Americanism

By: Robert Vanselow

May 24,2023 GreendalePost416.org

Americanism is a term used to describe the cultural, values, beliefs. And customs that are associated with the United States of American. It encompasses a wide range of ideas and practices, including democracy, individualism, freedom, capitalism, and patriotism. Americanism has been shaped by the country’s history, geography, and diverse population, and it continues to evolve over time.

The American Legion was founded by front-line officers in World War I who had emerged from the all-volunteer prewar Preparedness Movement with firsthand concern about the prospect of combat with limited resources, weapons, training, and supplies. After the armistice, they added another ingredient to their concerns: public understanding and appreciation of the American identity. At the time, only about half of American teenagers attended high school regularly, and a large percentage of World Ware I troops were conscripted immigrants who were under-educated in U.S. government, law, and history, to address this issue, the early American Legion set U.S. citizenship among immigrants as a top priority.

The American Legions founders were deeply concerned about how the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia might spill over into the United States, Communist recruits were already pitching their thing to young Americans, including troops still stationed in Europe after the armistice. Fascism and Nazism later appeared on the global landscape and recruited in the United States at a time before media or policymakers fully understood the intentions of Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hilter. The American Legion was early and firm in its opposition to anti-democracy ideologies, they had fought “to make the world safe for democracy. “To the founders of the Legion, the best kind of “ism” was Americanism.

Racism was specifically denounced by the early Legion, which passed a resolution in 1923 that remains on the books and condemns any individual, group, or organization that “creates or fosters racial, religious, or class strife among our people, or which takes into their own hands the enforcement of law, determination of guilt, or infliction of punishment, to be un-American, a menace to our liberties and destructive to our fundamental law.”

The American Legion founders believed veterans should be catalysts in local unity and assistance, strengthening communities and building pride through individual obligation. Throughout the decades, American Legion youth programs were established and operated to do more than teach young people to hit baseballs and bullseyes. American Legion Baseball, Boys State, and the American Legion Oratorical Contest are just a few examples of programs that teach young people how government functions in successful democracy.

The American Legion’s relationship with Boy Scouts of America grew to include numerous Americanism activities for Scouts, including ceremonies to respectfully retire worn-out U.S. flags. The American Legion continues to promote Americanism through programs and services that improve communities, strengthen law, and order, and oppose the endless drive to supplant our American way with dictatorship. True Americanism is and ideology that is continually nurtured with one’s soul through individual daily actions, thoughts, and beliefs in what their responsibilities are to be, blessed to live in one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Ellis Island - Island of Hope, Joy and Tears

Before 1890, individual states regulated immigration into the United States. The Immigration Act of 1891 centralized immigration enforcement authority to the federal government. Ellis Island became the first federal immigration inspection station in 1892. 

Ellis Island is located on the New Jersey side of New York Harbor, close to the Statue of Liberty. Nearly 12 million immigrants, mainly from Europe, were processed through Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954 with the majority coming between 1892 and 1924.

New York Harbor was the Port of Entry for many of the steamships crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, so most immigrants came to the United States through New York Harbor. 

First and second class passengers were not required to undergo inspection at Ellis Island, they received an inspection aboard the steamship after it docked. Third class and steerage passengers were sent to Ellis Island by small steamboats for a detailed inspection. 

If the immigrants were in good health and had the proper paperwork, the inspection process would take 3 to 5 hours, mainly spent waiting. Doctors would scan them for obvious physical ailments and check for eye diseases. After passing the short medical inspection, immigrants waited in line for the legal inspection. 

The steamship companies were required to record answers to questions for each immigrant on the ship’s manifest prior to the voyage. The legal inspection consisted of the immigrant being asked for answers to some of those questions. 

About 2% of the potential immigrants were rejected and returned to their home countries. 

During World War I, the Ellis Island immigration station was closed and the facilities were used as a jail for suspected enemy combatants and a treatment center for wounded American soldiers. The immigration inspections were conducted aboard ships or at docks. After the war, US embassies were established around the world and the needed paperwork and medical inspections were completed there.

The Immigration Act of 1924 set quotas and reduced immigration. After 1924, Ellis Island received less immigrants, mainly those who had problems with their paperwork, war refugees and displaced persons needing assistance. For the next 30 years, Ellis Island served a number of purposes. In World War II it was a detention center for enemy merchant seamen and was used as a Coast Guard base.

The main building of the immigration center is now the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. It tells the story of American immigration through photos and exhibits. Many items brought by immigrants are on display. There are oral histories of immigrants, immigration officials and former island employees that share their stories of the immigration experience, these can also be accessed online. Passenger searches and ship manifests can be searched at the Museum or online. 

Many Americans have an ancestor that came through Ellis Island, hoping for a better life and to live in freedom.

Harry Koroghlanian