Use this lesson toward the end of the unit with the Barack Obama, Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004 Primary Source to discuss the idea of the "American Dream" and its impact on immigration.

Objectives:

• Students will be able to identify the historical attitudes toward immigration in the United States.
• Students will identify the relationship between political rhetoric and immigration law.

• Handout A: The Modern Immigration Debate
  • Document 1: President Donald Trump, address to the nation on immigration, January 8, 2019
  • Document 2: Response to the president’s address on immigration, January 8, 2019, by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
• Handout B: History of American Political Rhetoric and Immigration Law Reform
  • Part 1: The Founding Era
    • Document 1: President George Washington, letter to Vice President John Adams, November 15, 1794
    • Document 2: President Thomas Jefferson, annual report to Congress, December 8, 1801
    • Document 3: Naturalization Act of 1795
  • Part 2: Resistance to Immigration, late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
    • Document 4: Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
    • Document 5: President Grover Cleveland, speech, October 1, 1888
    • Document 6: A History of the American People, vol. 5, by Woodrow Wilson, 1902
    • Document 7: Emergency Quota Act of 1921
  • Part 3: Immigration in the late twentieth century and beyond
    • Document 8: Summary of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) or the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986
    • Document 9: Summary of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2011 (or DREAM Act) by the Congressional Research Service, proposed in the Senate on May 11, 2011

Students should have access to internet-connected devices so they may explore the documents provided in the handouts, as well as the full-text versions, as necessary.

This lesson should be presented after the historical events of 9/11 and the U.S. response have been taught. This lesson is designed to interpret the larger constitutional questions posed by that response.