Immigration helped shape America, but on her own terms

America started attracting immigrants long before it became a country. Already in the late 1600s and early 1700s, there were newcomers from Germany, Ulster, France, etc. What made them immigrants? They willingly moved to a place, in this case colonies, that had been established and settled by others.

To succeed, they roughly assimilated to the societal structure that welcomed them. That was the optimal solution in a growing nation clearly primed to take immigrants.

Obviously, these newcomers often helped in that settlement. What we know as “Pennsylvania Dutch” are the descendants of German (Deutsch!) Pietists, Mennonites, Amish, and other Protestants that went to that Quaker colony starting in the 1680s. They helped carve out the modern Keystone State.

But the rules of the road had been

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