THE MELTING POT

American socetì has benn called a “melting pot”. This is because itis the result of a combinations of varioous components which have benn melted together to make something new and special. The melting pot enables people to be and to feel American and, at the same time, to be proud of their origins and heritage.

European settlement of north America begean with the English at time of the pilligrim Fatehers in the 17th century. Since that different waves of migrations. The slave tratde brought thousands slaves were forced to work in the plantations in the southern states. Their workingand living conditions wereterrible. They were considered to be unintelligent and inferior for the color of their skin. The white men considered themto be their absolute poperty. During the 19th century the immigrations was mainly of European origin: Scots, Welsh, Iisch, and Englishmen, all in search of better living conditions. At the same time French, Germans, Hungarians, and Polens arrived from central Europe. Many of the Europeans settledon east coast and gradually moved to the Plains and then westward.

During the mid 19th century thousands of Chinese, and later Japanese settled west. They came as railway workers and to exploit gold in California. During the 20th century many others came. Italians and other southern Europeans left their countries because of unemployment and povertì. Many jews arrived later because of nazi persecution. More recently, people from south-east Asia have entered the USA to find work and study. Immigration from central America, in particular from Mexico, is, at present, a wide-spread phenomenon and is often illegal.