Anti-German sentiment in the United States, 1914-1917

Abstract

The concept of America as an asylum for the oppressed and the poor had become a deep-rooted conviction even before the Revolutionary war. After Independence, this conviction became part of the national ideals of the new United States. "E pluribus unum", the motto chosen by Jefferson, Adams and Franklin for the great seal of the Union, expressed not only the union of thirteen colonies, but also American faith that this ne1v land would bring unity out of diversity; and the democratic values incorporated in the Declaration of Independence postulated an equal share for all in the fullness of American life. An anonymous author wrote in a popular magazine in the 1839's: “The virgin world in which we dwell demands of the Old Horld but two influences - Men and Money ... This has ever been the asylum, the refuge, of every people of the Old world ... well, let them come!” And so they did come, all through the nineteenth century, "the hunted of every crown and creed", (2) fleeing from political, religious and economic disadvantages in Europe. They crowded through the Golden Door, some remaining close inside it, others pressing on into the interior of this abundant land.