The first
Thanksgiving occurred in November, 1621. Pilgrims of Plymouth gave thanks for
divine blessings. They also thanked local Native Americans who generously helped
the Pilgrims survive—and taught them to plant corn.
By the
early 1700s, the natives were driven off their lands. Colonial laws were passed
to keep out the poor and disabled.
America
remains the world’s richest nation, but federal immigration policies have
turned back 300 years. Prof. Gerald Neuman’s article, “Lost Century of
American Immigration Law (1776-1875),” Columbia Law Review (1993), gives
us pause to reflect:
The high incidence of "pauperism" among immigrants raised
concern and hostility. Many Americans viewed their country as a place where the
honest, industrious, and able-bodied poor could improve their economic standing,
free from the overcrowding and rigid social structure that blocked advancement
in Europe. Failure to become self-supporting was seen as evidence of personal
defects. Many feared that European states were sending their lazy and
intemperate subjects, as well as the mentally and physically disabled, to
burden America.
…
The list of high-risk categories was modified over time. Compare id.
§ 2 ("lunatic, idiot, maimed, aged or infirm persons incompetent in the
opinion of the officers so examining, to maintain themselves, or who have been
paupers in any other country") with Act of Mar. 20, 1850, (“a pauper,
lunatic, or idiot, or maimed, aged, infirm or destitute, or incompetent to take
care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge as a pauper”) and
Act of May 20, 1852, ch. 279, § 1, 1852 Mass. Acts & Resolves 195, 195 (“any
lunatic, idiotic, deaf and dumb, blind, or maimed person”) and Mass. Gen. Stat.
ch. 71, § 15 (1859) (“insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb, blind, deformed or maimed
person, among said passengers, or alien who has before been a public charge
within this state”).
…
The irony
is that the Pilgrims would likely not have survived their first winter without
the generosity of nearby Native Americans who shared their bounty, and their
knowledge of farming and hunting. Thanksgiving is a pro-social holiday. But
Americans— from the late 1600s through Executive Orders today that punish immigrants
who are poor—failed to learn the Thanksgiving lesson from 1621.
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