Out of Many, One

E Pluribus Unum

On a stormy Atlantic crossing in 1630, one of the first immigrants to the New World wasn t sure he would make it. The Puritan John Winthrop knew that America was worth the risk, writing that it would be a city upon a hill, a place of refuge and liberty. For nearly four centuries, immigration has been as it will always be a salient and, at times, controversial part of the American story. A source of strength, prosperity, and hope, the flow of people across the lands and seas has also led to bouts of anxiety and fear. Every American generation, and every American president, has confronted questions about immigration, starting with the first. In 1783, George Washington articulated a guidepost for his successors: The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions.

One hundred seventy-five years later, John F. Kennedy published a book called A Nation of Immigrants, in which he explained immigration s role in our history. The wisest Americans have always understood the significance of the immigrant, he wrote. Among the long train of abuses and usurpations that impelled the framers of the Declaration of Independence to the fateful step of separation was the charge that the British monarch had restricted immigration. The document signed on July 4, 1776, complained that the tyrannical king endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.

President Ronald Reagan devoted a portion of his final speech at the White House to immigration. This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America s greatness, he said. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people our strength from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so, we continuously renew and enrich

George W. Bush served as the forty-third President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. He had previously served as Governor of Texas. He and his wife, Laura, live in Dallas, where they founded the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University. President Bush is the author of three #1 bestsellers: Decision Points, his presidential memoir; 41, a biography of his father, President George H. W. Bush; and Portraits of Courage, a collection of oil paintings and stories honoring the sacrifice of America s military veterans.