Essay --

Word Count: 1486 The Differences in Lucy Salyer’s and Cybelle Fox’s Criteria For Citizenship Throughout American history, the United States government created policies that decided who can and cannot come to America to be recognized as a full fledged citizen: an individual who has been recognized as a loyal member of a nation and receives benefits granted by the government. Lucy Salyer, author of Baptism By Fire, and Cybelle Fox, author of Three Worlds of Relief, emphasize that the government based their immigration policy on issues such as race and occupation. Despite their agreement that the United States government played a major role in deciding who can and cannot become full fledged citizens, Salyer and Fox disagree on the main criteria in which they decided which immigrants could have this recognition. Salyer argues that immigrants’ race and service decided whether they should be included or excluded from full citizenship, while Fox asserts that individuals’ occupation determined this matter. As Salyer and Fox both mentioned, the government played a vital role on deciding who can become citizens through legislation, organized groups, and judicial rulings. The government can be defined in this case as legislatures, agencies, and the justice system. Throughout American history, legislatures made laws in which included and excluded newcomers to America. Aristide Zolberg, author of A Nation by Design, emphasizes this by stating, â€Å"nationality involves the delineation of a boundary, denoting simultaneously inclusion and exclusion† (Zolberg,17). A country can tend to be welcoming or unwelcoming to foreigners. In the United States, legislatures have been inclusive and exclusive to foreigners depending on the national interest. Lu... .... 56% of workers were covered, while 67% of them were Europeans and 57% were white. According to Fox, Europeans benefitted the most since majority of them held manufacturing jobs and were more likely to turn sixty-five when it was grandfathered in. Yet, approximately 38% of Mexicans and blacks were covered. This was due to the majority of them being agricultural workers or domestic workers. Therefore, Europeans held occupations that allowed them to meet the criteria for social security benefits, while Mexicans and blacks did not (Fox, 251-253). Salyer and Fox agree that the government played a role in shaping immigration during the 1920s and 1930s. Yet, they disagree with the criteria that the government used to decide who received full-fledged citizenship. This debate still continues today and this nation continues to base a criteria on who to include and exclude.