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"Our Founding Illegals"

"Our Founding Illegals"
by William Hogeland
New York Times, December 26, 2006

[not only are we a nation of immigrants - we are a nation of illegal immigrants. undocumented workers. including our "greatest" european ancestors.]

America’s pioneer values developed in a distinctly illegal context. In 1763, George III drew a line on a map stretching from modern-day Maine to modern-day Georgia, along the crest of the Appalachians. He declared it illegal
to claim or settle land west of the line, all of which he reserved for Native Americans. George Washington, a young colonel in the Virginia militia, instructed his land-buying agents in the many ways of getting around the law.
Although Washington was not alone in acquiring forbidden tracts, few were as energetic in the illegal acquisition of western land...

Washington harbored no fond feeling for breakers of laws that he too had recently flouted. “It is hard
upon me,” he lamented without irony, “to have property which has been fairly obtained disputed and withheld.” He went to court to have the squatters evicted, complaining that they had “not taken those necessary steps pointed out by the law.”


[the article makes several oversimplifications, and does not consider what happened to enslaved Africans and Native Americans. yet hogeland makes valid points. we have always been a site of struggle between the haves and have-nots. the question is, does "america" stand for meritocracy (martin luther king) or hereditary wealth (paris hilton)? do you believe in equality, or artificial lines to preserve privilege?]
"The upper Ohio was rife with illegal immigrants, ancestors of people who, in country clubs today, are implying a Mayflower ancestry."
[most of us "white" people are not descended from pilgrims, or even from England. in fact, when our ancestors arrived, they didn't count as "white" and didn't learn English for 3 or 4 generations. today's Mexican and Asian immigrants learn English much faster.]
"Those of us whose ancestors risked everything as illegal immigrants, and in the process helped found a nation, owe our forebears a debt of gratitude, too. Without their daring disregard of immigration laws, we might not be here today."
[the main point for me here is that laws themselves are not inherently good. it was hard for some people to wrap their heads around this a hundred fifty years ago (when slavery was legal), and the same is true today. do you benefit from the fact that your hard-working ancestors arrived illegally -- which they did, unless you are Native American? isn't it hypocritical to condemn the work of today's immigrants? isn't it hypocritical to eat the food immigrants provide, then tell them to go home?]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/opinion/27hogeland.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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