Asylum for Mankind

By Marilyn C. Baseler

Book Overview

Ever since the Age of Discovery, Europeans have viewed the New World as a haven for the victims of religious persecution and a dumping ground for social liabilities. Marilyn C. Baseler shows how the New World's role as a refuge for the victims of political, as well as religious and economic, oppression gradually devolved on the thirteen colonies that became the United States.She traces immigration patterns and policies to show how the new American Republic became an "asylum for mankind." Baseler explains how British and colonial officials and landowners lured settlers from rival nations with promises of religious toleration, economic opportunity, and the "rights of Englishmen," and identifies the liberties, disabilities, and benefits experienced by different immigrant groups. She also explains how the exploitation of slaves, who immigrated from Africa in chains, subsidized the living standards of Europeans who came by choice.American revolutionaries enthusiastically assumed the responsibility for serving as an asylum for the victims of political oppression, according to Baseler, but soon saw the need for a probationary period before granting citizenship to immigrants unexperienced in exercising and safeguarding republican liberty. Revolutionary Americans also tried to discourage the immigration of those who might jeopardize the nation's republican future. Her work defines the historical context for current attempts by municipal, state, and federal governments to abridge the rights of aliens.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801434815
• ISBN13: 9780801434815
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

This is a great history and a great read.

In "Asylum for Mankind" Professor Baseler masterfully weaves together the forces shaping Colonial America's immigration policies and patterns. In the old world struggles for global supremacy among European empires, the desire to provide a home for Europe's "wastrels and convicts," attempts to populate the new world with subjects loyal to the mother country, and attempts to gain wealth for European powers all determined emmigration policies. In the new world colonists were.."torn by..[the]..promise to provide santuary for liberty and the victims of oppression while safeguarding the republic from immigrants who would pervert or destroy its principles and future development." Democratic and idealistic intent.."to fulfill their republican vision of an international community built on the free movement of goods and people"..coexisted with self serving desires to control the racial, religious, and ethnic composotion of the immigrants. To be sure, some of the talk of liberty and democracy was public relations hype. On the other hand was an honest determination to bould a nation.."where policies were determined by the needs of the people rather than the ambitions of princes." "Asylums for Mankind" provides an essential starting point for an understanding of present day struggles for and against racial,ethnic,religious, and multicultural equality.

A refreshing look at what made this country great.

This book reminds us of where we all started, what made the New World so attractive to the settlers and how the New World became and organized society. "Asylum for Mannkind" gives a new understanding of what settlers experienced and the prices they would pay for freedom.