredrickson and Dale T. Knobel, "History of Prejudice and Discrimination", HEAG, p. 840). Discrimination against Germans was another matter, John Higham argued that the first major ethnic crisis in American history involved the Pennsylvania Germans whose settlements seemed to be an inassimilable alien bloc to many of Pennsylvania's non -German majority. Benjamin Franklin was a founding father of the non-religious activists. Franklin, who tried to boss colonial Pennsylvania politics was angry with the Germans because, in one of the state elections, they had voted against Benjamin Franklin. The concept of race relations between English and blacks and more so between all whites and Indians and blacks were largely ignored by colonial Americans. During the era of the American Revolution as in other great crises in our history, ethnic differences were played down. The American Revolution was viewed as the crucible of American nationality. It created fracture lines in every ethnic group in the nation. The most obvious evidence of these fractures was the evidence of emigration from the United States. Emigration was considered the most profoundly un-American act. Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, spoke blithely of "one people". He used the "one people" line but carefully noted that American's were "citizens by birth or choice of a common country" and that with slight shades of difference they had the same religion, manners, habits and political principles. Jefferson did spoke blithely of "one people." Part of his bill of particular complained that the King had endeavored to prevent the population of the states by the obstructing the laws of Naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration. He commented on race relations, he made it clear that the United States was a white mans country.
