" we are all foreign-born or the descendants of foreign-born,and if distinctions are to be made between us, they should rightly be on some other ground than indigenousness. The early colonists came over with motives no less colonial than the later. They did not come to be assimilated in an American melting pot. They did not come to adopt the culture of the American Indian. They had not the smallest intention of 'giving themselves without reservation' to the new country. They came to get freedom to live as they wanted to".
In this quote Bourne is saying that no one in America is truly an american we are all descendants of people that came here and brought their customs with them . In fact the very people that "founded" America didn't come here to gain the customs of those that were already here but to live their lives in ways they couldn't have where they were from. with that being so we shouldn't expect or criticize those who come here and aren't "Americanized" because they haven't thrown their customs or traditions away.
I agree with this quote because everything about this country is build on people who were not originally from here wether they came here willingly or were forced and its like so many Americans forget that. We need to respect each other whether or not we have been here for generations or for days.
People migrate for different reasons, economic, social,political, and environmental. For example, my great grandmother was the first one to migrate to the United States with the hope to have a better quality of life for the family and did not realized that my destiny was also to come to live in the United States. Now I am part of one of those immigrant groups that forms the American society. I have become part of the United States and believe or not I have helped the U.S economy by working. Somehow I belong to two different cultures/countries and I have incorporated both of them in my daily life. And yes we have to respect each other's nationalities and countries of origin because I believe that they are of personal value to each one of us.
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