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 ingenuousness. 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. They came to escape from the stifling air and chaos of the old world; they came to make their fortune in a new land. They invented no new social framework. Rather they brought over bodily the old ways to which they had been accustomed. Tightly concentrated on a hostile frontier, they were conservative beyond belief. Their pioneer daring was reserved for the objective conquest of material resources. In their folkways, in their social and political institutions, they were, like every colonial people, slavishly imitative of the mother country. So that, in spite of the 'Revolution,' our whole legal and political system remained more English than the English, petrified and unchanging, while in England law developed to meet the needs of the changing times.
This passage is letting us know that the immigrants who fled their country came to America to free themselves from their own country. The people wanted to be free and be as they wish, but they continued to follow their own habits as in their country. Although the colonial were able to arrive to America they never intended to adapt to the customs and living styles of the American Indian. In the meantime as England was developing new changes those who lived in America maintained their old laws and habits.
The reason I choose this passage is because I come from an immigrant family, but I was born and raised here. I have heard many of the unfairness in my ancestors countries and about the strict rules and lack of economy that can help them progress. My family for generations have been immigrants of the United States and their purpose to leave their native country is to have better lives and provide for other family members who are not able to come to America. Also as Bourne stated and something we should keep in mind, we are foreign born descendants. This does not mean we should deny our roots and just adapt to the American way. The people of England maintain their legal and political system intact and refuse to adapt to live the American Indian ways. I believe that each of our culture and values should maintain intact, but we must also learn how to adapt our current country culture, customs, and values as well.
