Natives and immigrants, men and women, people from all regions, races, religions, and walks of life, have brought varying perspectives to the long-running debate on immigration. Drawing from a large cast of characters--from Thomas Jefferson, Booker T. Washington, and Cesar Chavez to Jane Addams, Henry Ford, and Patrick McCarran--this book introduces students to people who have contributed to U.S. immigration policy from the Revolution to the present. Showing how each person's opinion drew from personal experience and thus added a new dimension to the debate, the book encompasses such...

Contrasting the views of Native Americans and European Americans, this book provides a fresh look at the rhetoric behind the westward movement of the American frontier. From George Armstrong Custer and Andrew Jackson to Helen Hunt Jackson, the volume gives the views of well-known Anglo-Americans and contrasts them with views of such well-known Native Americans as Metacom, Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, and Black Hawk. Organized around major subthemes regarding the land, who should own it, and what ownership means, the book traces the rhetoric of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, then covers...

With the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, the United States seemed poised to fulfill the manifest destiny that was on the lips of journalists and politicians. Yet, even before the war was over, tensions over the issue of slavery erupted. Slavery symbolized the social, cultural, constitutional, and economic differences that were dividing the North and South. Through four years of bloody civil war and the loss of over 600,000 lives, the American republic decided the fate of slavery, asserted the supremacy of the federal government over state authority, and began to grapple with the...

Through biographical examinations of some of the key figures in the debate on conservation, this book seeks to explore a range of subjects, such as the evolution of the conservation movement, its implications for policy-makers, and how it impacts the daily lives of people everywhere. The varying approaches taken by these individuals will serve to emphasize that there are many definitions of conservation, and that many viewpoints are valid. Detailed observations of important figures on both sides of the debate, including some of the most famous and familiar and some less so, provide readers...

The three waves of feminism are explored through the lives of the women who made history in bringing women's issues to the forefront of American society. Many early feminists supported not only women's rights, but also rights of slaves and contributed to the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, granting emancipation to slaves. They continued to work towards women's suffrage and were hopeful the Fourteenth Amendment would provide universal suffrage. However, women were not granted suffrage until the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, nearly fifty years later. It was women's fundamental...