Ambivalence about immigration was a major theme in the new republic. Although the Declaration of Independence faults King George III for curtailing immigration into the colonies, the founding fathers were not totally sanguine about the potential effects of immigration on the new nation. For example, Jefferson questioned whether immigrants would attach themselves to the democratic principles and constitutional base of the American form of government. He asked if the government might not be “more homogeneous, more peaceful, more durable” without large-scale immigration (Jefferson 1993: 212).

A primary focus of this chapter is the language spoken by immigrants. Unlike multilingual European states formed around existing and generally geographically separate language groups, the challenge of the new American republic was to incorporate a continuing flow of immigrants who spoke different tongues into a single, unified nation. The English language formed an important bond in the creation of a new identity as Americans. American English absorbed words from the languages spoken by non-English residents, changing them to reflect the American reality. Renewed immigration from non-English-speaking countries would pose a challenge, however, to the democratic principles that required “we, the people” to share a common understanding of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.