Powell J. Encyclopedia Of North American Immigration

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resident status and has the same rights to enter and remain

in Canada as a permanent resident.

provincial nominee An immigrant selected by provinces

and territories under agreements with Citizenship and

Immigration Canada to meet specific skill needs in the local

economy. Nominees must still meet federal admissibility

requirements.

refugee See convention refugee.

removal order An order issued by the Immigration and

Refugee Board or an immigration officer that requires the

person named in it to leave the country within a specified

time; includes exclusion orders, departure orders, and

deportation orders.

self-employed person A foreign national who has the

intention and the ability to create his or her own employ-

ment by 1) making a significant contribution to the cultural

or artistic life of Canada or to athletics in Canada at the

world-class level, or 2) purchasing and managing a farm in

Canada.

sponsor A group, a corporation, or an unincorporated orga-

nization or association that sponsors refugees, or a Canadian

citizen or permanent resident who is at least 18 years of age,

resides in Canada, and has filed a sponsorship application in

respect of a member of the Family Class.

study permit A document issued by a visa or immigration

officer authorizing a foreign national to study in Canada;

specifies type of study and allowable duration of stay.

temporary resident A foreign national lawfully in Canada

for a temporary purpose. Temporary residents include stu-

dents, foreign workers, and visitors such as tourists.

work permit A document that authorizes a foreign national

to work in Canada.

334 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

1. The Mayflower Compact, 1620

2. A letter on the difficulties of governing New France, 1685

3. An account of Pennsylvania, 1698

4. An account of New Orleans, 1763

5. Excerpts from the Quebec Act, 1774

6. Excerpts from the Alien Act, 1798

7. Excerpts from Charles Fenno Hoffman, A Winter in the West, 1835

8. An early expression of nativism by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1835

9. Excerpts from the Durham Report, 1839

10. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Article 8, 1848

11. Proclamation of Juan Cortina, 1859

12. Excerpts from the Homestead Act, 1862

13. Letters from Iowa to Norway, 1863 and 1865

14. Documents on Chinese exclusion, 1880–1882

15. Nativism in print, two examples, 1916–1917

16. An autobiographical account of the immigration work of a voluntary agency,

1920s

17. A Japanese woman’s account of her evacuation from British Columbia, 1942

18. Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, 1946

19. Recollections of the refugee years, 1946–1970

20. Excerpt from the McCarran-Walter Act, 1952

21. Racism in Vietnam, 1971

22. Objectives of the Canadian Immigration Act, 1976

23. An account of Somalis in Canada, 1990s

24. Excerpts from the USA PATRIOT Act, 2001

25. Canada’s Immigration Plan for 2002

26. Highlights of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Its Regula-

tions, 2002

27. Speech of President George W. Bush, proposing New Temporary Worker

Program, 2004

335

Appendix A

DOCUMENTS

}

The Mayflower Compact, 1620

Dissatisfied with the strictures of the Church of England, the

Pilgrims migrated to Holland in 1608–09. Fearing loss of their

English identity, in 1617 a group committed themselves to

moving to America. Receiving a land patent from the London

Company, 41 Pilgrims and 61 other English settlers set off for

America aboard the Mayflower, making landfall in November

1620. An error in navigation led them to Plymouth Bay in

modern-day Massachusetts instead of to their intended desti-

nation of Virginia. Without authorization to form a civil gov-

ernment there but too late in the season to continue the voyage,

the Pilgrim leaders signed the Mayflower Compact, agreeing to

support “the generall good of the Colonie.”

In the name of God Amen. We whose names are underwriten,

the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord King James byth

[by the] grace of God, of great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king,

defender of the faith, &c. Having undertaken, for the glorie of

God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honour of

our king & countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the

Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly &

mutualy in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant

& combine our selves togeather into a civill body politic; for our

better ordering, & preservation & furtherance of the ends afore-

said; and by vertue hearof to enact, constitute, and frame shuch

just & equall lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, & offices,

from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient

for the generall good of the Colonie; unto which we promise all

due submission and obedience.

Source: Daniel J. Boorstin, ed., An American Primer, 2 vols. (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1966), p. 3.

A Letter on the Difficulties of Governing

New France, 1685

From the time that Samuel de Champlain founded the first

permanent French settlement at Quebec in 1608, entrepreneurs

found it difficult to entice French citizens to venture to the New

World. Administrative mismanagement, failure to secure settlers,

and the constant threat from American Indian tribes sparked a

complete reorganization of the government, which was brought

under royal control in 1663. Though the government had some

limited success in encouraging settlement, most who came were

trappers, soldiers, churchmen, prisoners, and young indentured

servants. This letter from a local French official, Jacques-René

Brisay de Denonville, to the Paris government demonstrated the

growing concern with the nature of their settlement.

13 November 1685

It seems to me that this is the place, Monseigneur, that we have

to take into account the disorders which occur not only in the

woods but also in our settlements. These disorders have come

to the Youth of this country only through the laziness of the

children, and the great liberty which the light control of fathers

and mothers and Governors have exercised over youth in allow-

ing them to go into the woods on pretext of hunting or trading.

This has reached the extremity, Monseigneur, that as soon as

the children can shoulder a rifle the fathers can no longer

restrain them and do not dare to make them angry. You may

judge what evils may ensue from such manner of living. These

disorders, Monseigneur, are greater among the families of those

who are gentilshommes [gentlemen], or those who have set

themselves up to be such, because of idleness or v

anity, having

no means of subsistence except the woods because not being

accustomed to wield the axe or pick or guide the plow their

only recourse is the rifle. They have to pass their lives in the

woods, where there are neither priests to trouble them, nor

fathers nor Governors to constrain them. There are, Mon-

seigneur, among those men some who distinguish themselves

above others in these disorders and against whom I have

promised to employ the authority which the King has entrusted

to me to punish them severely. I am persuaded, Monseigneur,

that you will acknowledge and will approve that I do not amuse

myself with a formality of justice which would tend only to

subtlety in order to hide the vice and leave the disorders unpun-

ished. Convincing proof not always being readily established I

believe, Monseigneur, that military justice in this case is more

suitable than any arrêt [ruling] of a judge.

Mr. De la Barre has suppressed a certain order of chevaliers,

but he has not taken away its manners or disorders. A way of

dressing up like savages, stark naked, not only on carnival days

but on all days of feasting and debauchery, has been treated as

a nice action and joke. These manners tend only to maintain

the young people in the spirit of living like savages and to com-

municate with them and to be eternally profligate like them, I

could not express sufficiently to you Monseigneur the attrac-

tion that this savage life of doing nothing, of being constrained

by nothing, of following every whim and being beyond correc-

tion, has for the young men.

It was believed for a long time that approaching the sav-

ages to our settlements was a very considerable means of accus-

toming these people to live like us and to be instructed in our

religion. I perceive, Monseigneur, that the very opposite has

occurred because instead of training them to our laws, I assure

you that they communicate very much to us everything that is

meanest in them, and themselves take on only what is bad and

vicious in us. I have been somewhat lengthy, Monseigneur, in

giving you the details of all these matters so that you may pro-

vide the remedies by the orders you give me.

Source: J. M. Bumsted, ed. Documentary Problems in Canadian History,

vol. 1 (Georgetown, Canada: Irwin-D

orsey Press, 1969), p. 23.

An Account of Pennsylvania, 1698

Of the thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania was the next to last to be

settled (the last being Georgia). Building on the experience of

336 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

others, William Penn created a tolerant and prosperous society.

Gabriel Thomas, a Welsh Quaker, was among the first group

of settlers that sailed for Pennsylvania in 1681. He briefly

returned to London in 1697 and published his glowing account

of a colony of fertile lands and low taxes.

The Air here is very delicate, pleasant, and wholesome; the

Heavens serene, rarely overcast, bearing mighty resemblance to

the better part of France; after Rain they have commohnly a very

clear Sky, the Climate is something Colder in the depth of Win-

ter and Hotter in the height of Summer . . . than here in En-

gland, which makes the Fruit so good, and the Earth so

fertile. . . . Here is much Meadow Ground. Poor People both

Men and Women, will get near three times more Wages for their

Labour in this Country, than they can earn either in England

or Wales. . . . There is likewise Iron-Stone or Oar [ore] (lately

found) which far exceeds that in England. . . . As to Minerals, or

Metals, there is very good Copper, far exceeding ours in En-

gland, being much Finer, and of a more glorious Colour. . . .

There are several sorts of wild Beasts of great Profit, and

good Food; viz. Panthers, Woolves, Fither [fisher], Deer,

Beaver, Otter, Hares, Musk-Rats, Minks, Wild-Cats, Foxes,

Rackoons, Rabits, and that strange Creature, the Possam, she

having a false Belly to swallow her Young ones, by which means

she preserveth them from danger, when any thing comes to dis-

turb them. . . . There are in the Woods abundance of Red Deer

(vulgarly called Stags) for I have bought of the Indians a whole

Buck (both Skin and Carcass), for two Gills of Gunpoder.

Excellent Food, most delicious, far exceeding that in Europe, in

the Opinion of most that are Nice and Curious People. There

are vast Numbers of other Wild Creatures, as Elks, Bufalos,

&c., all which as well Beasts, Fowl, and Fish, are free and com-

mon to any Person who can shoot or take them, without any

lett, hinderance or Opposition whatsoever. They have com-

monly Two Harvests in the Year; First, of English Wheat, and

next of Buck, (or French) Wheat. . . .

Corn and Flesh, and what else serves Man for Drink, Food

and Rayment [raiment], is much cheaper here than in England,

or elsewhere; but the chief reason why Wages of Servants of all

sorts is much higher here than there, arises from the great Fer-

tility and Produce of the Place; besides, if these large Stipends

were refused them, they would quickly set up for themselves,

for they can have Provision very cheap, and Land for a very

small matter, or next to nothing in comparison of the Purchase

of Lands in England; and the farmers ther, can better afford to

give that great Wages than the Farmers in England can, for

several Reasons very obvious.

At First, their Land costs them (as I said but just now) lit-

tle or nothing in comparison, of which the Farmers commonly

will get twice the encrease of Corn for every Bushel they sow,

that the Farmers in England can from the richest Land they

have. In the Second place, they have constantly good price for

their Corn, by reason of the great and quick vent [market] into

Barbadoes and other Islands; through which means Silver is

become more plentiful than here in England, considering the

Number of People, and that causes a quick Trade for both corn

and Cattle. . . . Thirdly, They pay no Tithes, and their Taxes

are inconsiderable; the Place is free for all Persuasions, in a

Sober and Civil way; for the Church of England and the Quak-

ers bear equal Share in the Government. They live Friendly and

Well together; there is no Persecution for Religion, nor ever like

to be; ’tis this that knocks all Commerce on the Head, together

with high Imposts, strict Laws, and cramping Orders. . . .

What I have deliver’d concerning this Province, is indis-

uputably true, I was an Eye-Witness to it all, for I went in the

first Ship that was bound from England for that Countrey,

since it received the Name of Pensilvania, which was in the Year

1681. The Ship’s Name was the John and Sarah of London,

Henry Smith Commander. I have declin’d giving any Account

of several things which I have only heard others speak of,

because I do not see them my self, for I never held that way

infallible, to make Reports from Hear-say. I saw the first Cellar

when it was digging for the use of our Governour Will. Penn.

Source: Daniel J. Boorstin, ed., An American Primer, 2 vols. (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 33–45.

An Account of New Orleans, 1763

The vast French colonial empire of New France was always

sparsely populated. There were, however, three important areas

of settlement: the fur-trading region along the St. Lawrence

River, known as Canada; the Atlantic settlements, known as

Acadia; and the mouth of the interior Mississippi River water-

shed, known as Louisiana. Louisiana was officially established

as a colony in 1699. In order to meet the growing threat from

Spain in the south and England on the Atlantic seaboard,

France built a string of forts from the Great Lakes along the

interior waterways, including Natchitoches (1714), the first

permanent settlement, and New Orleans (1718) at the mouth

of the Mississippi. Although New Orleans proved to be difficult

to defend and an economic disappointment, there was great

hope for the future upon its establishment. This is an account of

its founding by a pioneer planter, Le Page du Pratz.

New Orleans, the Capital of the Colony, is situated to the East,

on the banks of the Missisippi, in the 30 degrees of North Lat-

itude. At my first arrival in Louisiana, it existed only in name;

for on my landing I understood, M. de Biainville, Comman-

dant General, was only gone to mark out the spot; whence he

returned three days after our arrival at Isle Dauphine.

He pitched upon this spot in preference to many others,

more agreeable and commodious; but for that time this was a

place proper enough: Besides, it is not every man who can see

so far as some others. As the principal settlement was at Mobile,

it was proper to have the Capital fixed at a place from which

there could be an easy communication with this Post: And thus

a better choice could not have been made, as the town being on

the banks of the Missisipi, vessels, tho’ of a thousand ton, may

lay their sides close to the shore, even at low water; or at most,

need only lay a small bridge, with two of their yards, in order to

APPENDIX A 337

load or unload, to roll barrels and bales, &c. without fatiguing

the ship’s crew. This town is only a league from St. John’s Creek,

where passengers take water for Mobile, in going to which they

pass Lake St. Louis, and from thence all along the coast; a com-

munication was necessary at that time. . . .

The Governor’s houses stands in the middle of that part

of town, from which we go from the place of arms to the habi-

tation of the Jesuits, which is near the town. The house of the

Ursilin Nuns is quite at the end of the town, to the right; as its

also the hospital of the sick, of which the Nuns have the inspec-

tion. What I have just described faces the river. . . .

Source: Le Page du Pratz, The History of Louisiana, vol. 1 (London: T.

Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1763), pp. 89–93.

Excerpts from the Quebec Act, 1774

The Quebec Act of 1774 was passed by Great Britain in

response to a growing movement toward political independence

in Massachusetts and the failure of attempts to attract English-

speaking immigrants to the French culture region that had been

acquired from France following the Seven Years’ War

(1756–63). The Quebec Act acknowledged what “experience”

had dictated—that 65,000 French Catholics could not be gov-

erned according to English principles and that it was “inexpe-

dient” at the moment to form an elective assembly. The king

would thus appoint a provincial council that would oversee the

continued application of French civil law in the colony and

guarantee the right to practice Roman Catholicism. These pro-

visions angered English settlers, who in 1763 had been

promised a representative assembly and a British system of law.

More provocatively, the act enlarged Quebec to include much of

what is now Quebec and Ontario, and the area bounded by the

Great Lakes, the Ohio River, the Appalachian Mountains and

the Mississippi River. Although not overtly directed at Mas-

sachusetts, the Quebec Act was the final in a series of coercive

measures—the “Intolerable Acts,” as they were styled in Mas-

sachusetts—that eventually led to the calling of the First Con-

tinental Congress in 1774.

Whereas his Majesty, by his Royal Proclamation, bearing the

Date the seventh Day of October in the third Year of his Reign

[1763], thought fit to declare the provisions which had been

made in respect to certain Countries, Territories, and Islands

in America, ceded to his Majesty by the definitive Treaty of

Peace, concluded at Paris. . . . And whereas, by the arrange-

ments made by the said Royal Proclamation, a very large

Extent of Country, within which there were several Colonies

and Settlements of the Subjects of France, who claimed to

remain therein under the Faith of the said Treaty, was left,

without any Provision being made for the Administration of

Civil Government therein; and certain Parts of the Territory of

Canada, where sedentary Fisheries had been established and

carried on by the Subjects of France, Inhabitants of the said

Province of Canada, under Grants and Concessions from the

Government thereof, were annexed to the Government of

Newfoundland, and thereby subjected to Regulations incon-

sistent with the Nature of such Fisheries: May it therefore

please your most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted . . .

That all the Territories, Islands, and Countries in North Amer-

ica, belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, bounded on the

South by a Line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along the High

Lands which divide the Rivers that empty themselves into the

River Saint Lawrence from those which fall into the Sea, to a

Point in forty-five Degrees of Northern Latitude, on the East-

ern Bank of the River Connecticut, keeping in the same Lati-

tude directly West, through the Lake Champlain, until, in the

same Latitude, it meets the River Saint Lawrence; from thence

up the Eastern Bank of the said River to the Lake Ontario;

thence through the Lake Ontario, and the River, commonly

called Niagara; and thence along by the Eastern and South-

eastern Bank of Lake Erie, following the said Bank, until the

same shall be intersected; and from thence along the said

Northern and Western Boundaries of the said Province, until

the said Western Boundary strike the Ohio: But in case the

said Bank of the said Lake shall not be found to be so inter-

sected, then following the said Bank until it shall arrive at that

Point of the said Bank which shall be nearest to the North-

western Angle of the said Province of Pennsylvania, and thence

by a right Line, to the said North-western Angle of the said

Province; and thence along the Western Boundary of the said

Province, until it strike the River Ohio; and along the Bank of

the said River, Westward, to the Banks of the Mississippi, and

Northward to the Southern Boundary of the Territory granted

to the Merchants Adventurers of England, trading to Hudson’s

Bay; and also all such Territories, Islands, and Countries,

which have, since [1763] been made Part of the Government

of Newfoundland, be, and they are hereby, during his

Majesty’s Pleasure, annexed to, and made Part and Parcel of,

the Province of Quebec. . . .

Source: Shortt, Adam, and Arthur G. Doughty, eds. Documents Relat-

ing to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759–1791, 2nd rev. ed.,

pt. I (Ottowa: Canadian Ar

chives, 1918), pp. 571–72.

Excerpts from the Alien Act, 1798

The Alien Act was one of the first expressions of nativist feeling

in the history of the United States. It was one of four measures

ostensibly directed toward France in response to depredations on

the high seas, but it was mainly aimed at undermining the

growing strength of Thomas Jefferson’s Republican Party. With

Irish, French, and other newly arrived immigrants strongly sup-

porting the Republican Party, Federalists were intent on neu-

tralizing the potential political value of “new” Americans. The

Alien Act empowered the president to expel any foreigner “sus-

pected” of treasonous activity, though its tenure was limited to

two years.

338 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it

shall be lawful for the President of the United States at any time

during the continuance of this act, to order all such aliens as he

shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United

States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned

in any treasonable or secret machinations against the govern-

ment thereof, to deport out of the territory of the United States

within such time as shall be expressed in such order, which order

shall be served to the alien by deliverying a copy thereof, or leav-

ing the same at his usual abode, and returned to the office of

the Secretary of State, by the marshal or other person to whom

the same shall be directed. . . . Sec. 2. And be it further enacted,

That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States,

whenever he may deem it necessary for the public safety, to

order to be removed out of the territory thereof, any alien who

may or shall be inprison in pursuance of this act; and to cause to

be arrested and sent out of the United States such of those aliens

as shall have been ordered to depart therefrom. . . . Sec. 5. And

be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any alien who

may be ordered to be removed from the United States, by virtue

of this act, to take with him such part of his goods, chattels, or

other property, as he may find convenient; and all property left

in the United States by any alien, who may be removed, as afore-

said, shall be, and remain subject to his order and disposal, in

the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

Source: Smith, James Morton. Freedom’s Fetters: The Alien and Sedi-

tion Laws and American Civil Liberties (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univer-

sity Press, 1956), pp

. 435–438.

Excerpts from Charles Fenno Hoffman,

A Winter in the West, 1835

The United States was developed by migrants, both from

Europe and from the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Though many traveled by sea, river, and canal where they

could, large numbers poured along a variety of roads that were

gradually carved from the wilderness after the turn of the 19th

century. The largest of these was the National Road, which

began in Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually stretched

to Vandalia, Illinois. This 1835 account by Charles Fenno

Hoffman suggests the multiethnic nature of the American

frontier.

By far the greatest portion of travelers one meets with, not to

mention the ordinary stage-coach passengers, consists of team-

sters and emigrants. The former generally drive six horses

before their enormous wagons—stout, heavy-looking beasts,

descended, it is said, from the famous draught horses of Nor-

mandy. They go about twenty miles a day. The leading horses

are often ornamented with a number of bells suspended from

a square raised frame-work over their collars, originally adopted

to warn these lumbering machines of each other’s approach,

and prevent their being brought up all standing in the narrow

parts of the road.

As for the emigrants, it would astonish you to witness how

they get along. A covered one-horse wagon generally contains

the whole worldly substance of a family consisting not unfre-

quently of a dozen members. The tolls are so high along this

western turnpike, and horses are so comparatively cheap in the

region whither the emigrant is bound, that he rarely provides

more than one miserable Rosinante to transport his whole fam-

ily to the far west. The strength of the poor animal is of course

half the time unequal to the demand upon it, and you will,

therefore, unless it be raining very hard, rarely see anyone in the

wagon except perhaps some child overtaken by sickness, or a

mother nursing a young infant. The head of the family walks

by the horse, cheering and encouraging him on his way. The

good woman, when not engaged as hinted above, either trudges

along with her husband, or, leading some weary little traveller

by the hand far behind, endeavours to keep the rest chained

beneath the wagon to prevent the half-starved brute from for-

aging too freely in a friendly country—brings up the rear. . . .

The hardship of such a tour must form no bad preparatory

school for the arduous life which the new settler has afterward

to enter upon. Their horses, of course, frequently give out on

the road; and in companies so numerous, sickness must fre-

quently overtake some of the members.

Source: Charles Fenno Hoffman, A Winter in the West, vol. 1 (New

York: Harper and Brothers, 1835), pp. 42–48.

An Early Expression of Nativism

by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1835

Best remembered for developing the Morse code and the first

working telegraph, Samuel F. B. Morse was also one of the lead-

ing anti-Catholic activists of his day. In 1834, he wrote letters

to the New York Observer that were collected and published

as A F

oreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United

tates (1834). In the following year, he published Imminent

Dangers to the F

ree Institutions of the United States

through Foreign Immigration and Present State of the Nat-

uralization Laws, railing against what he termed “naturalized

for

eigners,

” especially the Irish, who professed to, in his words,

“become an American” but retained in “both a name and a

feeling and a practice in regard to his adopted country at war

with propriety, with decency, with gratitude, and with true

patriotism.” During the Civil War, Morse increasingly viewed

immigrants as a prop to the stability of the Union rather than

a potential source of destruction.

Already have foreigners increased in the country to such a

degree that they justly give us alarm. They feel themselves so

strong, as to organize themselves even as foreigners into foreign

bands. . . . [T]hey are men who having professed to become

Americans, by accepting our terms of naturalization, do yet, in

APPENDIX A 339

direct contradiction to their professions, clan together as a sep-

arate interest. . . . [I]s it not time, high time, that a true Amer-

ican spirit were roused to resist this alarming inroad of foreign

influence upon our institutions.

Source: Morse, Samuel F. B. Imminent Dangers to the Free Institutions

of the United States through Foreign Immigration, and the Present State

of Naturalization Laws (1835; New York: Arno Press, 1969),

. 14–15.

Excerpts from the Durham Report, 1839

Following a series of rebellions in Canada in 1837, John George

Lambton, Lord Durham, was commissioned by the British gov-

ernment to govern Lower Canada (Quebec) temporarily, to

investigate the causes of discontent, and to make recommenda-

tions regarding British governance of the region. Durham rec-

ommended that Upper and Lower Canada be combined, giving

English speakers a clear majority over the French (550,000 to

450,000), one which would naturally be increased “by the

influence of English emigration.” Durham also recommended

that provisions be made for other North American colonies to

join a Canadian confederation.

Your Majesty, in entrusting me with the Government of the

province of Lower Canada, during the critical period of the sus-

pension of the constitution, was pleased, at the same time, to

impose on me a task of equal difficulty, and of far more per-

manent importance, by appointing me “High Commissioner

for the adjustment of certain important questions depending

on the provinces of Lower and Upper Canada, respecting the

form and future government of the said provinces . . .”. From

the peculiar circumstances in which I was placed, I was enabled

to make such effectual observations as convinced me, that there

had existed in the constitution of the province, in the balance

of political powers, in the spirit and practice of administration

in every department of the government, defects that were quite

sufficient to account for a great degree of mismanagement and

dissatisfaction. . . .

The same observation had also impressed on me the con-

viction, that, for the peculiar and disastrous dissensions of this

province, there existed a far deeper and far more efficient

cause—a cause which penetrated beneath its political institu-

tions into its social state,—a cause which no reform of consti-

tution or laws, that should leave the elements of society

unaltered, could remove: but which must be removed, ere any

success could be expected in any attempt to remedy the many

evils of this unhappy province. I expected to find a contest

between a government and a people: I found two nations war-

ring in the bosom of a single state: I found a struggle, not of

principles, but of races; and I perceived that it would be idle to

attempt any amelioration of laws or institutions, until we could

first succeed in terminating the deadly animosity that now sep-

arates the inhabitants of Lower Canada into the hostile divi-

sions of French and English. . . .

It will be acknowledged by every one who has observed the

progress of Anglo-Saxon colonization in America, that sooner

or later the English race was sure to predominate even numer-

ically in Lower Canada, as they predominate already by their

superior knowledge, energy, enterprise, and wealth. The error,

therefore, to which the present contest must be attributed, is

the vain endeavour to preserve a French Canadian nationality

in the midst of Anglo-American colonies and states. . . .

I believe that no permanent or efficient remedy can be

devised for the disorders of Lower Canada, except a fusion of

the government in that of one or more of the surrounding

provinces; and as I am of opinion that the full establishment of

responsible government can only be permanently secured by

giving these colonies an increased importance in the politics of

the Empire, I find in union the only means of remedying at

once and completely the two prominent causes of their present

unsatisfactory condition. . . .

If the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated at

400,000, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada at 150,000,

and the French at 450,000, the union of the two provinces

would not only give a clear English majority, but one which

would be increased every year by the influence of English emi-

gration; and I have little doubt that the French, when once

placed, by the legitimate course of events and the working of

natural causes, in a minority, would abandon their vain hopes

of nationality. I do not mean that they would immediately give

up their present animosities, or instantly renounce the hope of

attaining their end by violent means. But the experience of the

two unions in the British Isles may teach us how effectively the

strong arm of a popular legislature would compel the obedience

of the refractory population; and the hopelessness of success

would gradually subdue the existing animosities, and incline

the French Canadians population to acquiesce in their new

state of political existence.

Source: Appendix to Journal of the House of the Assembly of Upper

Canada. . . being the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth Provincial Parlia-

ment (Toronto: W. L. McKenzie, 1839), pp. 1–2, 6, 22, 98–99.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,

Article 8, 1848

After United States victory in the U.S.-Mexican War

(1846–48), the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2,

1848) provided for the transfer of the modern states of Cali-

fornia, Nevada, and Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mex-

ico, Colorado, and Wyoming from Mexico to the United States

in return for $15 million. Article 8 guaranteed that all Mex-

ican citizens living in transferred territory could continue res-

idence with full rights of property. Within one year, they could

elect to maintain Mexican citizenship; otherwise, they would

automatically become U.S. citizens. Although Mexican prop-

erty rights were nominally protected, a vast influx of settlers

following the gold rush undermined the Mexicans’ political

340 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

power, while taxes and court costs led to the progressive selling

off of land.

Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging

to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of

the United States as defined by the present treaty, shall be free

to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to

the Mexican republic, retaining the property which they possess

in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the

proceeds wherever they please, without their being subjected on

this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever.

Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories,

may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or

acquire those of citizens of the United States. But they shall be

under the obligation to make their election within one year

from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, and

those who shall remain in the said territories after the expira-

tion of that year, without having declared their intention to

retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have

elected to become citizens of the United States.

Source: Miller, Hunter, ed. Treaties and Other International Acts of the

United States of America (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Print-

ing Office, 1937), 5: 217–218.

Proclamation of Juan Cortina, 1859

As a result of the U.S.-Mexican War (1846–48), Mexico agreed

to transfer upper California and New Mexico to the United

States and to accept the Rio Grande as the previously disputed

boundary between Texas and Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe

Hidalgo ending the war guaranteed former Mexican citizens

now in U.S. territory full protection of property and the right to

become U.S. citizens, but it was not altogether clear whether

the guarantees applied to the formerly disputed territory lying

between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Tejanos long

established in the region were mistreated as Anglos pushed into

the region, gradually expropriating Tejano lands and their for-

merly prominent role in local government. One local rancher,

Juan Cortina, stood up to the encroachers, killing two Anglos in

Brownsville and rallying opposition to injustices against loyal

Tejanos. During the Civil War, Cortina led nearly 1,000 guer-

rillas against Confederate forces in the Lone Star State.

PROCLAMATION

County of Cameron,

Camp in the Rancho del Carmen,

November 23, 1859

Compatriots: A sentiment of profound indignation, the love

and esteem which I profess for you, the desire which you have

for that tranquillity and those guarantees which are denied you,

thus violating the most sacred laws, is that which moves me to

address you these words, hoping that they may prove some con-

solation in the midst of your adversity, which heretofore has

borne the appearance of predestination.

The history of great human actions teaches us that in cer-

tain instances the principal motive which gives them impulse

is the natural right to resist and conquer our enemies with a

firm spirit and lively will; to persist in and to reach the con-

summation of this object, opening a path through the obstacles

which step by step are encountered, however imposing or ter-

rible they may be. . . .

There are, doubtless, persons so overcome by strange prej-

udices, men without confidence or courage to face danger in an

undertaking in sisterhood with the love of liberty, who, exam-

ining the merit of acts by a false light, and preferring that of the

same opinion contrary to their own, prepare no other reward

than that pronounced for the “bandit,” for him who, with

complete abnegation of self, dedicates himself to constant labor

for the happiness of those who suffering under the weight of

misfortunes, eat their bread, mingled with tears, on the earth

which they rated. If, my dear compatriots, I am honored with

that name, I am ready for the combat.

The Mexicans who inhabit this wide region [between the

Nueces River and the Rio Grande], some because they were

born therein, others because since the treaty Guadalupe

Hidalgo, they have been attracted to its soil by the soft influ-

ence of wise laws and the advantages of a free government, pay-

ing little attention to the reasoning of politics, are honorably

and exclusively dedicated to the exercise of industry, guided by

that instinct which leads the good man to comprehend, as

uncontradictory truth, that only in the reign of peace can he

enjoy, without inquietude, the fruit of his labor. These, under

an unjust imputation of selfishness and churlishness, which do

not exist, are not devoid of those sincere and expressive evi-

dences of such friendliness and tenderness as should gain for

them that confidence with which they have inspired those who

have met them in social intercourse. This genial affability seems

as the foundation of that proverbial prudence which, as an ora-

cle, is consulted in all their actions and undertakings. Their

humility, simplicity, and docility, directed with dignity, it may

be that with excess of goodness, can, if it be desired, lead them

beyond the common class of men, but causes them to excel in

an irresistible inclination towards ideas of equality, a proof of

their simple manners, so well adapted to that which is styled

the classic land of liberty. A man, a family, and a people, pos-

sessed of qualities so eminent, with their heart in their hand

and purity on their lips, encounter every day renewed reasons

to know that they are surrounded by malicious and crafty mon-

sters, who rob them in the tranquil interior of home, or with

open hatred and pursuit; it necessarily follows, however great

may be their pain, if not abased by humiliation and ignominy,

their groans suffocated and hushed by a pain which renders

them insensible, they become resigned to suffering before an

abyss of misfortunes.

Mexicans! When the State of Texas began to receive the new

organization which its sovereignty required as an integrate part of

APPENDIX A 341

the Union, flocks of vampires, in the guise of men came and scat-

tered themselves in the settlements, without any capital except

the corrupt heart and the most perverse intentions. Some, brim-

ful of laws, pledged to us their protection against the attacks of

the rest; others assembled in shadowy councils, attempted and

excited the robbery and burning of the houses of our relatives

on the other side of the river Bravo [Rio Grande]; while others,

to the abusing of our unlimited confidence, when we intrusted

them with our titles, which secured the future of our families,

refused to return them under false and frivolous pretexts; all, in

short, with a smile on their faces, giving the lie to that which

their black entrails were meditating. Many of you have been

robbed of your property, incarcerated, chased, murdered, and

hunted like wild beasts, because your labor was fruitful, and

because your industry excited the vile avarice which led them. A

voice infernal said, from the bottom of their soul, “kill them; the

greater will be our gain!” Ah! This does not finish the sketch of

your situation. It would appear that justice had fled from this

world, leaving you to the caprice of your oppressors, who become

each day more furious towards you; that, through witnesses and

false charges, although the grounds may be insufficient, you may

be interred in the penitentiaries, if you are not previously

deprived of life by some keeper who covers himself from respon-

sibility by the pretense of your flight. There are to be found crim-

inals covered with frightful crimes, but they appear to have

impunity until opportunity furnish them a victim; to these mon-

sters indulgence is shown, because they are not of our race, which

is unworthy, as they say, to belong to the human species. But

this race, which the Anglo-American, so ostentatious of its own

qualities, tries so much to blacken depreciate, and load with

insults, in a spirit of blindness, which goes to the full extent of

such things so common on this frontier, does not fear, placed

even in the midst of its very faults, those subtle inquisitions

which are so frequently made as to its manners, habits, and sen-

timents; nor that its deeds should be put to the test of examina-

tion in the land of reason, of justice, and of honor. This race has

never humbled itself before the conqueror, though the reverse has

happened, and can be established; for his is not humbled who

uses among his fellow-men those courtesies which humanity pre-

scribes; charity being the root whence springs the rule of his

actions. But this race, which you see filled with gentleness and

inward sweetness, gives now the cry of alarm throughout the

entire extend of the land which it occupies, against all the arti-

fice interposed by those who have become chargeable with their

division and discord. This race, adorned with the most lovely dis-

position towards all that is good and useful in the line of progress,

omits no act of diligence which might correct its many imper-

fections, and lift its grand edifice among the ruins of the past,

respecting the ancient traditions and the maxims bequeathed by

their ancestors, without being dazzled by brilliant and false

appearances, nor crawling to that exaggeration of institution

which, like a sublime statue, is offered for their worship and

adoration.

Mexicans! Is there no remedy for you? Inviolable laws, yet

useless, serve, it is true, certain judges and hypocritical authorities,

cemented in evil and injustice, to do whatever suits them, and to

satisfy their vile avarice at the cot of your patience and suffering;

rising in their frenzy, even to the taking of life, through the treach-

erous hands of their bailiffs. The wicked way in which many of

you have been often-times involved in persecution, accompanied

by circumstances making it the more bitter, is now well known;

these crimes being hid from society under the shadow of a horrid

night, those implacable people, with the haughty spirit which sug-

gests impunity for a life of criminality, have pronounced, doubt ye

not, your sentence, which is, with accustomed insensibility, as you

have seen, on the point of execution.

Mexicans! My part is taken; the voice of revelation whis-

pers to me that to me is entrusted the work of breaking the

chains of your slavery, and that the Lord will enable me, with

powerful arm, to fight against our enemies, in compliance with

the requirements of that Sovereign Majesty, who, from this

day forward, will hold us under His protection. On my part, I

am ready to offer myself as a sacrifice for your happiness; and

counting upon the means necessary for the discharge of my

ministry, you may count upon my cooperation, should no cow-

ardly attempt put an end to my days. This undertaking will be

sustained on the following bases:

First. A society is organized in the State of Texas, which

devotes itself sleeplessly until the work is crowned with suc-

cess, to the improvement of the unhappy condition of those

Mexicans resident therein; extermination their tyrants, to

which end those which compose it are ready to shed their blood

and suffer the death of martyrs.

Second. As this society contains within itself the elements

necessary to accomplish the great end of its labors, the veil of

impenetrable secrecy covers “The Great Book” in which the

articles of its constitution are written; while so delicate are the

difficulties which must be overcome that no honorable man

can have cause for alarm, if imperious exigencies require them

to act without reserve.

Third. The Mexicans of Texas repose their lot under the

good sentiments of the governor elect of the State, General

Houston, and trust that upon his elevation to power he will

begin with care to give us legal protection within the limits of

his powers.

Mexicans! Peace be with you! Good inhabitants of the

State of Texas, look on them as brothers, and keep in mind

that which the Holy Spirit saith: “Thou shalt not be the friend

of the passionate man; nor join thyself to the madman, lest

thou learn his mode of work and scandalize thy soul.”

Juan N. Cortina

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Difficulties on the Southwestern Frontier,

36th Cong., 1st sess., 1860, H. Exec. Doc. 52, pp. 70–82.

Excerpts from the Homestead Act, 1862

The Homestead Act was the result of steady opposition by

workingmen’s groups, western settlers, and agrarians to the

342 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

American government’s policy of using western lands as a source

of revenue. Promising 160 acres of free land to any head of

household who would develop the land and live on it continu-

ously for five years, it did more than any other piece of legisla-

tion to open the West to family farmers. The measure also

enabled immigrant groups to maintain a strong sense of Old

World identity in the New World, as their lands were often

taken up in remote regions of the upper Midwest and plains

territories. German and Scandinavian immigrants were par-

ticularly attracted, as they often had modest amounts of capital

to establish themselves.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any

person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the

age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States,

or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become

such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United

States, and who has never borne arms against the United

States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies,

shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and

sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less

quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said

person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at

the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at

one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty

acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and

fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to

the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same

shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning

and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act,

enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land,

which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied,

exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres. . . .

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, at any time after

the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of

this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it

shall be proven, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction

of the register of the land office, that the person having filed

such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence or

abandoned the said land for more than six months at any time,

then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the

government. . . .

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act

shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed

him or herself of the befits of the first section of this act, from

paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may

have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time

before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent

therefore from the government, as in other cases provided by

law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided

by existing laws granting preemption rights.

Source: Daniel J. Boorstin, ed., An American Primer, 2 vols. (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 387–390.

APPENDIX A 343

Letters from Iowa to Norway,

1863 and 1865

After the vast influx of Irish and German immigrants during

the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, Norwegians represented the van-

guard of a new wave of western Europeans. Although personal

freedom in Norway was substantial, old social distinctions

remained, and good farmland was scarce and expensive. Most

Norwegians came to North America with their families, intend-

ing to stay and establish a new life. By 1865, nearly 80,000

had settled in the United States. Though life was hard, the

rewards were substantial. Letters like those of Gro Svendse, who

settled with her husband in northwestern Iowa, were eagerly

awaited in Norway and frequently led to further emigration

from the homeland.

1863

Dear Parents, Sisters, and Brothers (always in

my thoughts):

I have often thought that I ought to tell you about life here in

the New World. Everything is so totally different from what it

was in our beloved Norway. You never will really know what it’s

like, although you no doubt try to imagine what it might be.

Your pictures would be all wrong, just as mine were. I only wish

that I could be with you to tell you all about it. Even if I were to

write you countless pages, I still could not tell you everything.

I remember I used to wonder when I heard that it would be

impossible to keep the milk here as we did at home. Now I have

learned that it is indeed impossible because of the heat here in the

summertime. One can’t make cheese out of the milk because of

flies, bugs, and other insects. I don’t know the names of all these

insects, but this I do know: If one were to make cheese here in the

summertime, the cheese itself would be alive with bugs. Toward

late autumn it should be possible to keep the milk. The people

who have more milk than they need simply feed it to the hogs.

It’s difficult, too, to preserve the butter. One must pour

brine over it or salt it; otherwise it gets full of maggots. There-

fore it is best, if one is not too far from town, to sell the butter

at once. This summer we have been getting from eight to ten

cents a pound. Not a great profit. For this reason people around

here do not have many cows—just enough to supply the milk

needed for the household. It’s not wise to have more than

enough milk, because the flies are everywhere. Even the bacon

must be preserved in brine, and so there are different ways of

doing everything.

I have so much to tell you. We have no twilight here in

the summertime. Even in June, on the longest day of the year,

the sun doesn’t rise before 4:23 and sets at 7:40. The nights are

as dark as they are at home in autumn. We never have rain with-

out thunder and lightning. The thunderstorms are so violent

that one might think it was the end of the world. The whole sky