The Immigrant Contribution

In which of these excerpts from “The Immigrant Contribution” does John F. Kennedy most clearly include an appeal to authority(ethos) to make his views more persuasive?

• Two immigrants—the West Indian Alexander Hamilton, who was Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, and the Swiss Albert Gallatin, who held the same office under Jefferson—established the financial policies of the young republic.

• A German farmer wrote home from Missouri in 1834, “If you wish to see our whole family living in . . . a country where freedom of speech obtains, where no spies are eavesdropping, . . . in short, if you wish to be really happy and independent, then come here.”

• We all know, of course, about the spectacular immigrant successes. . . . In 1953 the President’s Commission on Immigration and Naturalization mentioned the following: Andrew Carnegie (Scot), in the steel industry; John Jacob Astor (German), in the fur trade. . . .

• Sociologists call the process of the melting pot “social mobility.”

Read these sentences from “The Immigrant Contribution.”

"But the anonymous immigrant played his indispensable role too. Between 1880 and 1920 America became the industrial and agricultural giant of the world as well as the world’s leading creditor nation."

Which word in the sentence is most clearly examples of charged language?

• anonymous

• immigrant

• indispensable

• role

In what main way does Kennedy make an appeal to reason(logos) in this quotation from “The Immigrant Contribution”?

"Significant as the immigrant role was in politics and in the economy, the immigrant contribution to the professions and the arts was perhaps even greater. Charles O. Paullin’s analysis of the Dictionary of American Biography shows that, of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century figures, 20 percent of the businessmen, 20 percent of the scholars and scientists, 23 percent of the painters, 24 percent of the engineers, 28 percent of the architects, 29 percent of the clergymen, 46 percent of the musicians and 61 percent of the actors were of foreign birth. . . ."

• He uses charged language with strong positive associations.

• He appeals to readers’ admiration for artists and professionals.

• He makes a logical argument based mostly on facts and statistics.

• He cites Charles O. Paullin, an expert on the topic of immigration.

In which of these quotations from “The Immigrant Contribution” does Kennedy most clearly include appeals to emotion (pathos) to make his views more persuasive?

• Yet each wave of immigration left its own imprint on American society; each made its distinctive “contribution” to the building of the nation and the evolution of American life.

• In consequence, the impact of immigration has been broadly to confirm the impulses of American life demanding more political liberty and more economic growth.

• The multiplicity of sects established the American tradition of religious pluralism and assured to all the freedom of worship and separation of church and state pledged in the Bill of Rights.

• Immigration provided the human resources. More than that, it infused the nation with a commitment to far horizons and new frontiers, and thereby kept the pioneer spirit of American life, the spirit of equality and hope, always alive and strong.

Which of the following statements describes a main difference between John F. Kennedy’s “Immigrant Contribution” and Anna Quindlen’s “A Quilt of a Country”?

• Quindlen focuses more on immigrants’ accomplishments than Kennedy does.

• Quindlen focuses on immigration in an earlier time period than Kennedy does.

• Quindlen gives fewer details from her own personal experience than Kennedy does.

• Quindlen gives more details about immigrant problems and tensions than Kennedy does.