Maggie Newberry

During the late 19th Century, immigrants from countries all over the world came to America to escape persecution and lack of jobs. Emma Lazarus, a poet, described the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the welcoming arms in the western world, in her poem, “The New Colossus”. However, America as a country only partly lived up to the words in Lazarus's poem because they provided jobs and helped the immigrants adjust to the language and culture in America, but they did not allow for all races to come to America.

America lived up to these words by taking in as many immigrants as possible despite their status. Lazarus stated,”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. Living up to these words, Americans created settlement houses to help the less fortunate immigrants adjust to life in a new country by helping them learn and the understand the language and culture of America. The U.S. also helped immigrants adjust to life in America by providing a large number of jobs that required little to no skill. Hence, Americans lived up to the words in Lazarus’s poem because they not only helped the poor learn the culture and language of Americans, but they also …show more content…
did not live up to these expectations because they discriminated against the newcomers and did not accept their culture. For example, in Lazarus's poem it says, "From her beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome". However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1892, excluded Chinese immigrants from coming to America based upon prejudices Americans had about their culture and values. Therefore, the U.S. did not live up to the words stated in Lazarus's poem because she claimed that Lady Liberty's torch welcomed people from everywhere on the earth to America, but they excluded China, from the “worldwide welcome” in the U.S.. Thus, America did not live up to the words written in Lazarus’s poem because they limited China from their unlimited