Bernard A. Weisberger

Bernard A. Weisberger is a contributing editor to American Heritage magazine and the author of more than one dozen books about American history. In the following viewpoint, Weisberger asserts that the urge to restrict immigration to the United States is nothing new; it has been heard many times before in the country’s history. He maintains that, although the original immigrants may have been primarily English, they have been supplemented with immigrants of all different ethnicities who have come to the United States and made their own contributions to their new country. The United States is unique among nations, Weisberger contends, in that American citizens are defined by their residence and loyalty to their country, not by their race or ethnicity.

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