E Pluribus Unum

The history of America has always been one of immigration and diversity. The first immigrants to this country were the colonists who settled in America during the 1600's. These Spanish, French, and English people were soldiers, fur trappers, and farmers. Though the Spanish and French were the first to come to the New World, the English were the first to come for the purpose of establishing new towns. Through the next 150 years, millions of people came to America to live. This period of time, from 1600 to 1841, was the one known as the period of "old immigration" . In the "old immigration" period, settlers came to America because of its opportunities and its freedom.

    The immigrants who came to America after 1841 came during the period known as the "new immigration." During this period, millions of immigrants came to America because of the hardships they faced in their homelands. America became to them "the land of a second opportunity".

     In 1908, a year when a million new immigrants arrived in the United States, Israel Zangwill wrote in a play: "America is God's Crucible, the great Melting Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians — into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American!"

     Zangwill was the first to use the term "melting pot" to describe the United States, and the concept has been debated. Scholars disagree as to the extent to which various racial and ethnic groups have been combined into one culture and assimilated by the dominant American culture the immigrants found here. Some have emphasized the idea of the melting pot, an image that suggested newcomers would discard their old customs and adopt American ways. Others are inclined to see the United States as a "salad bowl" where the various groups have remained somewhat distinct and different from one another, creating a richly diverse country. Recently, greater value has been placed on diversity, ethnic groups have renewed and celebrated their heritage, and the children of immigrants often grow up being bilingual. Another metaphor for American society would be that of a "pizza. The different ingredients are often apparent and give the whole its particular taste and flavor, yet all are fused together into something larger. The new immigrants greatly enriched the cultural diversity of the American nation and according to Wattenberg, a respected expert on American culture, something very important is happening to the United States: it is becoming the first universal nation in history. Wattenberg believes that the United States will be the first nation where large numbers of people from every region on earth live in freedom under one government. Perhaps the United States should be described not as a "melting pot" or a "salad bowl" but as a "mosaic" — a picture made up of many tiny pieces of different colours. If one looks closely at the nation, the individuals of different colours and ethnic groups are still distinct and recognizable, but together they create a picture that is uniquely American. "E Pluribus Unum" — the motto of the United States from its beginning — means 'one composed of many': "Out of many, one."