Melting Pot

The United States has not moved from the "melting pot" to the "salad bowl." Those who suggest that this is the case are entirely unaware of the nation's history, which shows that every new generation of immigrants brings its own language, culture and traditions. It is only over the passage of time that their children and grandchildren adopt the norms, language and common culture of the nation. Evidence from the past shows that this has always been the case. It is only because people see the contemporary period as somehow unique because they are experiencing it, and past starts to blur once we move past a generation or two that anyone would think of the past and present differently. This paper will show that the melting pot paradigm existed in past generations, and that the patterns of settlement and cultural assimilation are basically the same today as they...
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