Did you say Benjamin Franklin? If yes, you are correct.
The population of immigrants surged in the American
colonies in the 1750s. Franklin penned this essay, “Observations Concerning the
Increasing of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c..” He suggested the people
who should (and should not) settle in the colonies.
Bring them in: “There are suppos’d
to be now upwards of One Million English Souls in North-America, (tho’ ’tis
thought scarce 80,000 have been brought over Sea) and yet perhaps there is not
one the fewer in Britain, but rather more, on Account of the Employment the
Colonies afford to Manufacturers at Home…. This Million doubling, suppose but once in 25
Years, will in another Century be more than the People of England, and the
greatest Number of Englishmen will be on this Side the Water. What an Accession
of Power to the British Empire by Sea as well as Land! What Increase of Trade
and Navigation! What Number of Ships and Seamen!
Keep
Them Out: “Why should the Palatine Boors [Germans] be suffered to swarm into
our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners
to the Exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English,
become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us
instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs,
any more than they can acquire our Complexion.”
On
Race: “Which leads me to add one Remark: That the Number of purely white
People in the World is proportionably very small. All Africa is black or tawny.
Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the new Comers) wholly so. And in
Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of
what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only
excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People on the
Face of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased.
And while we are, as I may call it, Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in mars or Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People?
Why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the complexion of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind.”
And while we are, as I may call it, Scouring our Planet, by clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our Globe reflect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in mars or Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People?
Why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the complexion of my Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind.”
Franklin was also very
anti-German, as shown in a letter to Peter Collison:
“Those who come
hither (here) are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own
Nation, and as Ignorance is often attended with Credulity when Knavery would
mislead it, and with Suspicion when Honesty would set it right; and as few of
the English understand the German Language, and so cannot address them either
from the Press or Pulpit, ’tis almost impossible to remove any prejudices they
once entertain. Their own Clergy have very little influence over the people;
who seem to take an uncommon pleasure in abusing and discharging the Minister
on every trivial occasion. Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make
a modest use of it; and as Kolben says of the young Hottentots, that they are
not esteemed men till they have shewn their manhood by beating their mothers,
so these seem to think themselves not free, till they can feel their liberty in
abusing and insulting their Teachers…. Few of their children in the Country
learn English; they import many Books from Germany; and of the six printing
houses in the Province, two are entirely German, two half German half English,
and but two entirely English; They have one German News-paper, and one half
German.”
Did the troops
who served our country fight for a white nation or a “melting pot” America? It’s
something to think about today.
***
To readers who have served in our military: Thank you for making this day of freedom possible for all of us.
***
To readers who have served in our military: Thank you for making this day of freedom possible for all of us.
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