Theodore Roosevelt True Imperialism Summary

North Central Texas College

An Analysis of Theodore Roosevelt’s “True Americanism”
U.S. History 1302
April 4, 2017
Colbi Johnson

From its initial days, America has always remained a nation of immigrants. “We were then already, what we are now, a people of mixed blood.” Native inhabitants, traversed the land bridge that connected Asia and North America tens of thousands of years ago. America’s first colonists came in search of freedom to practice their faith. Throughout the colonial period, many immigrants were brought to America against their will from West Africa. Throughout the 1900s America observed a major trend of immigration. People leaving their homelands with hopes of living the “American Dream”.
During the late 19th

century, numerous Americans began to migrate from agricultural regions in the Southern United States to the newly industrialized cities in the East and Midwest. The expansion of industry brought native-born citizens as well as foreign immigrants to these recently developed cities. A substantial amount of this new population was due to black men and women trying to escape tyranny, poverty, and the viciousness they were met with in the rural South after the end of Reconstruction. The greatest source of urban population growth during this time was a rising number of immigrants from abroad; Germany, France, and Ireland, but also from Italy, Eastern Europe, Canada, and the Far East. Many immigrants came from Europe seeking to gain liberation from famine, poverty, and to escape religious persecution or political harassment.
During this time, immigration process centers were developed along the East and West coasts.

Immigrants who came from Europe usually arrived through the East coast. By far, nearly all European arrivals entered America through the Ellis Island processing center in the state of New York. Immigrants who came mostly from Japan and China arrived on the West coast of the United States. All immigrants arriving on the West coast would go through the Angel Island immigrant processing center located in San Francisco, California. Many immigrants settled in the Northern cities due to lack of money to move away from the coastal ports they entered through. For much of the 1900s, the federal government left immigration policies to individual states. Leaders of the industry welcomed immigrants as a source of cheap, unskilled

labor.
But many Americans were not as quick to openly welcome these new immigrants for several reasons. There were major cultural differences between native-born Americans and new immigrants arriving. Likewise, economic distress due to changes in wages as the American population grew. Natural born American citizens feared that these outsiders would radically alter their American way of life. American born citizens expected a newcomer to “cut himself off from the Old World” and become Americanized “if he wish[ed] ever to amount to anything” as Theodore Roosevelt stated in his “True Americanism” essay written during April of 1894.
Furthermore, Theodore Roosevelt worried if newly arrived immigrants could not or would not assimilate to the American way of life “they are mere obstructions to the current of our national life”. However, it was not the idea of immigration that concerned Roosevelt. His worries and fears of the possibility that an increase of foreign people and cultures would terminate the concept “Americanism”. If immigrants couldn’t assimilate to the American culture they would essentially be hurting themselves. An immigrant who “fails to remain a European, and becomes nothing at all.” An immigrant no longer residing within the Old World who attempts to preserve their old language within the New World would realize within a few generations it will only become cruel nonsense. Likewise, an immigrant who pursues old customs and a separate way of life would eventually grow into an uncivilized clod. Also, any immigrant unwilling to “Americanize” could do no good for anyone especially themselves.
Throughout his “True Americanism” essay, Theodore Roosevelt proposes a few resolutions to this concerning issue.

Roosevelt implies that as American people “we have a right to demand” the assimilation of newly arriving immigrants. “We must Americanize them in every way, in speech, in political ideas and principles”. Roosevelt thought that to be entirely involved in the sense of Americanism, one must fully trust that America is different than any other country. America has its own needs that do not relate to the needs of any other nation around the world. Consequently, it is un-American to imitate the ways or plans of other countries. Likewise, the speech from Richard Guenther, a German-born American, within the “True Americanism” incorporates Theodore Roosevelt’s message of the importance of “Americanism”. “We are no longer Germans; we are Americans” and immigrants who intended to become Americans should no longer cling to their homelands. Similar to Roosevelt’s suggestion of “cease[ing] to be Europeans, and become Americans like the rest of

us.”
However, immigration and assimilation for new arrivals was not accomplished easily. Fears derived by native-born Americans evolved into a loathing of racial, ethnic, and religious differences. During May of 1882, the first crucial law restricting immigration to the United States was placed. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which denied the entry of Chinese laborers for 10 years, was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester B. Arthur. Chinese who were willing to work for less pay were blamed for the decline in Californian wages. The harsh conditions that immigrants faced throughout this period created a feel of community among them. The racism, restrictions, and concerns that burdened many immigrants ultimately led to a culture that today we would consider American. The enormous struggle challenged the assimilation and integration of the American way of life, building and sustaining the impossibly complex society. Nevertheless, whether you agree or disagree with Roosevelt’s opinion on Americanism. The United States is a representation of optimism, opportunity, righteousness, and freedom, to both native-born Americans and immigrants alike. “We are Americans from the moment we touch the American shore until we are laid in American graves.” We all stand unified on the front, that is True Americanism.

“Bibliography”
Brinkley, Alan, John M. Giggie, and Andrew J. Huebner. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2016.
Kazin, Michael, and Joseph Anthony. McCartin. Americanism: New Perspectives on the History of an Ideal. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "“True Americanism”." The Forum Magazine, April 1894.