America: Slavery & Immigration

Written by Frank Li

Happy birthday, America!

To truly Make America Great Again, we must truly understand America. In this post, I will discuss two big issues in America: slavery and immigration.

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1. Slavery in America

America inherited the issue from Britain. Therefore, nobody can truly understand the issue without tracing it back to Britain …

Below is an excellent video, from which you can watch many more related videos by following the links in YouTube.

Now, back to America …

How was the issue addressed by the Founding Fathers? They chose to defer it to the later generations! Below is an excerpt from this article: 50 Things You Didn’t Know about Founding Fathers.

Jefferson’s first draft (of the Declaration of Independence) contained a pretty crucial passage that was left out of the final copy: a call for the end of slavery. Jefferson took it out because he felt the document wouldn’t be approved by delegates in states like Virginia and South Carolina.

Slavery was officially abolished in America after the American Civil War, but the real issue behind slavery (i.e. cheap labor and racism) lingered on.

2. Immigration in America

Watch the video below.

Now, read this excellent article: The birth of “illegal” immigration. Below is an excerpt:

Until the late 19th century, there wasn’t any such thing as “illegal” or “legal” immigration to the United States. That’s because before you can immigrate somewhere illegally, there has to be a law for you to break.

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But once the U.S. made its Constitution the new law of the land, immigrants flocked to the country with few restrictions. This didn’t mean that they were welcomed in the “New World.” In the beginning, when immigrants came mostly from northern and western Europe, anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment were rampant. By the mid- to late-19th century, people from southern and eastern Europe as well as China were coming over, and Americans resented the presence of Chinese, Italians, and more Catholics.

3. What’s the relationship between slavery and immigration?

Superficially, there is little relationship between the two. Below is an excerpt from the same excellent article (The birth of “illegal” immigration):

American immigration didn’t really begin until the late 1700s, when the United States became an independent nation. Before that, Africans had unwillingly entered the Americas as enslaved peoples and Europeans had entered as settlers—which is something totally different. While immigrants are beholden to the laws of the land they migrate to, settlers come to disrupt the current system and implement their own laws, write the scholars Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang.

In essence, however, the needs for slavery and for [illegal] immigrants are the same: cheap labor. So, it’s economics, stupid!

Worse yet, with our generous welfare system, many of the cheaper laborers, including their relatives and descendants, have become a significant part of the voting population for the Democratic Party (New Slavery in America: Pay without Work!). So, it’s politics, stupid!

4. Discussion

Unfortunately for America, our government has a very poor track record of solving any significant problems, be they illegal immigration (U.S. Immigration), gun violence (America: Guns vs. Slavery), or even drugs (America vs. China: Drugs). Why is that? Lack of governance! For more, read: Governance in America.

Fortunately for America, I believe I have the most accurate diagnosis for America, as well as the best solution. Better yet, all have been documented in my last book (American Democracy: Why is it failing & how to fix it?).

But, will America listen?

Worse yet, while we are debating, China will zoom ahead of us, leaving us to play the role of a second fiddle …

6. Closing

Both slavery and immigration are huge issues in America. This post has shed some lights on them, hopefully.

Now, please sit back and enjoy two short videos below. They show that the immigration issue as a political potato goes way back …