HISTORY: Inclusion vs. exclusion

In his prepared statement regarding hate speech (Coeur d’Alene Press, Sept. 19), Coeur d’Alene Mayor Widmyer stated that “The United States of America was conceived based on the principles of inclusion and tolerance.” Widmyer spoke of the “melting pot” of 18th and 19th century America and “a society of inclusion rather than exclusion.”

In reality, our country’s first citizenship legislation conveyed the opposite intention. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited naturalization rights to immigrants who were “free white person[s] … of good character.” The Congress that passed this law was the same Congress that passed the Bill of Rights and included members who had participated in the Constitutional Convention.

To think that the Framers of the Constitution were progressive about race is completely inaccurate — the opposite is true. The Framers sought to build a country by, of, and for Northwestern Europeans. It wasn’t until the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 that this policy of exclusion was truly reversed with the help of progressives such as Jewish Congressman Emmanuel Celler, who introduced the bill.

TAYLOR WILLIAMS

Coeur d’Alene