National Security and U.S. Immigration Policy, 1776–1790

Why did the U.S. federal government do so little to restrict immigration until almost the twentieth century? Most explanations of early U.S. immigration policy stress ideological and economic factors. Higham, a prominent immigration scholar, argued that America opened its doors in part to provide "an asylum, wherein the blessings of liberty would await all men." Similarly, another scholar explains that "immigration policy was guided by . . . ideological republicanism" and a "cosmopolitan outlook." Others cite economic and demographic factors, such as a need for a "great labor supply" to "increase the value of [their] land" and to "help fill their largely empty nation."¹

This article offers an alternative explanation of early U.S. immigration policy. It analyzes the policy area from a national-security perspective—a common analytical focus in the field of international relations—to argue that economic and ideological accounts of this issue are inadequate. Those in favor of immigration hoped to strengthen the nation, primarily by providing soldiers and money for the military; those opposed to immigration feared that it would compromise national security by causing domestic unrest and exposing the government to espionage and terrorism. These concerns were not unjustified: Other powers with territory in North America, such as Great Britain and Spain, attempted to stifle emigration to the United States to impede the new nation's growth. The debate has implications for immigration theory and contemporary policymakers.²

Background and Method

During the "Open Door Era" from the early republic to approximately the twentieth century, the borders of the United States were legally unregulated by the federal government, except for a few minor restrictions—the Passenger Act of 1819, for one—that attempted to discourage certain undesirable immigrants. Scholars have long pointed out that individual states tried to regulate immigration—mostly to keep out the poor, the criminal, and the sick—but the federal government did almost nothing. The result was mass migration.³

More than 19 million immigrants came to the United States during this period. As Table 1 indicates, this population surge helped shape the composition and strength of the nation. One study suggests that U.S. economic gains from migration were higher than those from trade during the nineteenth century. Considering that wealth is a main building block of military power, the country's rise to international prominence may owe more to mass migration than scholars recognize. The precedent for the nation's immigration policy was set far before its implementation during the early Republic. The secondary literature reveals that the founders deemed security to be an important component of this policy, as did successive leaders throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.⁴

British and colonial officials offered a blueprint for American leaders to follow long before Independence. In accord with the contemporary mercantilist doctrine, "One should never fear that there may be too many subjects or too many citizens, considering that there is neither wealth nor power but of men," British and colonial leaders viewed population as a source of strength for the state. Accordingly, as early as the 1660s, in one of the oldest surviving speeches in the House of Commons on this matter, John Holland argued that increased immigration will "enlarge the Honour and Glory of the King . . . enlarge the Trade of the Kingdom . . . [and] weaken our encreasing Neighbours that may possibly become the worst of our Eneymes." With this mercantilist principle in mind, British officials devised ongoing incentives to boost the population of its North American territories, at least until the colonists seemed likely to revolt. But because Britain did not want to deplete its own citizenship to populate the colonies, it often preferred to invite industrious foreign workers, whose manpower would simultaneously strengthen the Empire and deprive the enemy. Acting under the assumption that "the increase of People is a Means of advancing the Wealth and Strength of any nation or Country," Parliament enacted a naturalization law in 1740 to attract foreign emigration to America.⁵

Table 1.

U.S. Share of World Wealth, Population, and Immigration, 1820– 1900

U.S. Relative Share of World...