You and I are “melting pot” people: citizens of that country set apart by
Heaven to receive those in search of the good life from every nation, kindred,
tongue and people.
As such, we, of all people, ought to recognize the value of a liberal
immigration policy.
President Thomas Jefferson, a descendent of immigrants, presiding over a
nation of immigrants, thought so.
In his first annual message, dated Dec. 8, 1801, he asked of those who
thought to impose an extremely arduous course to citizenship for the immigrant
(a 14-year residency requirement) a few probing questions:
“Shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality which
the savages of the wilderness extended to our fathers arriving in this land?
Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe? The constitution, indeed,
has wisely provided that, for admission to certain offices of important trust, a
residence shall be required sufficient to develop character and design. But
might not the general character and capabilities of a citizen be safely
communicated to every one manifesting a bona fide purpose of embarking his life
and fortunes permanently with us?” (1)
The advocates of today´s liberal immigration policies, or of far more radical
proposals for open borders, might feel inclined to thus quote Jefferson and feel
justified.
Yet they had better do so with caution. President Jefferson also suggested
that America balance her open-arm policy “with restrictions, perhaps, to guard
against the fraudulent usurpation of our flag; an abuse which brings so much
embarrassment and loss on the genuine citizen, and so much danger to the nation
of being involved in war.”
“[N]o endeavor,” he said, “should be spared to detect and suppress” this sort
of immigrant. (2)
So much for blind liberality. Not every immigrant is a friend of America.
Jefferson was no fool.
He had other concerns too.
In his “Notes on Virginia,” Jefferson reflects, “It is for the happiness of
those united in society to harmonize as much as possible in matters which they
must of necessity transact together. Civil government being the sole object of
forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent.”
“Every species of government has its specific principles. Ours perhaps are
more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of
the freest principles of the English constitution, with others derived from
natural right and natural reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than the
maxims of absolute monarchies. Yet from such we are to expect the greatest
number of emigrants.”
He warns, nearly prophetically:
“They will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave,
imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in
exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme
to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of
temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they will transmit to
their children. In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the
legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its
directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass.”
(3)
There is theory, and then there is reality. Jefferson was schooled in both.
He knew that to every liberal law there were some reasonable limits.
We need artisans, he admitted, but not enemies. We want true freedom-seekers
to come, but without “extraordinary encouragements.”
(4)
What would Thomas Jefferson, therefore, think of our immigration policy today
that with flashing lights invites the non-working masses of the world to come,
from countries that hate us, to a feast of free food, free health care, free
education, free Social Security benefits, and free and instant voter
registration cards?
It is hard to see Jefferson calling it anything but extraordinarily unwise,
and extraordinarily revolutionary. Jefferson would have proposed something
better – a policy liberal in its extension of the blessings of liberty to those
who desired it, and conservative in its economic and political common sense.
Steve Farrell is associate professor of political economy at
George Wythe College, and the author of the inspirational novel "Dark
Rose." Get your copy now.
Footnotes
1. Bergh, Albert Ellery, Editor. “The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,” Volume 3, p. 338. 2. Ibid., pp. 338-339. 3. Bergh, Volume 2, p. 120. 4. Ibid., p. 121.
