Samuel Gompers was virulently against the immigration of Asians to America. As the leader of the American Federation of Labor, his main concern was labor conditions—specifically, labor conditions for white men. He believed that Chinese workers’ willingness to work for lower wages undermined the position of white workers. Gompers also claims that the willingness of Chinese to accept bad working conditions means that white people who want the same jobs as Chinese are forced to accept these same bad conditions. He later quotes James G. Blaine, who claimed that it is impossible for Asians to fit into the American population.

This claim is echoed in the second document by the Asian Exclusion League, who say that the current race problems between blacks and whites are bad enough, and that allowing Asians in America makes things worse. Th

Theodore Roosevelt also believed in the melting pot ideal. He was extremely concerned with loyalty to the United States, and claimed that the important part of being an American was to be loyal to America above all, no matter where one comes from. According to Roosevelt there should be no “hyphenated Americans”—“the only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.” (316) He thought that it was of extreme importance that immigrants were not exploited by industrialists, because this could cause immigrants to resent America and be loyal to their original nations instead. It is interesting to note that even when Roosevelt advocates improved conditions for immigrants, it is not concern for the immigrants themselves but instead concern for problems that unhappy immigrants cause such as labor strikes.

The Jewish playwright Israel Zangwill took the opposite view of the melting pot ideal. In his play, Zangwill expresses through the character of David an extreme idealism about what America has to offer to the immigrant. David describes America as “God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe

Some topics in this essay:
American American, Race American, Federation Labor, Randolph Bourne, Asians America, Chi Hao, Israel Zangwill, Theodore Roosevelt, Gompers Chinese, Exclusion Act, melting pot, ideal melting pot, accept bad conditions, melting pot ideal, exclusion league, pot ideal, ideal melting, chi hao, asians america, asian exclusion, fu chi hao, american american, fu chi, american ideal, asian exclusion league,